Ancient cult of Themiclesia

The ancestral cults of Themiclesia or Themiclesian necromancy refers to a set of religious practices founded around the worship and communication with deceased ancestors. The term can also refer to the specific cult of royal ancestors, which is conducted by the office of the Comptroller of Ceremonies (奉常, bjong′-djang).

While ancestral cults are properly particular to the individual, who in religious manuals are exhorted to worship only "spirits of kindred blood", they have have syncretized to some degree animistic beliefs and other deities. The cult of royal ancestors, which has intruded beyond the royal family by reason of its political power, is connected to certain public holidays and festivities and has played a role as a state religion in some historic eras. While there is a set of fundamental beliefs typical of ancestral cults, it is not an organized religion and generally has no theological study or doctrinal scripture.

Name

The term state cult is coined by scholars in the 19th century, comparing the role of the ancestral cult to that of the Sylvan imperial cult. In Themiclesia, it has been so thoroughly integrated into political and social institutions, that there historically was no name or conscious attempt to define the cult and describe its content. Some have rationalized the state cult as an appeal to the establishment, asserting that its continuation was based on its pervasiveness and persistence. Later in Menghean history, Chŏndoism surfaced as a doctrinally distinct religion, engendering the term Sindoism to describe the existing set of beliefs (if only where they contrasted with Chŏndoism); the same situation has not occurred in Themiclesia, where the state cult remained native to the government and, to a great extent, the public.

Nevertheless, the name "state cult" is increasingly found problematic in modern scholarship, as the state cult in reality consists of a great number of personal cults that are theologically diverse and unrelated to each other. Particularly, the most visible manifestations of the cult, that of the royal ancestors, is by nature a private cult and technically limited to the royal family; the citizenry outside the royal clan provide only the material resources for the cult's upkeep and are theologically only indirect beneficiaries of the cult. The popularity of its festivities are better explained through the power of the cult's practitioners as political leaders and its economic consequences, rather than the spiritual appeal of the cult itself.

Themiclesians in ancient times did not conceptually unify ancestral and civic cults. Many scholars, on social and political grounds, consider the royal ancestral cult a somewhat hybrid cult that has both ancestral and civic properties, as much as the institution of the monarchy as both clan and civic leader.

The term Themiclesian necromancy was applied by Casaterran observers to certain practices in ancestral cults, notably the animation of the dead (尸) by way of a living person who acts as medium. The term is now considered somewhat derogatory.

History

The state cult is ultimately rooted in the animistic religion of the ethnic Meng states that began to dominate the southern-Menghean plains in the 2nd millennium BCE. While the earliest traces of Menghean activity in Themiclesia can be traced to the first half of the 1st millennium BCE, little remains of the religious practices of the earliest settlers. A jade disc, dating to the 4th c. BCE, was unearthed in a tomb, in southern Themiclesia, demonstrating the Menghean affinity of the interred; in some neolithic cultures that preceded the Meng culture, such jade discs were common grave goods for persons of stature, though their functions and symbolism remain unclear.

During the Hexarchy, polities gradually emerged in Themiclesia, though their influence was ostensibly smaller and usually transient. An internally stable state was not established until the 3rd c. BCE. The picture of the emerging Tsjinh state consisted of a webwork of clans (族) of varying sizes, each made up of smaller families. These clans created and dominated economically- and politically-independent settlements (邑). Clans' internal structures remain obscure, though most recognized a leader and senior lines that produced them, enjoying influence over the peripheral lines. Some peripheral lines are so weakly affiliated that they dissolved into nuclear families or became free of their clans; they migrated and lived amongst those from different clans, unable to assert independence in a settlement of their own. Though early settlements were primarily inhabited by one clan with a sprinkling of dependent families, the fastest-growing ones were those that welcomed immigrants and did not attempt to maintain dominance by a single clan.

Several dynamics thus existed in Themiclesian settlements before the Common Era, that between members of the ruling clan, between clans, and between clans and non-affiliated families and individuals.  The clan-leading elites divided between the "interior" (內) and "exterior" (外) both their temporal and spiritual affairs. They recognized separate panthea for internal gods of ancestral spirits and external gods of the natural world, the latter shared with other clans and free individuals. The geographic bonds of the settlement, shared agricultural fortunes, commercial opportunities, etc. are factors that promote spiritual activities that transcend clans. Statehood emerged at the intersection of clans and free families, the first proto-states forming though arrangements to balance the demands between ties of blood and geography. Nevertheless, a settlement's dominant clan remained in power even as states evolved, becoming their monarchs. This situation can be gleamed from the title of these early rulers—kong, "patriarch".

