Ancestor Worship Customs
01 · Historical Records
The sacrificial rites of Xu Village began from the situation of two surnames sacrificing together. During the Ming-Qing transition, descendants of the Sima family changed their surnames to avoid disaster; the Feng and Tong surnames, both descended from the line of Sima Qian, moved to the same village and lived in one ancestral hall, jointly honoring a single ancestor, and so established the rule that Feng and Tong are one family, share the same division, and do not intermarry. This village rule, based not on the closeness of blood relationship but on the shared history of taking refuge, fixed the relationship between the two surnames; the sacrificial rites were the once-a-year enactment of that relationship. The lineage legends about the True Bones Tomb and the Jiulang Temple further connect this ritual system with the history of the Records of the Grand Historian being made public, making the day of sacrifice not only a kind of village covenant but also a commemoration.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Sima Qian sacrifice of Xu Village is an ancestor-worship activity unique to Xu Village in Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province, where the descendants of Sima do not bear the surname Sima but the surnames Feng and Tong. Every year at the Qingming Festival, members of the two surnames enter one ancestral hall together and worship one ancestor, the sacrificial atmosphere being as festive and lively as at New Year. During the Qingming sacrifice, the "running-stage opera" (paotaizi xi) is performed. This sacrificial activity of the Sima descendants is closely related to the fate of Sima Qian. According to folk legend, because his Letter to Ren An became known to Emperor Wu of Han, Sima Qian, fearing for the safety of the Records of the Grand Historian, quietly withdrew into seclusion and, with the help of Li Ling's steward, hid on Mount Hua. Many years later he came down the mountain and learned that his grandson Yang Yun had made the Records of the Grand Historian public, and he died content. In the time of Wang Mang his great-grandson was enfeoffed as Viscount Shitong; in the Eastern Han his descendants, fearing implication, lived in seclusion at Songyang. At the end of the Eastern Han, Sima Hui changed his eldest son's surname to Feng and his second son's surname to Tong; they later moved back to Xu Village in Hancheng to live in seclusion. Legend also tells that in the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, on the eve of Qingming, lineage members were sacrificing to their ancestors at the True Bones Tomb west of the village when they heard that imperial envoys had come from the capital; in panic they fled to the Jiulang Temple east of the village. Later they learned that it was Yang Yun returning home to sweep his ancestors' graves and bring the good news that Emperor Xuan had allowed the Records of the Grand Historian to be made public; the lineage members' fear turned to joy, and they celebrated with gongs and drums. The Feng and Tong surnames, Sima descendants of Xu Village, follow the rules that "Feng and Tong are one family," "Feng and Tong are not divided," and "Feng and Tong do not intermarry," and sacrifice to their ancestors together. Every year at midnight on the eve of Qingming, members of the Feng and Tong lineages, in ceremonial dress and carrying incense tables, sacrifice to their ancestors beside the True Bones Tomb, the opera performance and the ancestor sacrifice proceeding at the same time. At dawn, the oil lamps on the stage suddenly go out and the drum-and-wind music stops; the actors, without removing their makeup, and the musicians, carrying their instruments, run down from the stage; the villagers dismantle the stage and lift the incense tables, and together they rush to the Jiulang Temple, where the musicians strike up again and the grand opera continues. This "running-stage opera" has become the way the people of Xu Village worship their ancestors. On the second day, the Qingming Festival, the people of Xu Village go together to the Sima Qian shrine and tomb to pay homage; cypress-branch archways are erected in the village and couplet lines praising the ancestors are written out, every household pastes up couplets and hangs gauze lanterns, presenting the scene of "other villages' Qingming is all tears, Xu Village's Qingming beats New Year." The Sima Qian sacrifice of Xu Village has a long history of transmission, large numbers of participants, rich ideological content, and broad social influence, and is fairly distinctive among folk sacrifices.
One shrine for two surnames
Two surnames sharing one shrine and one ancestor treat the Qingming gathering as if it were New Year.
Dressing in ritual robes before midnight
In ritual robes before midnight, both surnames carry the incense tables to the tomb.
The stage dash to the temple
The lamps die mid-scene, the stage is struck and the company dashes to another temple, where the play resumes.
Cypress branch gates and couplets in the lanes
Cypress branches, praise couplets, red couplets and gauze lanterns carry the rites from grave into lane.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The sacrificial rites of Xu Village take the village as their scope and do not distinguish the rank of surnames. On the night before Qingming, the whole village, in ceremonial dress and carrying incense tables, sacrifices to their ancestors before the True Bones Tomb; the stage is set beside the tomb, and the opera and the ancestor sacrifice begin at the same time, while the cypress-branch archways, couplet lines, and gauze lanterns all take to the streets. In the moment of shifting the stage, dismantling it, and hurrying to the Jiulang Temple, the whole village moves together with the musicians and actors, dividing the village's night into two fields of atmosphere: sacrifice first, opera after — and the two are in fact one and the same.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs · Ancestor Worship Customs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
After a thousand years of transmission, this sacrificial activity has let the cultural spirit of Sima Qian and the Records of the Grand Historian permeate the minds and lives of the people of Xu Village and even of Hancheng, and it plays a positive role in creating a stable and harmonious social atmosphere, in transmitting national culture and the national spirit, and in jointly building a harmonious society.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Yixia 05-3036
- Zhuge Yi 05-3037
- Chen Dunhe 05-3038
- Fan Zhongyi
- Qu Bilaji
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。