Definition of the word ancestral hall
Title: Ancestral Hall
Pinyin: zōng cí Ancestral Hall (zōngcí), also known as ancestral temple, ancestral temple and ancestral hall. It is a Confucian place for the Han people to set up the tablets of their ancestors, hold ancestor worship activities, and conduct family affairs. The construction of family ancestral halls by Han people can be traced back to the Tang and Five Dynasties. The golden and purple Fang clan ancestral hall in Putian was built in the late Tang Dynasty. The Huang Clan Ancestral Hall in Huangxiang Village, Hanjiang, was built in the first year of Mingdao by Renzong in the Northern Song Dynasty (1032). In the Southern Song Dynasty, the Putian Lin family "built an ancestral temple" and "purchased sacrificial property." (Volume 12 of "The Complete Works of Song Wenxiangong" by Song Lian) The ancestral hall of the Chen family in Jianyang was first built in the Yuan Dynasty. It was during the Ming and Qing dynasties that ancestral halls were built on a large scale in various places. At this time, after long-term development and multiplication of the various families in Fujian, the number of clan members was increasing day by day. In order to unite the clan members, the families built large-scale construction projects, and the construction of temples became popular for a while.
According to the "Zhiguang County Chronicle" in the early Qing Dynasty, "there used to be few ancestral halls for each ethnic group in the local area. In recent decades, those who live together as ethnic groups have built many ancestral halls in urban and rural areas. The sacrifices in the Spring and Autumn Period have a solemn and solemn preface." Merits, respecting the elderly and the virtuous, and having the intention to carry forward the family legacy." (Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, Guangze County Chronicles, Volume 4, "Yu Di Zhi Customs") Generally, families not only have clan temples and ancestral halls (or "general clan temples") where the whole family worships together. "ancestral temple"), each house and branch house within the clan often has its own branch temple and house temple to worship the direct ancestors. In the old days of Zhao'an County, Zhangzhou Prefecture, "if you live there, your knees will be safe, and there must be ancestral temples, ancestral halls, and branch temples." (Chen Shengshao's "Wensu Lu" Volume 4 "Zhao'an County") Most of the ancestral halls from this period have been preserved to this day. . According to a survey by Professor Chen Zhiping of Xiamen University and others, the Zhang family in Xinquan, Liancheng, has 24 branch ancestral halls in addition to the main ancestral hall; the Shanyao Zhuang family in Hui'an has tens of thousands of people and more than 100 large and small ancestral halls. The tribesmen couldn’t tell clearly. The Lin family in Shangqian, a suburb of Fuzhou, has nearly 10,000 people and no less than 50 ancestral halls. In order to show the prestige of the clan, a large ancestral hall was built in the provincial capital. Some large families with the same surname have jointly built large cross-regional ancestral halls. During the Republic of China, in Yongding, "in the villages, regardless of family name, all ancestral temples were built together, and the same clansmen who lived in scattered townships and moved to different places built ancestral temples in the city." (Volume 15 "Etiquette and Customs" of "Yongding County Chronicles" of the Republic of China) The Huang family in You County sent their descendants to live in more than 30 villages. Huang surnames from all over the country gathered together to build a large Huang family ancestral hall in the county. The Lin family in Fujian is one of the most populous families. In the early Qing Dynasty, together with the Lin family members in Fujian, they founded the Lin family ancestral hall in Fuzhou. In addition, the descendants of branches overseas and in Taiwan have also maintained close contact with their local ancestral halls. During the Republic of China, the Xu family in Zhangzhou, who lived in Singapore and Malaysia, returned to their hometowns to initiate the construction of the Xu Ancestral Hall in Singapore.
The architecture of ancestral halls mostly pays attention to "Feng Shui", usually in the place where the ancestors first lived, the old house is converted into an ancestral hall; when some families build a house, they often build an ancestral hall first. Some small villages with a single surname in northern Fujian are unable to When planning to build a large ancestral hall, a memorial tablet should be set up in front of the village. The ancestral hall is usually located on the east side of the main hall (front hall). It has three rooms and two outer doors. The main door is usually not opened except during the Spring and Autumn Festival or for clan members. It is opened when major events are discussed. Outside the main hall, there are small rooms for storing sacrificial vessels and suicide notes, which form an independent building complex. The ordinary ancestral hall has only one main hall with 4 niches (there are also 8-10 niches). There is a cabinet in the middle, which contains the ancestral tablets (called "God Master Tablets"). The four shrines are the official positions and names of Gaozu Kao, Gaozu's concubines and concubines. There is a short long table in front of each niche. Place sacrifices. In some ancestral halls, every new male member of the clan must put a piece of red paper on the pillar and write the name of ×××’s eldest son (or second son, etc.) to show that he has reported to the ancestors. Nowadays, the memorial tablets of the ancestors and ancestors in the large wooden niches in the middle of the halls of some ancestral halls in southern Fujian have been replaced by the portraits of the deceased. If the deceased has a married son (who did not die in infancy), their portraits can be worshiped in the main hall of the ancestral hall. In the Wu area, almost all ancestral halls have talismans, "gold foil" and images of mirrors, rulers, scissors and double happiness cut out of tinfoil-colored paper on the dragon walls, which are used to mark the house. Town House", "Western White Tiger God Town House", "Eastern Qinglong God Town House", "Southern Suzaku God Town House", etc. On weekdays, the empty rooms in the ancestral hall are lent to tribesmen who have no homes to live in, and the coffins of some tribesmen are also stored In the ancestral hall, when a clan member dies, they send incense and ashes to the ancestral hall. When tribesmen come to visit their ancestors, they must first go to the ancestral hall to worship, and then take away the incense ashes from the ancestral hall and the soil of their hometown to show that they do not forget the roots of the ancestral hall. To maintain the ancestral hall's purity and solemnity, each family in Fujian has a set of management rules to keep the ancestral hall clean and tidy.
