Little year, sacrifice stove those things

Because of its belief in animism and the personification of gods and imagination, China has had a tradition of worshipping ghosts and gods since ancient times. Vesta worship is one end of it. In the Book of Rites, it is said that "the king established seven ancestors for the group of surnames", including the god Vesta. There is a saying in the "Confucius Language" that "burns wood on the stove to worship". In the Analects, it is said: "Instead of flattering the O," it is better to be flattered by the stove." It can be seen that the belief in Vesta and the worship of Vesta have a long history.

So who is Vesta? Liu An's book "Huainanzi" has a record of "Emperor Yan made fire, and died as a stove"; Liang Daizong Saidi in the "Jingchu Chronicle" that "Zhu Rong was the god of vesta". It should be pointed out that, according to Zong Yi, the god vesta also has dependents, "the name of the woman and the king are passed on the cheek", and the husband and wife enjoy the sacrifices of the world together. Although the Vesta god identified in the Huainan Zi and the Jingchu Chronicle is different, it is believed that the vesta god is male, while the prince In Zhuangzi Dasheng, the prince Suao believes that "Shen has a foot, the stove has a bun", in his concept the vesta god is female, but the name is unknown. It can be seen who the god of Vesta really is, and the ancients have different opinions and disagreements.

Regardless of whether Vesta is male or female, over time, the Vesta family not only prospered, but also had more members. According to the Tang Dynasty Duan Chengshi "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks", "The name of the god Vesta is Kui, and it is like a beautiful woman." Also surnamed Zhang List, the character Guo, the lady character QingJi, there are six daughters, all named Chaqia. It is often the case that the white man in the heavens is guilty of the obscure day of the moon, and the large one wins the discipline and the discipline is three hundred days; the small one takes the calculation and counts one hundred days. Therefore, he is the overseer of the Heavenly Emperor, and the next is the goblin. On the day of his ugliness, when the sun rises and rises, he ascends to heaven, and the sun is bowed down, and on this day the sacrifice is blessed. Its gods include Emperor Jiaosun of Heaven, Emperor Of Heaven, Emperor of Heaven, Elder Brother of Emperor Of Heaven, Boy of Tushang, Prince of Tushang, Prince of Taihe, Lady Yuchi, etc. A vesta god, the name of the soil also. "In Duan Chengshi's "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks", even whether the name of the vesta god is Kui, Zhang Dan, or loam, is a confused account, but it is certain that in the Belief of the Tang People, the Vesta God has a wife and a daughter, and the members are also quite spectacular.

The sacrificial stove can be blessed, but the time of the sacrificial stove has not been set in stone throughout history. According to the Book of Rites, the pre-Qin period was held in the "Moon of Mengxia", but the specific date is unknown. Zong Yi said in the "Chronicle of the Jingchu Years": "December 8 is the day of lap, the proverb: 'Lap drum sounds, spring is born early', the villagers also beat the waist drum, and become Vajrapani to ward off the epidemic." Its day, and the god of Vesta is sacrificed with pork wine. Judging from Zong Yi's records, the time of the southern and northern dynasties was the eighth day of the first lunar month. After the Song Dynasty, the date of the sacrifice stove was changed to the twenty-fourth day of the Waxing Moon. The Song Dynasty poet Fan Chengda wrote in the "Sacrifice Stove Words": "In ancient times, the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon, the stove king wants to say things to the heavens"; the Qing Dynasty Jinnong's poem "Nothing happens on the river on the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon because of the family brewing to invite neighbors to drink" also wrote: "Still Dun Han customs, sacrifice stove please neighbors." These verses, or titles, clearly indicate that the day of the sacrifice of the stove is the twenty-fourth day of the waxing moon.

Sacrifice to vesta, the offerings should be as rich as possible. Fan Chengda's "Sacrifice Stove Words" wrote: "The cloud car wind horse is small and lingering, and the family has cups and plates of abundant ceremonies." Pig's head is ripe pisces fresh, bean sand and pine powder bait garden. The abundance of the sacrifices listed in the poem is evident in the abundance of the fallen man. Lu Xun's poem "Gengzi Sends the Stove Day is a Matter": "Only chicken gum tooth candy, canonical clothes for incense." There are no long things in the house, and there are few yellow sheep. At that time, Lu Xun was poor because of his family road, the sacrifice stove only used a chicken and a very sticky gum candy, and even the incense candles were exchanged for pawn clothes, so the poem expressed that the sacrifices were not rich enough, far more than the regret of missing the yellow sheep.

The sacrifice of the god Vesta is to use yellow sheep, which has its origins. In the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the Biography of Yin Zhi says: "When Emperor Xuan was proclaimed, the Yin Zi Fang, the filial piety had benevolence, and the Sun Was cooked in the morning and the Vesta God was shaped, and the Zi Fang worshiped and was celebrated." There are yellow sheep in the house, because they are worshipped. Since then, he has become extremely rich, and there are more than seven hundred acres of land, and the servants of the public horse are subordinate, which is better than the state jun. Zi Fang often said, 'My descendants will be strong', and when they reached the third age, they prospered, so they often recommended Huang Yang Yan with the name of the La Ri Ancestral Stove. That is to say, Yin Zifang sacrificed the yellow sheep to the god of Vesta and became richer than the king, and the descendants were noble, which attracted many people to follow suit, thus forming a tradition of sacrificing the stove with yellow sheep. Zhou Zuoren and Lu Xun's poem "Gengzi Sends the Stove Day is a Matter": "The horns are mixed with sugar, and a statue is fragrant with wax wine." Those who return to the rich seekers, the years are for the yellow sheep. In Zhou Zuoren's view, the sacrifice of the yellow sheep to the god of Vesta is an indispensable cause for the rich and noble. What if there are no yellow sheep? Chinese never lacked tricks to fool the ghosts and gods, according to Zong Yi's "Chronicle of the Jingchu Years", "Sacrifice it with a yellow dog, call it a yellow sheep." ”

Why the sacrifice of the god vesta should use gum candy, there is also a lot of attention to this. The god of Vesta had zero-distance contact with people, witnessed people's right and wrong deeds, and on the day of the stove, he would go to heaven to play the Jade Emperor, so people with bad virtue used various tricks to block it. A boy sacrifices his daughter to avoid, and burns money with wine to curry favor with the god of Stove; The son of a fights Against Jun Mo, and the cat and dog touch Jun Mo hate, which is to pray that the God of Stove pretends to be deaf and dumb, magnanimous, and does not care. But just like that, people are not at ease, so the sticky gum candy comes in handy. Lu Xun said in the article "Sending stove day manhua pen": "On the day of the ascension of the stove king, there was a kind of sugar sold on the street, the size of a mandarin, and we also had this thing, but it was flat, like a thick small flapjack. That's the so-called 'gum tooth dumpling'. The original intention was to invite Zaojun to eat, sticking his teeth so that he could not adjust his mouth and learn his tongue, and said bad things to the Jade Emperor. Because Vesta is too grounded, he is teased by people who are "not inferior in nearness" and have shame in their hearts. This kind of teasing also highlights the cute side of Vesta.

The tradition of worshipping the god Vesta has a long history, and from this folk activity, we can glimpse a glimpse of Chinese culture. This kind of humane sacrifice activity is also a reflection of the human condition of the Chinese world.

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