One year ago on Round and Square (28 October 2011)—MIddles: Belt Buckles
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Rural Religion in Early China."
Click here for the introduction to "La Pensée Cyclique" the "umbrella topic for this series.
Click here for other posts in Round and Square's "Rural Religion in China" series:
Rural 17 Rural 18 Rural 19 Rural 20 Rural 21 Rural 22 Rural 23 Rural 24
Rural 25 Rural 26 Rural 27 Rural 28 Rural 29 Rural 30 Rural 31 Rural 32
Rural 33
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Rural Religion in Early China."
Click here for the introduction to "La Pensée Cyclique" the "umbrella topic for this series.
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| [a] Fertile RF |
Rural 17 Rural 18 Rural 19 Rural 20 Rural 21 Rural 22 Rural 23 Rural 24
Rural 25 Rural 26 Rural 27 Rural 28 Rural 29 Rural 30 Rural 31 Rural 32
Rural 33
Ancestral Society
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| [b] Bud RF |
As we near the end of Granet’s “Ancient Beliefs” section,
we can see the outlines of the organizational structure that would cement the
concept of ancestors in the corporate mix—far beyond kinship—and not merely in the domestic units
themselves. The combination of ancestors, assembled living people (chanting and
engaging in presexual repartee), and the fertile earth of the uncultivated
holy place was one that was made for the unity and “assemblage” of ancestral
souls. The ancestors thus became a part of the social unity of the closed
households, even as they broke out in festival with them periodically. At least twice a year, then, the bond between the newly-united
living was reinforced not only as a corporate body of the living, but also with
their corporate dead in tow.
Society was made whole by linking those who had lived before with both the living and those who had yet to be born in a long process of reincarnation. That very process made internal Chinese perceptions of "society" a great deal more cyclical than would appear at first glance. Indeed, it linked those who walked the earth, those who once walked, and those yet unborn who would one day walk it. Many societies have categories to explain the concepts of predecessor and successor, and, even at this early (and “theoretical”) juncture of Granet's portrait, the rural Chinese spoke of society in such terms. The concepts were necessarily vague, put no less powerful for that.
On the one side, the Holy Place was a grouping of Ancestral Centers,
Society was made whole by linking those who had lived before with both the living and those who had yet to be born in a long process of reincarnation. That very process made internal Chinese perceptions of "society" a great deal more cyclical than would appear at first glance. Indeed, it linked those who walked the earth, those who once walked, and those yet unborn who would one day walk it. Many societies have categories to explain the concepts of predecessor and successor, and, even at this early (and “theoretical”) juncture of Granet's portrait, the rural Chinese spoke of society in such terms. The concepts were necessarily vague, put no less powerful for that.
On the one side, the Holy Place was a grouping of Ancestral Centers,
each of which was necessary to make up the sanctity of the
whole.[1]
Par un côté, le Lieu Saint était un groupement de Centres Ancestraux,
Par un côté, le Lieu Saint était un groupement de Centres Ancestraux,
dont chacun était
nécessaire pour constituer la sainteté de l'ensemble.[2]
The ancestral rites were public: they required public participation. It is interesting to see Granet’s (translated) use of the word “performance” in the quotation below. There is no doubt that the rites themselves, when properly carried out in the very spirit espoused from Confucius onward, were fundamentally performative. Performance is, by its very nature, public. The ancestors were part of the social order, and interactions with them were not of a private nature. Just as the songs at the seasonal festivals were public, so, too, were all interactions that living beings had with the dead.
It is necessary to point out, however, that much of what is meant by the term “public” is not necessarily viewed by an audience. Selected individuals, having properly purified and fasted, would engage with the ancestors. The nature of the rites (even in their most basic stages, as we see in the case of early rural China) were public in the sense that chosen individuals represented the larger society (or elements of that society) in ancestral rites. They did not interact with the ancestors as individuals. They represented the corporate body itself.
Just as the ceremonies of ancestor worship always required public
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| [c] "Public" RF |
The ancestral rites were public: they required public participation. It is interesting to see Granet’s (translated) use of the word “performance” in the quotation below. There is no doubt that the rites themselves, when properly carried out in the very spirit espoused from Confucius onward, were fundamentally performative. Performance is, by its very nature, public. The ancestors were part of the social order, and interactions with them were not of a private nature. Just as the songs at the seasonal festivals were public, so, too, were all interactions that living beings had with the dead.
It is necessary to point out, however, that much of what is meant by the term “public” is not necessarily viewed by an audience. Selected individuals, having properly purified and fasted, would engage with the ancestors. The nature of the rites (even in their most basic stages, as we see in the case of early rural China) were public in the sense that chosen individuals represented the larger society (or elements of that society) in ancestral rites. They did not interact with the ancestors as individuals. They represented the corporate body itself.
Just as the ceremonies of ancestor worship always required public
participation in their performance, so too the common interest
always
demanded that no family cult be allowed to escheat: the integrity of
society
would have been attacked. Furthermore, the upkeep of these cults
associated from the beginning with those of the cultivated Earth was
indispensable for achieving the prosperity of agricultural work.[3]
De même que les cérémonies du culte ancestral demandèrent toujours
De même que les cérémonies du culte ancestral demandèrent toujours
pour leur célébration
une contribution du public, de même, toujours, l'intérêt
commun exigea qu'aucun
culte familial ne tombât en déshérence : la société
en eût été atteinte
dans son intégrité. Aussi bien, !e maintien de chacun de
ces cultes
associés dès l'origine à ceux du Sol cultivé, était indispensable
pour obtenir
la prospérité des travaux agricoles.[4]
We have a practical matter to consider in the quotation above. The very work of upkeep (both physical and ritual) of the ancestral cults was of a corporate nature, and surely added to both the linkages between individuals and small groups, as well as the linkage beyond the domestic order of “assembled individuals” and “assembled ancestors.” Again, we have something much bigger and more profound than the interactions of a several generation family under a roof hole. That very hole looks out onto the heavens, and it speaks to a wider world out there. The ancestral cult assured a sense of society “under heaven,” even as they worked as a group on upkeep of ancestral tombs and the observance of ancestral rites.