During the Mrangh, which began in 543, the evacuation of large amounts of Meng court artifacts and documentation imbued these dormant offices with necessary information, while the restoration of the Meng monarchy in Themiclesia provided impetus to expend resources on large-scale cult activities.

Since the arrival of the Meng monarchy in Themiclesia, there has been a consistent drive to restore Meng-era practices that have actually been abandoned in Menghe before the restoration. State cult practices (and many others) show fidelity to that era and became a political statement. Into the modern era, the state cult, as far as the dynasties' practice of it, has basically been conceptually unchanged as a "link" to the Meng Dynasty itself, to promote later dynasties' claim to its legitimacy and disparage contemporary Menghean dynasties.

Deities

Scholars divide the state cult's pantheon into two groups, natural and human spirits. Worship is broadly called dzrje′ (事) in Shinasthana and can be divided into two kinds, nubh-dzrje′ (內事) "inner worship" and ngwadh-dzrje′ (外事) "outer worship". Inner worship refers to worship of consanguinious spirits (from the perspective of the speaker), while outer worship refers to everything else.  While these two categories are mutually exclusive in most contexts, there is an increasing degree of syncretism towards the modern period through the generalization of the worship of royal ancestors, who are canonically peculiar to the royal family, by unrelated indivdiuals.

Natural deities

High god

There exists in the heavenly realm a high god Dang′-tiks or Tiks (上帝), which is cognate to the Sindo Sangje (Standard Menghean: 上帝). Compared to the vivid image of the latter, Tiks is unanthropomorphic and possibly aniconic. While some scholars believe Themiclesia is conservative in this respect, the strict prohibition of public involvement with Tiks may explain why he does not have much presence in folklore. The character for Tiks (帝) was used as a rebus in Menghean oracles to denote a form of worship, which is written in received texts a similar character tiks (禘). There is also some speculation that the Proto-Chikai word dingir (Chikai pictogram: 𒀭) may be the source of Tiks, both pictographically and phonetically, though this is a fringe theory.

The early Themiclesian tradition only mention Tiks as an arbiter who rarely shows initiative except destructive ones. In oracular texts, he creates meteorological conditions, shows approval of actions, and destroys settlements. Tiks is not part of the cyclical liturgy and receives only paltry and sporadic offerings. Acknowledging that Tiks is undoubtely potent, the fact that he is non-consanguinious may have demotivated early Themiclesians to repose faith in him, whereas consanguineous ancestors were lavished with frequent prayer and sacrifice. The prosperity and survival of cities appear to be Tiks's preserve: only Tiks's opinion is consulted when a new settlement is planned, and when a settlement faces an existential threat, diviners ask whether it is Tiks that wills to destroy the settlement. Scholars have noted that a range of factors, such as crop yields, mineral deposits, water supply, etc. could be considered in divination when the city faces a challenge, but only after these factors have been excluded was Tiks's will a pertinent question. This aspect of Tiks appears intimately connected with the Menghean concept of Mandate of Heaven, which raises and overthrows states.

In the 5th-century work Antiquities of Themiclesia, Tiks is cast as the demiurge deity and a deus otiosus. Tiks is considered to have a moralistic aspect that frequently turns destructive. This seems to correlate with Steppe influence, where the creator deity intervenes in both divine and human affairs to restore natural order.

Weather

In both traditions, Têgh leads a government, which most scholars interpret as a reflection of human government. Têgh has dominion over several other deities that correspond in function to the Weather Mothers in Menghean Sindoism. Sacrifical activity to the subjects of Têgh represents some of the earliest recoverable religious activities in Themiclesia, suggesting that the beliefs giving rise to Sindoism was present in Themiclesia no later than 1st century CE. Supplicants made offerings to "the five envoys of Têgh" (帝五臣, têgh-nga′-gjên), which are Wind, Cloud, Rain, Thunder, and an unknown fifth. During the dynastic period, supplications were offered to Têgh and his "five envoys" separately. Surprisingly, sacrifices for the "five ministers" always dwarfed those for Têgh It is possible that the fifth is Star, since Menghean oracles shows records of Têgh ordering stars to appear, but it is inconsistent with the other four as weather phenomena.

