Worship of agricultural deities according to the work of Ying Shao 應劭 “Fengsu Tongyi” 風俗通義 (“Penetrating into the meaning of traditions and customs”)

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Abstract

This article presents a translation and analysis of the first four sections from the “Si dian” 祀典 (“The Sacrificial Canon”) chapter of the work Fengsu Tongyi (late 2nd —early 3rd centuries CE), which was aimed at revealing various misconceptions common among Ying Shao’s contemporaries. The “Si dian” chapter contains criticism of false ideas regarding religious cults, which the author considered important for the well-being of individuals and the entire state. Ying Shao devoted the first four sections to agricultural deities and mentioned a number of names —Xian-nong 先農 (The First Husbandman), Hou-ji 后稷 (Lord of the Millet), She-shen 社神 (God of the Soil), Ji-shen 稷神 (God of the Millet), Ling-xing 靈星 (Spiritual Constellation) —the precise relationship between which was established after a textual analysis of ideas about them in Ancient China. Ji-shen, Xian-nong, and Ling-xing appear in the Fengsu Tongyi as various names of Hou-ji. While the terms “Ling-xing” and “Ji-shen” were consistently associated with Hou-ji during the Han, “Xian-nong” could be applied to both Hou-ji and Shen-nong in different texts.

About the authors

Tatiana V. Klementeva

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS

Author for correspondence.
Email: tklementeva1297@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5964-4618

Junior Researcher, Department of Far Eastern Studies

Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

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