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Concept
Jesa
Summary
Jesa (, tɕe.sa) is a ceremony commonly practiced in China and Korea. Jesa functions as a memorial to the ancestors of the participants. Jesa are usually held on the anniversary of the ancestor's death. The majority of Catholics, Buddhists and nonbelievers practice ancestral rites, although Protestants do not. The Catholic ban on ancestral rituals was lifted in 1939, when Pope Pius XII formally recognized ancestral rites as a civil practice (see Chinese Rites controversy). Many Korean Christians, particularly Protestants, no longer practice this rite. Christians generally, and Muslims avoid the rites, and many emigrants avoid the rites.
Since their origins, Jesa has taken on a certain formality as human civilization has developed, which is sometimes called rituals in Confucianism.
Jesa, 祭祀 (corresponding to English: sacrifice (祭), ritual (祀); 제사) evolved from the ancient Chinese sacrifice ritual, which refers to the use of string incense, wine, water, meat, vegetables, cloth, and jade (a traditional Confucian sacrifice) to the deity, saints or dead souls, prayer.
The noble class during the Shang and Zhou dynasties had a highly structured and hierarchical ritual system that granted them exclusive power to communicate with the gods. Only the king held the authority and means to gather the clans and produce ceremonial vessels, which allowed him to reinforce his legitimacy as ruler. In "Art, Myth, and Sacrifice", author Chang Guang-chih posits that the political power of the ruling class in ancient China was derived from these rituals. These rituals eventually transformed into laws that sustained the stability of society, and the sites where they were performed served as venues for governance, conflict resolution, and legal proceedings. Even after the collapse of the feudal system, the new ruler, the Emperor, continued to perform these rituals.
The objects of sacrifice in the Shang dynasty were natural animism and ancestors of the royal family.
Official source
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