The significance of rebuilding ancestral temples

The significance of rebuilding the ancestral temple

The significance of rebuilding the ancestral temple. The ancestral temple is a product that came into being in response to the times in history. Because China has a fine tradition of respecting ancestors since ancient times, and the culture passed down in the ancestral hall is very important. If the ancestral hall is dilapidated, it needs to be rebuilt. The following is the significance of rebuilding the ancestral hall. The significance of rebuilding ancestral temples 1

1. It is a good thing to build ancestral halls and compile genealogy.

Where are our roots? It’s in the genealogy; where is our sustenance? Right in the ancestral hall.

We should encourage the construction of ancestral halls. Build family trees and hold clan meetings. But we are also opposed to those exaggerated, extravagant and extravagant clan gatherings. Many people comment that the Chinese are pragmatists and have no faith. For example, whether they go to temples or temples, they burn incense, burn incense, big incense, and then tell God or Buddha, I am today Burn incense, you have to bless me, what business is booming? Make a lot of money and so on. This is a typical exchange of equivalents.

Because we have a habit of exchanging with our ancestors. As a Chinese, you can be an atheist or a theist, but you must respect your ancestors. This kind of thinking is in the blood of the Chinese people.

Why do we make offerings to our ancestors? Because our ancestors can bless us and bring us peace. This is the reason why we make offerings to our ancestors. This reason seems quite funny as soon as it is revealed, but it is exactly the reality. What does this mean? It shows that we grow up under the protection of our ancestors, who are our roots. Building an ancestral hall is also a better way to worship our ancestors and make us feel more at ease. In front of the gods and Buddhas, our ancestors seem to be closer to us.

Rebuilding ancestral halls and revising genealogies allows us to further understand the past glory of our ancestors, and also inspires these descendants. We must work hard, otherwise we will fail our ancestors and become unworthy descendants. So that's definitely a good thing.

2. Live high in the temple and practice scriptures in the prosperous times. Located far away from the rivers and lakes, ancestral halls were built during the prosperous times.

Essentially the same. Building ancestral halls, worshiping family trees, honoring ancestors, and passing on inheritance are the satisfaction of spiritual values ​​in time and space; repairing family trees and building ancestral halls are folk imitations of official beliefs; having spiritual support and reverent behavior are conducive to social stability. The spiritual needs of the people should be neglected rather than blocked. This phenomenon needs to be guided to avoid illegal and unreasonable behaviors such as forced donations during the construction of ancestral halls and genealogy.

First let me explain. This phenomenon is more common in the south. Due to historical reasons, especially in the 1960s, northern ancestral halls and family trees were destroyed for a period of time, and the erasure was relatively serious. In the south, because the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, far away from the center of political power, information is blocked in the hilly and mountainous terrain, and more ancestral halls and genealogical beliefs have been preserved. In Fujian, where the author lives, there are beautiful and magnificent ancestral halls and such folk beliefs abound.

For example, the Huang Family Ancestral Hall in Cangshan District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province (the Huang Family Ancestral Hall is the setting for "The Golden Wings" and "The Clan of Yixu" written by the famous Harvard professor Lin Yaohua), which is world-famous. The Chen Family Ancestral Hall in Lulei, Fuzhou, which was once a commotion due to demolition (descendants of the Chen family include the famous scholar Chen Jingrun and general Chen Shaokuan). The author also visited the Lin Family Ancestral Hall built by Chairman Lin Sen during the Republic of China.

1. Value statement, formal and honorable.

After more than 30 years of reform and opening up, after solving the problem of food, clothing and well-off society. Rural people also have more energy and money to consider the satisfaction of the spiritual world. People are valuable beings. Building ancestral halls and worshiping family trees is the fulfillment of the sense of value in the spiritual world in space and time: building ancestral halls shows this sense of the value of life in space; worshiping family trees shows in time that the family continues to flow from generation to generation, and thrives. Whether it is building an ancestral hall or worshiping family trees, it is essentially a channel to emotionally connect with ancestors and show the spiritual value of success.