Earth

The figure of Earth (社, dja′) features very prominently in Themiclesian tradition. Annual ceremonies towards the Earth precede that towards the Heavens. Rather than functional definition of each member of the pantheon, each community worshipped its own Earth-deity and built shrine towards him. His worship is demotic compared to that of Têgh or his envoys. Semi-annual sacrifices to Earth, once before sowing and again after harvest, are important public holidays that survive into the modern day. Most pre-modern Themiclesians being subsistence farmers, these ceremonies drew virtually every household, creating a copious amount of local lore and custom. Such events typically included merriment and festivities. Apart from the community celebrations, the state also holds formal ceremonies towards Earth. The central government and each prefecture erect a State Earth Shrine (邦社, ladh-dja′).

Earth holds obvious domain over agriculture, determining the quantity and quality of each harvest. Events that adversely affect harvests are also controlled by Earth. Though Rain is an "envoy of Têgh" by common reckoning, Earth also controls whether land was humid or arid. During drought, the court often ordered sacrifices laid before both Rain and Earth. Locusts, a somewhat common pestilence, was considered part of the jurisdiction of Earth. Aside from shrines towards the Earth in general, various geographical features were also given their own Earth shrines. The River Gar, with its own shrine, merited monthly sacrifices of livestock to prevent it from flooding its banks and the farmland on it. Major mountains, as in Menghe, also possessed their own shrines, though Themiclesia geography often meant the standards of a "mountain" were much looser than those in Menghe. Since a set of Menghean mountains already acquired divine status before the split in the 6th century, those shrines were re-dedicated to Themiclesian mountains, some of which were so strikingly minuscule that Menghean visitors wrote mocking accounts about them.

Human spirits

Under the state cult, in broad terms, it is thought when humans died, they became ghosts (鬼, kjui). This transformation occurs irrespective of ethnicity or class as far as evidence suggests, and ghosts are impervious and immortal. A ghost is held to inhabit the mortal world with the living. The ghost possessess all human attributes: it has consciousness, occupies places, consumes food and drink, and communicates with the living through dreams and oracles.

Consanguineous ghosts are called grji (示) from the perspective of the speaker, usually rendered as "spirits" in Anglian. Themiclesians speak of ngai-grji (我示) "our spirits" referring collectively to familial ancestors. In early theologies, grji spirits are relevant only to their descendants and appear almost non-existent to individuals of other lineages, but subsequently some royal grji achieve sufficient importance that they are regarded as influential on the public.  Grji spirits were the focal point of the state cult as far as activity and resource are concerned; estimates place the number of sacrificial victims to spirits at 98% of all recorded quantities, versus 2% towards non-consanguineous deities. This proportion has since shifted, as the family has replaced the clan as the fundamental unit of society.

Creation myth

Physical world

In Antiquities of Themiclesia, a 5th-century universal history that accounts for the creation of the world up to the Sungh dynasty's proclamation of hegemony in Themiclesia, a version of the Sindo creation myth is adapted for Themiclesian perspectives. In Book 1, the primordial world is described as a formless void where every kind of material already exists but is in a state of chaos. Têgh, the demiurge, builds the world by gathering up the water to form the seas and the soil to form continents, with the result that the High Heavens (極) was now clear of materials and fit for divine habitation. After this, Têgh manipulates light and air to create the heavenly bodies and winds, which he sets in motion around the created earth.  After this work which "does not actually create anything but brings understandable order to existing matter", Têgh retires in the High Heavens having created a satisfactory abode above all existence.  Antiquities relates that the pole star Kochab is named Têgh (帝) for this reason, and through which one may ascend to the divine realm of Têgh.

