Sacrifice and sacrificial vessels

There are mainly two kinds of religious activities in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, one is divination and the other is sacrifice. Both of these activities are primitive religions arising from the worship of gods, and the continuation of primitive witchcraft is also inseparable from wizards.

Witchcraft and witchcraft played a great role in the ancient history of China. According to the analysis, there are witchcraft figures in Yangshao culture, whose function is to communicate heaven and earth, that is, to communicate with people and gods. When they ascend to the earth, they may smoke marijuana, or use psychological kung fu similar to Qigong meditation later, and enter the psychedelic realm. At the same time, animals are used as assistants. Known animals are dragons, tigers or deer, and ordinary witchcraft activities are accompanied by dance.

The religious concept of Shang Dynasty holds that the universe has two realms, namely, the alien world and the ghost world. There is a god in the ghost world-heaven, which is above the gods and dominates all things in the universe and human beings. The king is the son of heaven, and he is willing to carry out God's will on earth. These wizards and virgins who communicate with the gods are important members of the royal family and directly subordinate to the Shang king. They have special skills and communicate with the gods through certain ceremonies with special instruments and props. Bronze ware is one of their most important tools and props.

Chinese bronzes, especially ritual vessels, are mostly dignified and solemn in shape and mysterious and grotesque in decoration, which is a reflection of worship of gods and religious consciousness in bronze production. At the same time, with the help of the mystery and grotesque of bronzes, a terrible and solemn atmosphere can be created, and the position of God in people's hearts can be maintained and strengthened. In essence, it is to strengthen the position of the king in people's minds, and the kingship can be consolidated under the cloak of theocracy.

According to various documents, people had better be superstitious about ghosts and gods in Yin and Shang Dynasties. From100000 pieces of Oracle bone inscriptions, it can be seen that all civil affairs are painted with the color of "sacred objects", and there are many divination sacrifices. In the Shang Dynasty, there were no sacrifices and nothing happened every day. Oracle bones in Yin Ruins are mostly recorded in divination, and full-time chastity people judge good or bad luck according to the cracks on tortoise shells or animal bones when divination, and then carve them on Oracle bones. The Zhen people in Shang Dynasty were a special aristocrat in the state power, because they were professional fortune tellers and sacrifices, and they were the class that monopolized knowledge and put on the coat of God's messenger at that time. Only they can communicate with ghosts and gods, they can exorcise ghosts, predict good or bad luck, and occupy a high position in the social crowd. According to Records of Historical Records Yin Benji, Wang Shangwuyi was very angry with the excessive privileges of the monks and nobles at that time, and wanted to try God's will and order people to do it. Who knows that after doing this, Wuyi was killed by a sudden lightning strike. People say that Wuyi offended the gods and deepened the superstition of the Yin people.

There are five main ways of offering sacrifices in the Yin and Shang Dynasties: one is beating drums to offer sacrifices, which is called hometown; The other is a feather dance, called next year; The third is to sacrifice millet and millet, called tasting; The fourth is to sacrifice wine and meat, which is called sacrifice; The fifth is to combine other kinds of sacrifices and sacrifice with ancestors of past dynasties. This is called. The object of their sacrifice is no different from that of the primitive clan period. They are also ghosts and ancestors, including the sun, moon and stars, mountains and rivers, wind and rain, everything in the world, but the most important thing is ancestors, ancestors of past dynasties. Because of the large scale of sacrifice, a large number of ritual vessels are needed, and bronze wares are used as ritual vessels to meet their sacrifice needs. Quite a few bronzes are used for sacrifice.

As a religious sacrificial vessel, bronzes are not only used to hold sacrifices for ghosts and gods to enjoy, but also contain rich and profound religious meanings.

There are many animal shapes in bronzes, many vivid or distorted abstract animal patterns, and some Yun Leiwen. By carefully analyzing the religious life and people's religious consciousness in the pre-Qin period, we can draw the conclusion that these shapes and patterns are by no means pure artistic creations of those bronze artists at that time, not for art, but for religious purposes.

Some of these religious purposes are expounded in Zuo Zhuan's Three Years of Gong Xuan. It says that Yu Xia used tribute (copper) to cast Jiuding. "Casting a tripod is like a thing, and everything is ready, so that people can know the treachery. ..... use energy to match up and down to inherit the rest of the sky ",which means using bronzes to help wizards" match up and down to inherit the rest of the sky ",that is, to communicate with people and gods. The decorative patterns and shapes on bronzes are the embodiment of animals and animal gods. The animal image is the same as the animal god itself. Casting this image on bronze ware, as an assistant of wizards, helps them communicate with gods, thus achieving the purpose of exorcising evil spirits, praying for blessings and protecting the Lord.