Qingming is not only one of the "twenty-four solar terms", but also a traditional ancestor worship festival. The Qingming Festival has a very long history, originating from the spring festival activities of ancient times. Over the years, Luoyang has found a large number of bronze remains in archaeology, and the main use of these solemn and heavy bronzes is sacrifice. Qingming is coming, let us walk into the Luoyang Museum, understand the sacrifice culture in the cultural relics, and appreciate the "sense of ceremony" of the ancient sacrifice.
Zi Shen Father himself copper Ding
Ritual vessels, engraved with words to commemorate
The traditional Qingming Festival of the Chinese nation began around the Zhou Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,500 years. The "Zuo Biography" records: "The great affairs of the country are in the worship and rong." "The sacrifice of the gods and ancestors has always been placed in the first place of the state, and it is very important what kind of utensils and specifications to use for the sacrifice.
In the pre-Qin period, with the gradual strengthening of the ritual system, some utensils used for sacrifice and feasting were given special significance and became the embodiment of the ritual system, which is the so-called "hiding ceremonies in the utensils". This type of artifact is called "bronze ceremonial vessel", referred to as "ceremonial vessel". In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou made ceremonial music in Luoyang, summed up the lessons of the merchants' drunkenness and subjugation of the country, and reorganized the core of the bronze ceremonial vessel, with Ding as the honor.
We can imagine that during the sacrifice of the Zhou royal family, the nine dings located in the Zongmiao Temple were arranged in turn, and the bells of the sacrifice were loud and the drums rumbled, and the scene was so grand!
During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, whenever there was a major celebration, the ancients often cast copper dings and engraved words on the dings as a souvenir. In the Luoyang Museum, there is a bronze statue of the Shang Dynasty's son Shen Father, which is named after the inscription "Zi Shen Father Himself" engraved in the abdomen. The bronze abdomen is decorated with a cicada pattern, and the feet are flattened and have the form of a bird. This bronze ding is exquisitely decorated, well-cast, clearly inscribed and dark in color.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Luoyang Museum, "Zi" may be the surname of the Shang Dynasty royal family, or it may be a knighthood. According to the literature, the Xia Shang royal family is mostly named after Tiangan, that is, this is a bronze ding made by Zi Shen for his father's "self". Xuan bird pattern is a common ornament from the late Shang Dynasty to the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty believes that the Xuan Bird is a kind of auspicious divine bird, and the Book of Poetry also has the saying that "the Heavenly Destiny Xuan Bird descends to give birth to the Shang".
Ding was first used by people to cook and hold meat containers. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, The Bronze Ding gradually evolved into a symbol of power and status. In the Zhou rites, there was a system of listing dings, which stipulated that the heavenly son should use nine dings with eight gui (guǐ), and the princes should use seven dings with six gui, which should be reduced in order according to their different identities.
The Book of Poetry and Zhou Song contains records of "ZiTang Qiji, Zi Yang Lang Niu, Nai (nài) Ding and Nai (zī), and 兕 (sì) 觥其觩". It can be seen that during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Ding was particularly important and even indispensable in sacrifices.
Summoning the Tiger Cup
The shape is ancient and clumsy, and the famous courtier sacrifices the deceased father
The Western Zhou Dynasty was an important period of the Chinese Bronze Age, and the bronzes of the early Western Zhou Dynasty were the inheritance and development of the bronzes of the Shang Dynasty, and the ornamentation was more exquisite and tended to be standardized.
In 1993, archaeologists discovered a bronze artifact from the late Western Zhou Dynasty, the ZhaoBo Hu Yan (xǔ), now in the Luoyang Museum. The cup is a kind of food container, and the explanation of the cup in the Shuowen Jiezi is: "盨, the loader is also." ”
It is 25 cm high, 35 cm long and 20 cm wide, with attached ears on both sides, four columnar feet at the bottom, a tapering pattern on the edge of the lid and the edge of the abdomen, a concave string pattern on the lower part of the abdomen, and an animal face pattern on the upper part of the column foot. The whole piece of utensils is exquisitely crafted, the ornamentation is concise and exquisite, and the shape is ancient and simple.
"As a food container, the cup is commonly a circle foot, and columnar feet such as the Zhao Bo Tiger Cup are relatively rare." The person in charge said that the inner wall of this cultural relic has two lines of inscription "Zhao BoHu used as a Yuanwen Examination", indicating that it was an artifact used by famous ministers in the late Western Zhou Dynasty to sacrifice bohu to sacrifice his deceased father, so it was named "Zhao BoHu Cup".
Zhao Bohu is quite famous in history, and "the mouth of the people is more than the defense of sichuan" has a close relationship with him. At that time, King Li of Zhou was tyrannical, and he repeatedly advised King Li of Zhou not to impose heavy taxes, not to ignore the people's grievances, and not to block the people's way of speech. Because of his diligence and love for the people, he was regarded as the representative of famous courtiers by later generations.
Animal face pattern copper square ding
It is well-forged and is a magic weapon for communicating heaven and earth
In the distant ancient times, the era of advocating theocracy was the era of worship, and in various sacrificial activities and ceremonial occasions, bronze was the medium for communicating between the human world and the divine world, and the bronze ding was no exception.
Cast in the Western Zhou Dynasty, the beast-faced bronze square ding, straight abdomen and upright ears, has four column-like feet, and the upper part of the columnar foot and the abdomen of the ding are decorated with animal face patterns. It was excavated from the Western Zhou nobles' cemetery in Luoyang's Northern Kiln. This bronze square was so exquisitely cast that it is not difficult to imagine that its owner must have had an extraordinary social status at that time.
According to the "Lü's Spring and Autumn Chronicles", "Zhou Ding casts food, has a head and no body, cannibalism does not swallow and harm its body, and repays it with words." The Northern Song Dynasty historian Lü Da Lin called this kind of ornament adornment, which has a huge face, exaggerated lines, angry eyes, and a wide mouth, giving people a sense of majesty and mystery.
As more and more artifacts decorating this ornament have been unearthed, many historians believe that the name of this "gluttony" is not accurate, so it is collectively called the animal face pattern. The animal face pattern is a decorative pattern that was widely used in the surface of bronze ware during the Shang Zhou Dynasty, and it is an imaginary divine beast, based on tigers, cattle and sheep.
Experts believe that bronze is a magic weapon for communicating heaven and earth, and the animal patterns on bronze are assistants for communicating heaven and earth.
According to the person in charge, the most unique thing about this artifact is the horn with bull horns, which reflects the worship of animals at that time, which is mostly found in the early bronzes of the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to historians, this deliberate emphasis on the eyes can be traced back to the Erlitou period, reflecting the worship of the eyes at that time.
Most of the Fangding found so far were cast in the Shang Dynasty, and the Fangding of the Western Zhou Dynasty is rare and most of them are small. This Piece of Western Zhou Beast Face Pattern Copper Fangding is well-cast, which shows the fierce beauty of bronze to the fullest, conveying a kind of momentum of "the capital of the Xiongdu Dingding, the power of the world", which is an extremely rare treasure in the Western Zhou Bronze Ding. (Luo Bao Rong Media Luoyang Network reporter Jia Zhen correspondent Wei Wei Du Jiafei text/photo)