Document – Ancestor Worship and Human Sacrifice from the Shijing

Abstract and Keywords

During both the Shang and Zhou dynasties (1556-1046 BCE; 1046-256 BCE) families, both noble and common, worshipped and sacrificed to their ancestors. These sacrifices were of the utmost importance and any neglect would bring about misfortune and calamity, since ancestors had the power to aid or punish their descendants.

The selections that follow are from the Books of Songs (the Shih Jing) the oldest collection of Chinese poems, dating to the 11th century BCE. The Book of Songs was one of the five definitive Confucian classics that formed the backbone of Chinese culture and education for centuries.

From The Book of Songs: The Ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry, Arthur Waley, trans. (London: Allen/Unwin, 1937).

Documents

  • GLORIOUS ANCESTORS
  • Ah, the glorious ancestors
  • Endless, their blessings,
  • Boundless their gifts are extended;
  • To you, too, they needs must reach.
  • We have brought them clear wine;
  • They will give victory.
  • Here, too, is soup well-seasoned,
  • Well prepared, well mixed.
  • Because we come in silence,
  • Setting all quarrels aside,
  • They make safe for us a ripe old age,
  • We shall reach the withered cheek, we shall go on and on.
  • With our leather-bound naves, our bronze-clad yokes,
  • With eight bells a-jangle
  • We come to make offering.
  • The charge put upon us is vast and mighty,
  • From Heaven dropped our prosperity,
  • Good harvests, great abundance.
  • They come [the ancestors], they accept,
  • They send down blessings numberless.
  • They regard the paddy-offerings, the offerings of first-fruits
  • That Tang's descendant brings.
  • HUMAN SACRIFICE
  • "Kio" sings the oriole
  • As it lights on the thorn-bush.
  • Who went with Duke Mu to the grave?
  • Yanxi of the clan Ziju.
  • Now this Yanxi
  • Was the pick of all our men;
  • But as he drew near the tomb-hole
  • His limbs shook with dread.
  • That blue one, Heaven,
  • Takes all our good men.
  • Could we but ransom him
  • There are a hundred would give their lives.
  • "Kio" sings the oriole
  • As it lights on the thorn-bush.
  • Who went with Duke Mu to the grave?
  • Zhonghang of the clan Ziju. Now this Zhonghang
  • Was the sturdiest of all our men;
  • But as he drew near the tomb-hole
  • His limbs shook with dread.
  • That blue one, Heaven,
  • Takes all our good men.
  • Could we but ransom him
  • There are a hundred would give their lives.
  • "Kio" sings the oriole
  • As it lights on the thorn-bush.
  • Who went with Duke
  • Mu to the grave?
  • Zhenhu of the clan Ziju.
  • Now this Quan-hu
  • Was the strongest of all our men;
  • But as he drew near the tomb-hole
  • His limbs shook with dread.
  • That blue one, Heaven,
  • Takes all our good men.
  • Could we but ransom him
  • There are a hundred would give their lives.

Review

  1. 1. How are ancestors portrayed in the Book of Songs? What role did they play in the lives of the living?

  2. 2. How was human sacrifice depicted in the Book of Songs?

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