Some ancestral halls in Fuzhou also stipulate that every year, one person will be selected from each family according to the family's residential address, and four people will be selected every eight years to take turns managing the ancestral hall. These people are commonly known as "heads of the family." The tribesmen do not allow any behavior that damages the ancestral hall. Changle's Zeng family stipulates: "Inside and outside the ancestral hall, animals are not allowed to be kept privately, and grains are not allowed to be dried in summer and autumn. As for sleeping in the shade, etc. Violators will be fined a thousand coins, which will be used as public property in the ancestral hall. If they resist the fine again, the clan houses will be gathered together." , report it to the officials for investigation. Any firewood or furniture stored inside or outside the ancestral hall shall be burned in front of the ancestral hall for public display.” (Ancestral Rules of the Zeng Family Genealogy of Ganfen Village, Changle) Some families also stipulate that members of the clan must damage the ancestral hall objects. Compensation for public penalties. Women and children are not allowed to enter the ancestral hall at will, and the houses built by the clan members must not hinder the feng shui of the ancestral hall. In particular, some behaviors that are detrimental to family morals, such as theft, gambling, drug abuse, etc., are strictly prohibited by the ancestral hall.
After 1949, except for some ancestral halls that were damaged during the "Cultural Revolution" and "the destruction of the Four Olds", most of the ancestral halls in the province have been preserved. Nowadays, clan activities are booming again in some places, and many ancestral halls have been built. The people surnamed Zheng in Zhangpu renovated the clan temple in 1987, and held the "Chuang Deng Jiao" (Cai Deng Jiao) event as the name of Zheng. Every year on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, various lanterns are hung in the clan temple in southern Fujian. Let the new people, who are accompanied by their mother-in-law, The married woman and her daughter-in-law, who are new mothers and are holding their newborn babies, go around the lower hall to the upper hall of the ancestral hall. Because they pass through the array of lanterns hanging above their heads, it is called "walking through the lanterns"). This traditional custom activity. place. The construction of the ancestral hall is still funded by donations from people with the same surname. Many overseas Chinese in southern Fujian also donated money to build ancestral halls when they returned to their hometowns. Most of the newly built ancestral halls are magnificent and expensive, resulting in waste. The newly built ancestral hall is open to villagers every day and serves only as a symbol of the clan. Many ancestral halls in southern Fujian play a useful role as a venue for village elders' associations. In traditional Chinese Confucian culture, ancestral temple culture is a surname and clan culture that cannot be despised. Due to the deep-rooted idea of passing on the family line left over from feudal society, the Chinese nation has developed a surname culture. No country in the world has a surname culture like China's This has continued for thousands of years without interruption. Although during the Cultural Revolution, the destruction of the Four Olds hindered its development to a certain extent and was even severely criticized. However, as a clan culture and a tradition rooted in the bones of the people, it is still It spread rapidly across the land of China, and the incense continues. The most iconic aspect is the ancestral temple culture. Ancestral halls, commonly known as family temples and ancestral halls, are places where ancestors are worshipped (commonly known as tablets) and clans worship their ancestors. They have always been regarded as a symbol of the clan.
The phenomenon of worshiping ancestors and setting up temples to offer sacrifices has existed in the late primitive society. Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty adopted the suggestion of Xia Yan, a great scholar, and officially allowed all Han people to establish temples in conjunction with their ancestral clans. From then on, ancestral temples were erected everywhere and temple buildings could be seen everywhere. The ancestral hall was originally built for the purpose of "recovering the past and repaying the original", so the architectural regulations must reflect the etiquette and dignity. From the Southern Song Dynasty to the early Ming Dynasty, most ancestral halls were family ancestral halls. Especially since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, ancestral halls have become an important place for clans to worship ancestors, conduct clan affairs, compile genealogies, and discuss major affairs.
In addition to being a place of worship, the ancestral hall is also a place where clan rules and family laws are enforced. The crowning ceremonies, weddings and funerals of the tribe are basically held in the ancestral hall. Some clans stipulate that disputes between clan members or within clan members must be adjudicated in the ancestral hall. Therefore, in the feudal era, the ancestral hall became a yamen in a certain sense, with the nature of a "public hall" of a clan.
The Chinese are the nation with the most ancestor worship tradition in the world. In every family, there is often a place to enshrine the tablets of the deceased ancestors. Therefore, in the old days, every family would have its own ancestral hall and give it a name. This name was called "tanghao". The purpose was to let the descendants know the origin of the family and commemorate it every time they mentioned the name of the family. Ancestor merit.
As the saying goes, a tree has many branches. As life passes on and multiplies, families will continue to expand. The result of this expansion is that some families move from their ancestral homes to other places, establish new businesses, and form new branches and new clans. Naturally, many families also go far away across the ocean. After settling overseas, these newly formed clans and branches often build new ancestral halls to worship their closest ancestors. As a result, a new ancestral hall was derived from one ancestral hall.
Although the ancestral hall is a legacy of feudal society, it has its new meaning and social role today. With the rise of reform and opening up and the craze for Chinese people around the world to find their roots, many ancestral halls have been built and restored, and genealogies have been updated. Overseas Chinese continue to renovate old ancestral halls and connect with their ancestors.
It can be said that today's ancestral halls no longer have the negative effect of "clanism", but only have the positive significance of helping people to trace their roots, remember their ancestors, inspire future generations, and cooperate with each other. They are important for strengthening the cohesion of the Chinese nation and the unity of the Chinese nation. produce a huge effect.