What are the rules and rituals of ancestor worship?

The rules of ancestor worship during the Spring Festival:

The rules of sacrifice include offering incense, reading blessings, offering rice soup, serving tea, offering silk, offering wine, offering food boxes, offering meat, offering blessings (blessings), burning blessings, and bowing to the gods. In some places, when the paper is burned, the chief priest will offer a glass of wine in front of the god, and then the priest will send it to the place where the silk is burned, and the wine will be poured on it, and the wine will be dripping into a "heart" character to show the piety of the sacrificer to offer the money and silk.

In the important part of the sacrificial process, there are also several gongs and drums or string accompaniment to add enthusiasm to the ritual. Atmosphere. At the end of the ceremony, the offerings such as pork and mutton are distributed to the delegates.

There are also sacrifices used for banquets and sacrifices, and only a small number of sacrifices are given to a small number of sacrificers, squires, elders, etc.

Popular rituals of ancestor worship:

1. When you come to the grave of your ancestors, use a saw to clean up the weeds and branches in front of the grave.

2. After the weeds and branches are cleaned up, use a broom to clean up the garbage in front of the grave and dump it into the garbage heap.

3. After the grave is cleaned up. Place the candles on the left and right sides of the tombstone, and place the incense burner directly in front of the tombstone.

4. Place the dead coin in front of the tombstone.

Burning in front of the tombstone.

5. After the burning of the coin is completed and extinguished, light the electric firecrackers or fireworks.

6. After the sacrifice is completed and it is confirmed that there is no Mars, you can leave.

The meaning of ancestor worship.

Cautious to chase the distance, but also show a long history, pinning hope on the prosperity of descendants.

Therefore, when acting, it is serious, solemn, respectful, and sincere, all of which come from traditional Chinese ethical thought.

In Chinese history, the era of the Yellow Emperor was the Chinese civilization.

In the era of great creation, the Yellow Emperor was revered by later generations as the first ancestor of humanity. "The Yellow Emperor collapsed, buried in Qiaoshan", which is today's Huangling County, Shaanxi Province.

Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor on Qiaoshan.

Every year during the Qingming Festival, the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum is sacrificed here.

Attaching importance to ancestor worship is a prominent feature of Chinese etiquette. This is because ancestor worship has a good social education function, which helps to cultivate the moral character of members of society, strengthen the unity among members of society, and maintain the stability of patriarchal society.

Both festivals and memorials refer to rituals performed by people to commemorate ancestors or important people, but they differ in meaning and form.

Matsuri is a ritual held at festivals, celebrations, and other events to thank the ancestors for their kindness and pray for the safety and happiness of their descendants. During festivals, people offer gifts such as flowers, incense and candles, and perform rituals such as offerings and prayers, which are often held in public places such as communities and temples. For example, China's Qingming Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and other festivals are famous festivals.

Memorial, on the other hand, refers to a memorial ceremony for the deceased, the purpose of which is to express sorrow and respect for the deceased, and hope that the deceased will rest in peace. During the memorial service, people will offer flowers, incense candles and other gifts to mourn and remember, and it is often held at the bereaved family or cemetery. Different cultures and religions have different forms of memorial rituals, such as Chinese sacrifices, Western funerals, etc.

In short, festivals and memorials are commemorative ceremonies performed by people, but festivals are more focused on thanking ancestors and praying for their blessings; The memorial service focuses more on mourning the deceased, expressing respect and mourning for the deceased.

The time to worship the ancestors is as follows: going to the grave during the day, sweeping the tomb in the morning, and resting after worshipping the ancestors.

1. Go to the grave during the day

Daytime is the best time to go to the grave, and worship should be done by all family members. They usually go to the ancestral grave in the morning and the grave in the afternoon. If the cemetery is far away or remote, you can leave the offering at home, or bring it back to your house or living room.

When making offerings to the ancestral grave at noon, please bring water, oil, rice, and other food.

2. Sweep the grave in the morning

The main purpose of the morning tomb sweep is to commemorate and visit the mausoleum. First of all, we need to prepare incense, candles, food, paper money, fruits and other sacrificial items and arrange them neatly. Then we should clean the graves and graves.

Finally, we have to put the sacrificial items away before we can carry out the tomb sweeping ceremony. Therefore, the morning sacrifice should be carried out in the morning, which can improve the efficiency of the sacrifice and avoid the waste of the sacrifice.

3. Rest after worshipping ancestors

After paying homage to the ancestors, everyone must rest at home for a day before returning to the cemetery. Don't go outside during breaks. After visiting the ancestral tomb, you can take a walk in the park until dusk.

When you come back, you should eat and drink to your heart's content. After resting for a few minutes, it's time to burn incense. It is also okay to burn incense on graves.

Of course, if the place of ancestor worship is far away from the cemetery, you can choose to go to a different cemetery or walk a few more steps to the cemetery to enjoy the scenery and rest, so as not to affect the work and rest.

Items to be prepared for worship of the ancestors

1. Incense candles

Incense candles are one of the things that must be prepared during the Qingming Festival. It is necessary not only to light incense and candles in front of the tombs of the ancestors, but also to pour incense to the land of the mountain god who is in charge of the cemetery, and pray that the land of the mountain god will protect the cemetery and protect the ancestors and the dead.

2. Paper money

Paper money was very important to our ancestors in another world, which is what we call the underworld coin. Paper money is burned for the deceased, and when paper money is burned, they must be burned clean.

3. Package

Usually, tomb sweeping during the Qingming Festival is to bring something needed to the ancestors, which is needed in another world. Bags are food and clothing brought to the deceased by grave sweepers. They are named after a large bag filled with white paper, which contains paper money, gold and silver, as well as "ingots", "clothes", "furniture" and so on made of various types of paper.