Abstract: Sacrifice is an important event in China's ancient political and economic life, and it is also the most stable part of culture. Sacrificial custom has an important influence on the formation of Chinese characters in China. Looking back at the form of Chinese characters and exploring their meanings, we can examine the clues of ancient sacrificial customs. This also reflects the inextricable connection between Chinese characters and China culture.
Keywords: China sacrificial culture
I. Introduction
Chinese characters are a symbol system for recording Chinese, a carrier of culture and an important part of culture. Therefore, on the one hand, Chinese characters are used as information channels to carry and spread culture, on the other hand, they are used as information sources to accumulate cultural awareness in different regions and times.
Sacrifice, as a cultural phenomenon, is an activity carried out by human beings after forming a systematic concept of gods, reflecting human primitive beliefs. Book of rites? "Sacrifice System": "If you treat others with courtesy, don't rush to the ceremony; Five rites, nothing is more important than sacrifice. "Zuo zhuan? Thirteen years in the public service: "State affairs are in worship. "Sacrifice is an important event in China's ancient political and economic life, and it is also the most stable part of culture. Various sacrificial customs have influenced the formation of Chinese characters, and in turn, the trajectory of ancient sacrificial customs can be traced back through Chinese characters. Through the investigation of some Chinese characters, this paper discusses the ancient sacrificial customs.
Second, the origin of sacrifice
Both religion and folklore have discussed the origin of fetishism, and scholars generally believe that fetishism originated from primitive people's belief in animism. Taylor, an anthropologist of the English school, put forward animism in his masterpiece Primitive Culture published by 187 1. Primitive humans believe that not only people have spirits, but also animals and plants in nature have spirits. Primitive people have little resistance to unpredictable nature because of their own weaknesses and ignorance of nature. Therefore, witchcraft thinking has become a necessity of primitive social life. In order to get God's blessing and blessing, people hold great reverence for God, and often hold ceremonies to offer sacrifices and express their sincerity to God. Sacrifice, divination and other communication activities with God became the top priority in early people's lives. In order to record the process and results of sacrifice and divination, people consciously created some symbols and became early characters.
"Observing astronomy to observe time changes" is a part of ancient people's daily life. The ancients associated auspiciousness with astronomical phenomena, which was reflected in Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi. Shuowen: "Showing the sky hangs like an elephant, seeing good or bad luck, so showing people. From two o'clock. ② The word "Shang" in ancient Chinese. ) three vertical, the sun, the moon and the stars. Observe astronomy to observe the changes of time. Show, god also. Everything shown comes from this drama. " Although Xu Shen's explanation of "Three Sags" has ideological limitations, it generally reveals the close relationship between "image" and "sign". The ancients tried their best to establish images, and when constructing Chinese characters, they first took the images directly, so Chinese characters had strong iconicity. This also reflects the influence of sacrificial customs on the formation of Chinese characters.
Third, the object of sacrifice.
The object of sacrifice is the gods. Under the concept of "animism", natural objects and all natural phenomena are mysterious and awesome. In addition, it is hard to understand that human beings themselves have birth, aging, illness and death. Therefore, the ancient ancestors thought that people had souls, and the soul after death had a supernatural ability, which was also awesome. So where is the spirit? In order to facilitate the sacrifice, it is necessary to find a place for the gods.
"Stone" is used as "〒т" or "т" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, from two or from one. Some people think that "two" or "one" is a symbol of God, and "∣" in Chinese characters represents a pole for offering sacrifices to heaven, and the silk script hung by the eight characters beside the pole in Biography. Some people think that the "stone" was originally a stone altar for offering sacrifices to the gods, showing a т shape. The rest of the seal script is like wine or blood flowing down from the altar, or sacrificial debris scattered on the altar. In any case, from the analysis of glyphs, it can be basically determined that "Shi" is a hieroglyph representing God. This is supported by folklore. The ancients believed that the soul and form of things were separated. Sacrificing through God is to regard this object as a channel to reach the soul, and to sacrifice to God is to sacrifice to God. This is the way of doing things of many nationalities.
"Zu", written by Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Mr. Yinjin Zhan believes that "ancestor" is actually the hieroglyphics of the original head-shaped pottery pot (ancestor idol) discovered by archaeology. "The original meaning of the ancestor should be the god to which the ancestor gods are attached. In Yangshao culture, it usually appears in the form of clay pots or statues.
The word "zong" can also be used as proof. Said: "Zong, respect the ancestral temple." Its original meaning is ancestral temple. "Zong" written in Oracle Bone Inscriptions is a cognitive word. From the glyph, "Zong" is a schematic side view of the house, which contains the ancestral tablet "Shi". At first, the god "teacher" that the ancients often worshipped had no fixed place. Later, due to the need of frequent sacrifices, the "stone" was moved to artificial buildings for display and sacrifice, and the ancestral hall became a special place for the ancients to sacrifice their ancestors. According to folklore research, the initial sacrificial activities were very simple. People use bamboo and clay to shape idols, or draw gods on rocks, and then show gifts in front of their "possessions". The host prayed, and the admirers sang and danced. Later, there were artificial buildings dedicated to sacrifice.
Fourth, the way of sacrifice.
Sacrifice should be in accordance with a certain ceremony, with respectful actions, or supplemented by certain words, to pay tribute to the gods or offer gifts. Book of rites? Liu Yun: "At the beginning of her husband's ceremony, he began to eat." At first, the ritual activities to please the gods were also manifested as prayers or paying tribute to the gods with gifts.