Mythologists have commented on the imagery of building houses in the Antiquities' version of the creation myth. The world "High Heavens" in Shinasthana literally means the beam or ridge as of a house, while the gathering of soil to create the earth appears to allude to the practice of creating rammed earth, which is the usual foundation for buildings in Themiclesia. The gatering of waters to form the seas appears to suggest the draining of marshes or ponds into a basin or river to dessicate the land; this was not a common situation in building small houses, which could simply avoid these inconvenient features, but is recorded in the construction of palaces and cities. The creation of a house in the process humans would understand is contrasted with the abode of Têgh, whose realm, having been cleared of materials, appears to consist of a vacuum that has no water, no earth, and no light. Another theme in this creation myth is the distinction and continuity between humanity and divinity. Humanity is consigned to live in the world created out of what Têgh considers undesirable and wants to remove or confine.

This view of creation is attacked in philosophical texts, particularly those discussing received texts in the pre-Meng literary tradition. These authors argue that the world cannot have a beginning but has existed since "infinity" (無極, mja-gjek), because if something or someone was there to create it, the world must have existed already, and something must have created the creator. It seems in some settings this argument was "least questionable", though the idea the world had a definite beginning was undoubtedly more popular.

Life and humanity

After Têgh had created the physical world, whether intentionally or unintentionally, all the living creatures—the hundreds of plants, worms, fishes, avians and beasts, and apes, and the ten-thousand things—sprang to life on the world created. These living creatures were distinguished from the lifeless elements as they had been touched by the divine creator, which gave them the qualities of divinity in small part. It appears the writer of the myth believed that these forms of life differed in the amount of divinity they had; the inanimate had none, flora a little, and worms, fishes, avians, beasts, and apes progressively more. The predominant belief in Themiclesia was that (at least some) humans were descended from the apes.

At this point, the Powers (徹示) arrived on Earth and each took a part of it to be their home, but they were disappointed that nothing there responded intelligently to their demands. They each took every animate thing and combined their most desirable parts and qualities and thereby created humanity as their servants. The plants were valued for their steadfast ability to create food out of earth, the worms for their ability to till the ground, the fishes for their ability to swim, the avians their ability to search, the beasts the ability to hunt, and the apes the ability to make tools. But because each god selected different parts of each form of life and combined them differently, the creation of each god was distinct, and from these apex ancestors arose the "myriad nations" of the earth.

The myth leaves ultimately unexplained the relationship between Têgh and the Powers. In later commentaries and elaborations on the myth, the Powers are sometimes described as Têgh's children; however, as Têgh does not have a mate and is not known otherwise to have the power of parthenogenesis, it is not widely relayed. Some have inferred that the relationship between Têgh and the Powers is analogous to that between Chŏnjo and Chŏnja in Sindoism, but others do not agree with this identification. Supporters of this idea have cited that Têgh created the physical world and the Powers created humanity, just as Chŏnjo created the material world and Chŏnja created humanity. Its opponents generally rely on the observation that the world where the Powers reside, according to Antiquities, is created out of the refuse of the heavenly realm, not the pure, heavenly realm that both Chŏnjo and Chŏnja reside. Still others believe that the omission of Têgh's relationship with the Powers is intentional, as it would provide an structure that accommodates the diverse gods that Themiclesians of the 5th century and their neighbours worshipped.

Nations

The characteristics of the nations according to Antiquities is not only determined by the qualities to them given by their creators, but their continued relationship with them. In this view, humans are pawns of the Powers, who are often fighting with each other for both ambition and entertainment; the strife of the Powers was used to explain the conflict between humans. After the creation of humans, the Powers became aggressive towards each other and used their pawns to vanquish each others' pawns, in order that they might create a larger dominion for themselves. Direct combat between the Powers is generally not recorded in Themiclesian mythology, because they are considered immortal. Eventually, some gods became greater, while others were weakened or forgotten.

The god associated with Meng people in Themiclesia, by the writer of Antiquities, was Te-lin (天), who claimed for himself the realm of the starry skies and subjugated several existing gods there. Many scholars take this as a metaphor for the subjugation of the aboriginal peoples around Themiclesia-proper, a conscious process that occurred in the late Antiquity. A common identity amongst Meng-language communities seems to have first appeared at that time, though this point remains contentious. Te-lin possesses some characteristics that are not found in mainstream Sindo mythology but seems have been influenced by the ancient religions of the Dzhungar steppes; by some scholars, he has the prototypical image of a god of thunder, who wields lightning bolts, makes rain, and is generally a belligerent god. The gods of clouds and rainbows are his messengers, while the stars and sun are his enemy.