When repairing ancestral halls and family trees, people with prestige and successful careers in the family are usually the leaders, and funds are voluntarily pledged. The unwritten rule is that those who donate more can always leave a strong mark on the form, or leave their names on the plaque in the ancestral hall, or leave an important position in the family tree. This is not an honor.

2. Ancestor worship, the spatial sustenance of folk beliefs.

China's history is official history. There are memorial venues such as family temples, Temple of Heaven, Confucius Temple, Shangshu Temple, etc.; there are historians recording history, etc.

Historically, private people have not been allowed to build temples and build family trees in public. But people’s experience of imitating the official government has always existed. Compiling family trees and building ancestral halls are folk imitations of official beliefs.

Academically, folk belief is called the sixth religion in China. Folk beliefs include ancestor worship, belief in local gods (such as Mazu, Lady Linshui, Jiangjun Temple, Tianhou Temple), etc. The so-called religious beliefs must include programmed rituals, religious activity venues, written classics and doctrines, etc. In folk belief, family trees are texts, ancestral halls are spaces, and genealogy during festivals and festivals are rituals.

The worship of ancestors has existed since ancient times. It is reasonable to worship ancestors during festivals and festivals. Today's national statutory holiday, Qingming Festival, legally affirms the legitimacy of the state's recognition of this ancestral belief. Let us remember our ancestors and cherish the present. Building ancestral halls and genealogies with spiritual support and reverent behavior is conducive to social stability. In order to honor our ancestors, we must actually work hard, which also has a certain worldly value. The significance of rebuilding ancestral temples 2

Ancestral halls, also known as ancestral halls, have a strong sense of surnames. They are halls where tribesmen worship ancestors or sages. They are also an important place for family discussions, worshiping ancestors, passing on etiquette, and uniting tribesmen. The ancestral hall was originally built for the purpose of "recovering the distant future and the fundamentals", so the architectural regulations reflect the etiquette and strict appearance. It is not only the symbol and center of the family, but also the root of local culture.

The culture of ancestral halls not only contains simple traditional content, but also has a profound humanistic foundation. It covers ancestral halls, ancestral properties, ancestral covenants, ancestral hall building regulations, ancestral hall display formats, sacrificial rituals, and genealogists. , lineages, biographies and other fields are important components of our country's traditional folk culture.

The rise and fall of ancestral halls are closely connected with the changes of the times. In the era of destroying the "Four Olds", especially the "ten years, catastrophe, and catastrophe" of the Cultural Revolution, ancestral halls and ancestral hall culture suffered unprecedented destruction. Since the early 1980s, history has been compiled during the prosperous times, and the revival of ancestral halls has also emerged. The filial sons and virtuous grandsons in each village restrained themselves and returned to rituals, and worked hard to revitalize the ancestral hall.

Architectural Characteristics of Ancestral Halls

Since the reform and opening up, various places have rebuilt ancestral halls one after another in order to respect their ancestors and protect the artistic and material value of cultural relics, maintaining the authenticity and integrity, and continuing their Traditional characteristics and environmental features; combined with regional geography, enrich the cultural connotation of the ancestral hall. Through the harmonious architectural style, it arouses the people's inner sense of identity and sublimates it into the destination of the soul.

In the old days, ancestral halls paid attention to lighting to meet the requirements of Feng Shui. The layout could not be set at will and was subject to feudal etiquette. For example, if you open the Sanshan Gate and set up door pairs (stone gongs, stone drums) and stone lions in front of the door, there must be people in the tribe who have a professional background and become officials; if the screen wall in front of the ancestral hall is to be inlaid with unicorns, the standing and kneeling posture of the feet should be based on the official rank of the tribe. Depends.

A flagpole holder will be set up in front of the ancestral hall for the clan members who have achieved fame to highlight and encourage the younger generations. Later generations can understand the development history of the village by understanding the layout of the ancestral hall. When you walk through the elegant and spectacular ancestral hall, you can understand some of the characteristics of traditional Chinese architecture.