"Sacrifice" is the shape of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, with a hand on the right and a bloody piece of meat on the left. Later, on the basis of the original word, the word "Xiu" representing God was added to indicate the genus. Shuowen: "Sacrifice, sacrifice also. From the program, come and hold meat. " The "blood drop" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions seems to indicate that the habit of eating blood was still maintained at that time. Duan Yucai's Notes on Explaining Words: "The ancients drank blood like fur, and returned it to God with blood." The ancients ate raw meat, drank blood, and sacrificed raw meat to the gods (just like the glyph of "sacrifice"). Because the ancients believed that blood has a soul, blood can maintain the lives of people and animals, and blood loss means injury or even death. Blood has a magical power. In fact, "blood food" is often synonymous with sacrifice in ancient books. Zuozhuan? Zhuang Gong six years: "The three ministers don't obey and don't eat blood. How can they get the rest?" "That is to say, if you don't listen to the minister's advice, the god of the country will not be sacrificed and the country will perish.
Besides offering sacrifices, the ancients also said something in their mouths when offering sacrifices. "Zhu" is the person who is responsible for praying to the gods during the sacrifice. Oracle Bone Inscriptions is shaped like, and there are some variants. From the shape, it looks like a person kneeling on the ground and praying to God. Say: "I am willing to praise the Lord." From the crowd. One day away from the province. Yi said, "It is also a witch." Han Shu?' Sacrifice to the suburbs: "Let the sages know the mountains and rivers, respect the ceremony, and know the things of God, and think it is a blessing. Yan note: "I wish those priests who praise." "Like", report. "Praise" is a prayer message to the gods. "Zhu" is the medium of communication between man and god, and its main duty is to greet ghosts and gods when holding sacrifices and convey their wishes to the ghosts and gods.
There is a more interesting custom. The ancients had a way of offering sacrifices to corpses in the early days. Sacrifice to a corpse does not mean offering sacrifices to a corpse. In fact, the body is a living person. "Corpse", in the shape of Oracle Bone Inscriptions, has one more bend than the Oracle Bone Inscriptions shape of the word "person", indicating that a person is bent. This also explains why the words "tail" and "shit" both come from corpses. In Oracle Bone Inscriptions, the "tail" shape means that a person who bends over drags a hairy tail behind his ass, and "shit" means that a person who squats down from under his ass. Since "corpse" is a living person, since the word "person" already exists, why create the word "corpse"? This is because the "corpse" is not an ordinary person, but a person who sacrifices on behalf of the deceased during the sacrifice. Shuowen: "A corpse, Kerwin Chen, looks like a recumbent position." Paragraph note: "corpse, idol also." "Yili? Shi Yuli: "I wish you a vegetarian meal. "This is about being responsible for praying and wishing to greet the body of the deceased during the sacrificial activities. Bodies are usually attended to by the grandson of the deceased. The Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties all sacrificed corpses, but the posture of corpses was different. Book of rites? There are records of Zhou Zuo's corpse, Li Xia's corpse and Yin Zuo's corpse in the ceremony. It was only later that the body was gradually replaced by the "symbol" of God.
Verb (abbreviation for verb) about sacrifice
The ancients often gave their best gifts to the gods, including food, such as sacrifices of cattle and sheep, wine and grain, as well as clothing accessories, such as jade and silk ... The sacrifices are different in different seasons.
There is also a special kind of sacrifice, that is, people. In the concept of primitive people, man and beast are equal, hunting both wild animals and aliens. In tribal wars in primitive society, defeated prisoners were often killed to worship the gods. There are many records of slaves being sacrificed as human beings in Oracle bone inscriptions. This custom has been confirmed by archaeological data. For example, in 197 1 year, many sacrificial pits were found in the north of the military officer village in Anyang. According to incomplete statistics, in 19 1 sacrificial pits, 1 178 human bones were buried. Some Chinese characters also reflect the custom of ancient human sacrifice, such as:
"Meng" and "Shuo Wen": "Nagano. From the dish. " The original meaning is the eldest son. From the glyph, there is a son in the vessel, which is related to the custom of killing the eldest son in ancient China. Mozi? Festival burial: "In the past, those who went east had a country of love, and the eldest son was born, so they solved it and ate it, named Yidi." Mr. Qiu Xigui said: "The first harvest is for ghosts and gods, so that we can safely preserve and eat other parts of the harvest and continue to get new harvests in the coming year." Of course, the first son is also given to get new children in the future and let them grow up safely. Therefore, Mozi said that killing the eldest son is for the sake of "righteous emperor", which makes sense.
"Cut", Oracle Bone Inscriptions's glyph is, from people to the ground, is a knowing word. It's like stabbing a man in the neck with a knife and beheading him. Shuowen: "Chop." The custom of cutting off slaves' heads for sacrifice existed in Shang Dynasty, and the headless human bones found in the sacrificial pits of Shang Dynasty in Yin Ruins are the remains of this custom.
"Pei" is a way of burning firewood to worship heaven in ancient times, and its glyph is also a relic of the custom of human sacrifice. "Yi", Oracle Bone Inscriptions-shaped, looks like a person above, with legs crossed, and a fire below. In fact, it is to tie a person up and burn it on the fire.
As an important part of traditional culture, sacrifice has a certain influence on the form and meaning of Chinese characters. With the help of some sporadic Chinese characters, it can be said that we can "see the leopard in the tube". The analysis is superficial and not systematic enough, and there are still many places that need further study and improvement.