In some texts, Te-lin is able to pierce the firmament that Têgh had built and spread clouds, manifestations of his power, over these heavenly bodies that were seen to drive the clouds and rain away. Te-lin may be regarded as a powerful warrior, especially in early portrayals, but this aspect seriously diminished after he was adopted as a patron deity of Themiclesian kings in the 6th century. Ultimately, the Powers were a rebellious sort of being, whose belligerence was equated with the continuous warfare that characterized the Classical Period; the divine profile evolved to portray Te-lin as a victorious king of the gods who has achieved primacy amongst his peers, when the Themiclesian kings claimed the same within their multicultural ambits. In other texts, Têgh was the arbiter between the divine Powers, who disliked turmoil and punished aggression. "In this regard, Têgh and Te-lin are deities with opposite profiles," in the words of Marler, "who represent the desire for peace and justice on the one hand, and victory and dominance on the other; these two pursuits are evidently viewed as irreconciliable."

Importantly, Themiclesian people are portrayed as natives to their land. There is no mention of any kind of migration resembling what has occurred during the Dark Ages that led to the presence of Meng culture in Themiclesia. Nevertheless, for at least some time after the creation of the nations, they lived amongst each other. This situation sometimes caused the Powers to become dissatisfied, and Te-lin militated to provide his people with a kingdom where he was worshipped as the chief deity and where his people would have power over all others. This dominion, the writer of Antiquity relates, is to become Tsjinh, one of the early polities that arose in the Dark Ages.

Tsjinh city

After Te-lin has subjugated the gods who originally occupied what is Themiclesia, he taught his people to build defensive walls and organize armies. After this, he established ten wisest men from his creation in Tsjinh and told them that from their race shall all true kings rise. He points to Kochab and declared that, for as long as the Pole Star remains unmoving, they shall forever be the lords of the land. To assist them in their future roles, he gave his wisdom; he taught them how to venerate and speak with their ancestors (necromancy), to worship the gods and curry their favour (religion), and to pass this wisdom to their progeny (writing). But his prowess in battle he gave to those who took it upon themselves to leave cities and conquer new land: "The son that wisely loves your cities shall receive your patrimony, that is the lordship over the cities, but the son that unwisely demand more than what you give shall receive mine, that is the lordship over battles. Do not begrudge him for considering your city too small or his patrimony too meagre." Then Te-lin left the city to do battle with the gods of the distant lands.

For a time, the ten wise men reigned after each other, and Tsjinh grew to become an empire that encompassed many cities. The ten are identified as the First Generation in the traditional canon of monarchs, whose reign then gave way to the generally-accepted list of monarchs starting with Former P.rjang. It should be noted that the ten wise men do not appear to be historical, but an aetiology for the cryptic naming custom of Tsjinh rulers, which revolves around a ten-member ordered list that also serves as a calender unit of ten days. Thereafter, Te-lin is said to have appeared in multiple occasions until the reign of P.rjang VI, who was allegedly a great ruler but neglected sacrifices to the divinities. As a result of losing Te-lin's favour, Tsjinh city entered a period of disorder, while its colonies, which kept their devotion to Te-lin, continued to grow in number. Many heroes of the Archaic Period are said to be avatars of Te-lin, who grew cold towards Tsjinh due to the metropolis's neglect but remained faithful towards the colonies, continuing to bolster their prowess in battle and fertility.

Comparison with history

While Antiquities is a historical work, its liberal conflation of mythology and written history has drawn criticism almost as soon as it was published. While the worship of Te-lin was indeed widespread in the 5th century, it is "basically unknown" until the 2nd century, and historians of the 3rd century have been able to write about contemporary events without appealing on the one hand to the mysterious and supernatural and on the other hand ancient histories. Yet its formulation of ancient history, that is up to the emergence of narrative history around the turn of the 2nd century, made it appealing as an epic poem of creation and ethnogenesis. The 17th-century historian Lord P.rjang said Antiquities was "a history book for those not interested in history". Some modern scholars have concurred that, even though its mythologized early history was never considered reliable even by medieval historians, its pertinence with a popular deity made it interesting to a segment of the populous who are interested in religion but not history. While 90% of Antiquities is dedicated to the Classical Period and Tsjinh hegemony, in which the divine does not explain history, it is precisely the mythologized part that are the most frequently taught in Themiclesian schools.

