The "Yuan Shi, Sacrifice History, and National Customs and Old Rituals" contains:
Every year, the rider is blessed to be sacrificed on June 24, which is called sprinkling you with horses. With one horse, eight sheep, nine horses each practicing silk in the color section, nine with white wool wrapped in the ears, three mink skins, and four members of the Mongolian witch and the Mongolian and Han Xiucai officials to lead the matter, and then pray to the heavens. He also called Taizu Chengjisi's imperial name and blessed it, saying: "Emperor Fuyin of Heaven, the annual sacrifice racer." "At the end of the ceremony, the four members of the chief priest shall each be one in the table of sacrifice coins, and the remaining coins and sacrifices shall be divided with the devotees."
This historical material is the most informative one we have ever seen, it records the date of sacrifice, sacrifices, personnel, rituals, more comprehensive than any other material, and it is also the only historical material that mentions the content of the blessing. At the same time, its content is also the most bizarre.
First, the date of the sacrifice, June 24, which is not seen anywhere.
Second, among the sacrificial personnel, there are "Han people showing talent and reaching the official", which contradicts the principle of "outside the royal family, there is nothing to gain".
Third, the sacrifice of Genghis Khan in the ritual of sacrificing the heavens is not found in other historical sources.
Of course, the question of this historical document does not stop there. Other examples, what period it reflects, what is its historical source, these are all interesting questions.
Regarding the first point of the date of the sacrifice, scholars have paid attention to it, and there are two main views. Imai Hideyoshi pointed out that the northern ethnic groups rarely perform summer sacrifices, and the Jin Dynasty's Mid-July Yuan Sacrifice was influenced by Han culture. Imai believes that the reason why Mongolia is different from other nomadic peoples to hold summer festivals is because the Mongol Empire has a large territory, if the original meeting is held in the spring, it is difficult for the tribal leaders to arrive, and the spring and autumn season is a busy period of animal husbandry production, so the Mongols set the festival in the summer.
The Imai clan believes that the time of the first Mongolian summer festival was between Wokoutai Khan and Möngke Khan. Imai's views are instructive. Indeed, after entering the Yuan Dynasty, the only spring festival that appears in the records is the Kublai Khan Sacrifice on April 8, the second year of the Central Unification. This festival has the purpose of praying for war, and at the same time, the author believes that it is also a routine spring festival. If it is believed that the establishment of the Summer Festival replaced the Spring Festival, then the time of this change could not have preceded the ancestors. Moreover, after entering the Yuan, the spring festival did not necessarily disappear, but it was not recorded in the historical data.
In addition, imai does not seem to have seen the material in the Luanjing Zayō and the Akitsu Chronicle. These materials reveal that until the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the autumn and August festivals were still the highest standard sacrifices in the Mongolian Yuan Empire - even the ministers who remained in Dadu had to hold "mountain patrols" activities.
This shows that the ceremonial space of the autumn festival is not limited to the Shangdu region, but also extends to The Dadu. Mr. Huang Shijian believes that after Kublai Khan ascended the throne, he first sacrificed the heavens twice a year on April 9 and September 9, and then Kublai Khan believed that this was an old practice of death and changed it to one sacrifice on June 24 every year.
The basis of this statement is probably an official document of the Yuandian Zhang:
In the first month of the ninth year of the Yuan Dynasty, the Zhongshu Official's Ceremonial Department: Accepting the instructions of the capital hall Jun: "Hubu Submitted: The number of sacrifices for the annual routine of this road, and then formulate the necessary sacrifices." Consecutive judgment submissions. "The headquarters is illuminated: sacrifice sheji, wind and rain thunder master, release the most holy Wen Xuan king, establish the spring day, and act in accordance with the law." According to the "Collection of Rituals", at the beginning of the founding of the Jin people, they worshiped at the bow field at noon and worshiped outside the capital city. This is an example of a dead gold body, fitted to the leather. Present to the capital hall Jun's instructions: "Quasi-submission." Note-taker to the Ministry of Customs and Customs. "Serve this.
The ritual of worshipping the heavens on the fifth and ninth of the Jin Dynasty every year was originally contained in the "Great Golden Collection Ceremony", but now the "Great Golden Ritual" has been damaged, fortunately, thanks to the "Jin Shi Lizhi" we can still get a glimpse of its end.