The significance of the ancestral hall

The ancestral hall is one of the textbooks of history. It uses its own unique way of existence to interpret the civilization of the times in a village. Through the ancestral hall, people can roughly see the development of a village, which has played a major role in promoting it. These outstanding figures are distributed in various villages, and their stories have been deposited in the long river of history along with the ancestral halls. With the changes of the times, some have been gradually forgotten; while others, due to special reasons, may not have been known to everyone.

The deeds of celebrities recorded in the ancestral hall not only allow outstanding figures to remain in history and last forever, but also encourage future generations to draw wisdom and strength from them to continuously improve their personality, enrich their lives, and move forward. , Contribute more personal strength to the development of society.

Make full use of the cultural resources of ancestral halls, guide the healthy development of ancestral hall activities, eliminate feudal superstitious elements, give full play to the function of ancestral hall culture in "educating people with morality" and gathering strength, cultivate the moral trends of the times, and let excellent traditional culture and Modern advanced culture occupies the ancestral hall position. Only in this way can the traditional ancestral temple culture play its due role in the construction of civilization in the new century.

The significance of rebuilding ancestral temples 3

Ancestral Hall Culture

As a cultural relic building, ancestral halls carry a lot of history, humanities, science, art, architecture, folk customs and other information. They are among the precious historical relics in our country. important component.

In recent decades, the cultural relic value of ancestral halls has received more concentrated attention. The country and all provinces and cities have listed ancestral halls as cultural relics protection units at all levels, and they have become a rapidly increasing number of cultural relics protection units.

On the walls of many ancestral halls, there are often plaques with contents such as "Family Instructions", "Clan Rules" and "Family Laws", which contain traditional Chinese ethics with "loyalty, trust, filial piety" as the core. .

Some of them, such as "monarch, minister, father and son", "three obediences and four virtues" and other feudal ideas, are feudal dross that we need to criticize, but some contents, such as respecting elders, being filial to parents, being friends with brothers, respecting teachers and being good neighbors Ethical norms such as advocating frugality, caring for orphans and widows, abstaining from lewdness, abstaining from luxury, and prohibiting gambling include the traditional virtues formed by the Chinese nation over thousands of years. The basic ethics of "dedication and dedication" can also play a positive role in promoting.

The cultural significance of ancestral halls

Ancestral halls not only maintain the blood relationship between overseas folks and locals, but are also an important way for folks and all future generations to understand the culture of ancestral halls and the history of local cultural development. carrier.

The ancestral hall can be said to be a folk museum, and it can also be said to be a history of family changes. The traditional Chinese people's feelings for the ancestral hall are simple, honest, irrepressible and indivisible.

Undoubtedly, the ancestral hall is the temple of blood worship in the hearts of traditional Chinese people and the place where the soul takes refuge. It is the bloodline of the clan, and it is also a symbol of the rise and fall of the clan. A prosperous family enjoys sacrifices at all times and has constant incense; a declining clan has a dilapidated ancestral hall and no incense. It takes blood as the cornerstone, family ties as the bond, and travels through the long tunnel of time and space, allowing future generations to maintain spiritual communication with their ancestors.

In a clan relationship based on blood ties, the ancestral hall is the connecting point for respecting ancestors. Once you understand the ancestral hall, you also understand the true meaning of clan culture.

The cultural value of ancestral halls

Behind every ancestral hall are the emotions of many people from generation to generation. This emotion lasts forever and has evolved into a culture, a broad and profound Chinese national culture.

Family culture is the manifestation of Chinese ancestral culture. When family culture is reduced, it becomes the culture of a small family, and when it is enlarged, it becomes the culture of a nation. The ancestral hall is the fulcrum of family culture. Its functions of respecting ancestors, advocating virtues, educating future generations, and uniting people's hearts are in the same vein as building a harmonious society. Coincidentally. If the family is harmonious, the country will be harmonious; if the clan is prosperous, the country will be prosperous. The ancestral precepts and clan rules in the ancestral hall, which teach people to learn to be good, to be patriotic and to build a family, are the inheritance of the eternal historical and cultural values ​​of the motherland and the nation.