Between the Temple and the Altar: The State Li Sacrifice and the Popular Ghost Festival in Suzhou

• In Event: The Religious as Secular: Space, Ritual Practice, and Power Relations at Imperial and Confucian Sacred Sites

Abstract

The sacrificial altars were the nucleus of the official religious system in imperial China. Ideally, through a series of sacrificial rituals performed on the altars, the local government prayed on behalf of the Emperor for divine protection and demonstrated their care for the people’s life from cradle to grave. In comparison with the Altar for Land and Grain (Shejitan) in the west, the Altar for the natural Deities (Fengyun leiyu shanchuantan) in the south, and the Altar for the spirits of Agriculture (Xiannongtan) in the east, the Altar for the unworshipped dead (Litan) in the north was arguably the most popular one which served as the very center to host annual ghost festivals: namely, qingming (lit. Pure and Bright; the 5th of the traditional twenty-four solar terms), zhongyuan (the fifteenth of the Seventh month), and shiyuesuo (the first day of the lunar tenth month).

By using the li sacrifice in Suzhou (prefecture) as a case study, my paper proposes to explore multifarious dimensions of the State Confucianism in term of the local altar system practiced on each county and prefecture level. The ambiguous role of the city god (chenghuang) who symbolically officiated the li sacrifice will be accordingly examined since His supernatural power was legitimately endorsed by the State and cordially worshipped by the populace. Moreover, special attention will be paid to the dynamic interactions between the state rites and popular religions. When the people in Suzhou went out to “watch the fair” (kanhui) for the unworshipped ghosts, they did not really expect to encounter any of the wandering souls. What they really saw and enjoyed was a vociferous spectacle with streams of people. And they were part of it. Ironical as it may sound, the official cult designed originally for the dead without descendants’ sacrifice had turned out to be a popular carnival for the living without social or gender differentiation.

Author

• Hsi-yüan Chen, Academia Sinica