At base, the ancestral cults are agricultural, as is the basis of all early social life. All people must eat, and the agricultural roots of society can even be found in unlikely places, such as modern urban society, as Granet’s mentor Emile Durkheim persuasively argued in The Division of Labor in Society, whose argument influenced Granet’s thought deeply. Building from that agricultural foundation, then, we have the basis of the private cult associated with earth. It is a short step to the worship of ancestors as a public matter, and that has everything to do with the tilling of fields and the seasonal movement of gender and labor, as it were, that is punctuated by the teeming social frenzy and sexual connection of the seasonal festivals themselves.
And that is why, while the private cult of the appropriated Earth was
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| [d] Roots RF |
We have a practical matter to consider in the quotation above. The very work of upkeep (both physical and ritual) of the ancestral cults was of a corporate nature, and surely added to both the linkages between individuals and small groups, as well as the linkage beyond the domestic order of “assembled individuals” and “assembled ancestors.” Again, we have something much bigger and more profound than the interactions of a several generation family under a roof hole. That very hole looks out onto the heavens, and it speaks to a wider world out there. The ancestral cult assured a sense of society “under heaven,” even as they worked as a group on upkeep of ancestral tombs and the observance of ancestral rites.
At base, the ancestral cults are agricultural, as is the basis of all early social life. All people must eat, and the agricultural roots of society can even be found in unlikely places, such as modern urban society, as Granet’s mentor Emile Durkheim persuasively argued in The Division of Labor in Society, whose argument influenced Granet’s thought deeply. Building from that agricultural foundation, then, we have the basis of the private cult associated with earth. It is a short step to the worship of ancestors as a public matter, and that has everything to do with the tilling of fields and the seasonal movement of gender and labor, as it were, that is punctuated by the teeming social frenzy and sexual connection of the seasonal festivals themselves.
And that is why, while the private cult of the appropriated Earth was
rounded off in each house by that of the natural Earth,
and while the
worship of Ancestors seemed to be a matter of public interest,
there was
associated with the public worship of the common Earth a cult of the
tilled
fields: the public cult of grain, the cult of millet. In this way, the
linked
development of agrarian and ancestor cults, of public and private cults,
is explained.[5]
Et c'est pourquoi, tandis que le culte privé du Sol approprié se complétait
Et c'est pourquoi, tandis que le culte privé du Sol approprié se complétait
dans chaque
maison par celui du Sol naturel, et tandis que le culte des
Ancêtres paraissait
d'intérêt publie, au culte public de la Terre commune
s'associa celui des
champs cultivés, qui fut le culte public des graines, le
culte du millet. Ainsi
s'explique le développement lié des cultes agraires et
des cultes ancestraux,
des cultes publics et des cultes privés.[6]
We finish this sub-section with the public cult of grain and millet. It is ultimately not possible to keep agricultural work (and, even more difficult, beliefs about the outside world) at only the level of the family. The family, as we have seen, is never really “closed” after all, and the need for replenishment opens the door for a merging of more than yin and yang. It creates the possibility that merged individuals and small groups will begin to think of their ancestors, the earth, and the grain that comes from “them” as something particularly important for corporate life.
It creates the basis for a set of beliefs that link people in ways that go far beyond the world of the hearth or the individual field. The grain shrine created more than a place for veneration, however. People went to the grain shrine to pay respects, to be sure, but also to gather to decide community strategies such as water control and coordination of harvests. It became the very symbol of the larger society that linked human beings to something beyond the closed group of kin within which they passed most of their lives.
With earth securely protected—and providing physical and social sustenance—heaven was only a small step away.
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| [e] Cult(ure) RF |
We finish this sub-section with the public cult of grain and millet. It is ultimately not possible to keep agricultural work (and, even more difficult, beliefs about the outside world) at only the level of the family. The family, as we have seen, is never really “closed” after all, and the need for replenishment opens the door for a merging of more than yin and yang. It creates the possibility that merged individuals and small groups will begin to think of their ancestors, the earth, and the grain that comes from “them” as something particularly important for corporate life.
It creates the basis for a set of beliefs that link people in ways that go far beyond the world of the hearth or the individual field. The grain shrine created more than a place for veneration, however. People went to the grain shrine to pay respects, to be sure, but also to gather to decide community strategies such as water control and coordination of harvests. It became the very symbol of the larger society that linked human beings to something beyond the closed group of kin within which they passed most of their lives.
With earth securely protected—and providing physical and social sustenance—heaven was only a small step away.
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| [f] Links RF |
[1] Marcel Granet, The Religion of the Chinese People [Translated by Maurice Freedman] (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 53.
[2] Marcel Granet, La religion des chinois (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1922), 24.
[3] Granet, Religion, 53.
[4] Granet, La religion, 25.
[5] Granet, Religion, 53.
[6] Granet, La religion, 25.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Granet, Marcel. The Religion of the Chinese People [Translated by Maurice Freedman]. New York:
Harper & Row, 1975.
Granet, Marcel. La religion des chinois. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1922. Harper & Row, 1975.
