China Culture is strong and long lasting
Ancestor Worship and Divination (Shang and Zhou Dynasties)
Two traditions that began in ancient China, and still continue today, are
ancestor worship and divination. Ancestor worship means worshiping and
praying to family members who lived before you, but are now dead.
Ancestor worship was based on five main ideas:
1. The world is divided into three levels: heaven, earth, and the underworld.
All of these levels are connected to each other.
2. A person is not only connected to a father and mother, but all the relatives
from the distant past .
3. The human body has two souls. One soul, called the hun, rises when a
person dies. The other, called the po, becomes a ghost.
4. A person needs to offer gifts to their ancestors in heaven, to show respect.
Most of these gifts include wine and meat. The gifts could be placed out in
nature, perhaps at the bottom of a mountain or along a river. It was very
important for the king to give these gifts, to ensure a good year ahead. They
believed that not giving these gifts could lead to natural disasters, like floods
or famines.
Ancestor worship was practiced in the village and in the family. In the
village, both in the past and today, it was common to find temples built for
ancestors. Villagers could go to these places to worship their ancestors. In
most homes, there was an altar to hold wood or paper which had the names of
dead relatives written on them.
<<<5.>>>
(adapted from Visible Traces: Teacher’s Guide, Asia Society 2000)
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5. In my own view which is more toward the modern world as opposed to the ancient world of how they tried to deal with the certain ideas. "5" deals with how people relate to the physical world and the nonphysical world through Tradition, Buddhism, Taoism, and Folklore Belief to some degree
The original text may be found here.
http://www.globaled.org/curriculum/china/julieseamus/resource/ancestor%20worship.pdf
Two traditions that began in ancient China, and still continue today, are
ancestor worship and divination. Ancestor worship means worshiping and
praying to family members who lived before you, but are now dead.
Ancestor worship was based on five main ideas:
1. The world is divided into three levels: heaven, earth, and the underworld.
All of these levels are connected to each other.
2. A person is not only connected to a father and mother, but all the relatives
from the distant past .
3. The human body has two souls. One soul, called the hun, rises when a
person dies. The other, called the po, becomes a ghost.
4. A person needs to offer gifts to their ancestors in heaven, to show respect.
Most of these gifts include wine and meat. The gifts could be placed out in
nature, perhaps at the bottom of a mountain or along a river. It was very
important for the king to give these gifts, to ensure a good year ahead. They
believed that not giving these gifts could lead to natural disasters, like floods
or famines.
Ancestor worship was practiced in the village and in the family. In the
village, both in the past and today, it was common to find temples built for
ancestors. Villagers could go to these places to worship their ancestors. In
most homes, there was an altar to hold wood or paper which had the names of
dead relatives written on them.
<<<5.>>>
(adapted from Visible Traces: Teacher’s Guide, Asia Society 2000)
<
5. In my own view which is more toward the modern world as opposed to the ancient world of how they tried to deal with the certain ideas. "5" deals with how people relate to the physical world and the nonphysical world through Tradition, Buddhism, Taoism, and Folklore Belief to some degree
The original text may be found here.
http://www.globaled.org/curriculum/china/julieseamus/resource/ancestor%20worship.pdf