This ritual is derived from the Jurchen custom, which is very different from the Mongolian worship ceremony, and the two should not be confused. The Golden Pilgrimage ceremony is also accompanied by activities such as hitting the ball and shooting willows. In the ninth year of the Yuan Dynasty, this whole set of Jin Dynasty worship rituals was abolished. The Jin Dynasty worship ceremony was held in Zhongdu, while the Yuan Dynasty worship was held in Shangdu, and the two did not intersect geographically and would not affect each other. On the other hand, if we really want to change the time of The Mongol Sacrifice, it is impossible to decide it just through the "Capital Hall Jun's Will", which is bound to require Kublai Khan's Holy Will.
In short, the official documents to the ninth year of the Yuan Dynasty were not aimed at the Mongolian sacrifice of heaven, and the time of Mongolian sacrifice was not affected. As for when the date of the sacrifice on June 24 was established, it is necessary to start from other angles.
First of all, it is necessary to find the origin of the summer and June sacrifices. The so-called June 24th, like other historical sources, should be held around this time, and is not strictly limited to the twenty-fourth day. June is between April and August, the height of summer, the height of everything in the steppe.
The Mongols hold feasts in the height of summer. According to Rubruck, in 1254 Möngke Khan held feasts on May 21, June 8, and June 13, and at banquets, they had to change their clothes every day, and everyone wore "a uniform from boots to a turban." This is the so-called quality sun suit. The Feast of the Grandchildren, also known as the Feast of Fraudulent Horses, is held several times a year. On June 21, 1340, the sixth year of the Yuan Shun Emperor (1340), Zhou Boqi witnessed this grand event and gave the "Fraudulent Horse Line" to remember what he saw, saying that the ministers of the Emperor of the Emperor gathered at the Fraudulent Horse Banquet to drink and feast, and "played great music, Chen Baiju".
The June sacrifice may be related to the horse feast in the middle of summer. Of course, according to the previous historical data, the autumn festival of the Yuan Dynasty was also accompanied by a banquet, called the "Horse Youzi Feast". The difference is that june festivals may be more party-oriented than the traditional nature of autumn festivals.
The mid-summer party entertainment is actually the predecessor of today's Mongolian "Naadam" (today's Mongolian Naadam is held every year in the middle of summer about July of the Gregorian calendar). Although the name "Naadam" only appeared recently, the gathering and entertainment that are the core features of "Naadam" have a long history.
Some scholars have pointed out that the Yuan Dynasty was a period of transformation in which the religious nature of Mongolian gatherings weakened and the entertainment became more and more entertaining, that is, the sacrifice rituals that were originally the core gradually faded, and the gatherings after the ceremonies became more and more grand.
The June feast and sacrifice should be produced in this process. During the June sacrifice, the deacons were Mongol witches and four priests, both Mongol and Han, in tandem with the gathering of ministers of all ethnic groups at the horse feast. On the one hand, the emperor is not mentioned in the historical records, on the other hand, the sacrifice can also provide corroboration from the sacrifice blessing. The congratulatory message reads: "Emperor Fuyin of heaven, the annual worshipper." Among them, if "Heavenly Emperor" is used as a word, Mengyuan does not have this case, so it should be disconnected and made "Heavenly, Emperor Fuyin". That is, the brief writing method of "in the eternal weather force, the emperor's blessing in the yin" that is commonly found in the vernacular inscriptions.
It is worth noting that the emergence of the Holy Will of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty is "Immortal Weather Force, Great Blessing Shade Protector, Emperor's Holy Will", while the emergence of Yi Will, Ling Will, and Fa Will is "Immortal Weather Force, Emperor Fu Yin Li, ×× Yi Will/Ling Zhi/Fa Will".
That is to say, in the absence of the emperor, it is necessary to use the "emperor's blessing shade". Looking at June's greetings, it can be seen that the emperor was not present.
Judging from the animals used in the sacrifice, the June sacrifice only uses ma yi and karma sheep eight, which is far lower than the animals used in the suburban shrines and temples of the Yuan Dynasty, which at least shows that the June sacrifice is not the largest Mongolian sacrifice in the past year on the grassland. Unlike the grandeur of the August festival, the Mongols prefer to gather for entertainment in June, and the sacrifice is probably secondary.