In the 19th century, when the Antiquities gained the somewhat unwarranted reputation as a fictitious work, Kap writes in 1890:

In the Dark Ages and Archaic Period, virtually all religious practice, as inferred from texts and archaeological evidence, were associated with ancestral cults, with the occasional reference to Têgh. The idea that Te-lin guided the people of Themiclesian to found the city at Tsjinh has little basis in history. It is not only unfounded in the objective sense, because early Meng people migrated from the east and did not originate in Themiclesia, but also thus unfounded in the subjective sense, because early Tsjinh people never ascribed any of their observations or aspirations to the figure of Te-lin. Accordingly, the retrospective extension of Te-lin into the Archaic Period should be understood as a rationalization of the prevalence of the faith of Te-lin in the 5th century.

Sak presents a more modern opinion in 1985:

... the figure of Te-lin seems to have strong connections with the heroic cult of some of the less "orthodox" parts of the Tsjinh city's peripheries. In the past, historians have been more reliant on the written record to deduce the nature of religious practice, but in more recent times they have been more accepting of myths and legends as tangible things, with equal or lesser weight compared to cultic practice and their material remains. Te-lin probably began as a warrior deity, with some inspiration from the Steppes, worshipped by those who did not prefer or could not afford luxuries like animal and human sacrifices in their hundreds on a regular basis. We should remember that the veneration of ancestors, in the fasion of the Tsjinh nobles, was a very epxensive thing. It entailed the maintenance of dozens of temples, priests and scribes, and moreover regular sacrifices at each. In contrast, a god like Te-lin who could provide the blessings all of a person's ancestors, who in the absence of education might not be able to name many of them, less worship and edify them, is an economical alternative.

Te-lin also has a noticeable ancestral aspect that distinguishes itself from the more aloof Têgh. The idea he created the Tsjinh people could potentially be understood as a vague assertion that he gave birth to their race.

Worldview

Sky

Somewhat akin to the situation in the Meng Dynasty (c. 200 BCE – 278 CE), the state cult of Themiclesia held that Earth was "square", under a celestial dome that was "spherical". The distance of the dome from any earth-bound vantage point was never seriously discussed and often written in some highly numerological figure, such as "144,000,000 leagues". After the introduction of Casaterran philosophies in 8th century, Themiclesian scholars seem to have accepted that the "dome" was infinitely large, though again how could an infinitely-large thing have a definite, spheroidal shape, is left academically unaddressed. However, as Themiclesians made landfall in Meridia in the late 7th century and proceeded to pursue military dominance there in the 9th, the extension of nautical cartography led to a more complete appraisal of the celestial dome as a guide to navigation. Around 1100, Themiclesian astronomer L′ing Kabh reasoned that since the celestial dome was infinite in size, so must the land; a contemporary monk, Pjap Stsêng (法晴) reasoned that the Earth was not infinitely large but suspended within the celestial sphere, like a yoke in an egg.

From a mythological perspective, Themiclesians believed that the heavenly bodies rotated around Earth along fixed but invisible tracks called klêng (經). While Themiclesians have noted the phenomenon of the precession of Earth's axis of rotation, they were unable to explain it convincingly. The best rationalization, written in the mid-6th century, was that, while the heavenly bodies each followed their tracks on the celestial dome, the entire dome also rotated, moving all the tracks with it. This discovery occurred when the pole star shifted from Beta ursae minoris to Polaris. This work may have been politically motivated to link astronomical observations with the transition of the Meng court to Themiclesia. Whatever the nature of the heavens, Themiclesians did not appear to believe that anything human or anthropomorphic lived there; this is due to the observation that mountain peaks were much colder than sea level, thus the higher the altitude the colder the temperature. The other celestial bodies were imagined as frozen balls of ice or metal that reflected the Sun's light. With the introduction of small telescopes per Vitric glass lenses, Themiclesians discovered that stars differed in colour, which was argued as proof that blue stars were verdigris and red rust.

Earth

Compared to the impoverishment of mythology associated with the heavens, Themiclesians more readily associated with the earth.

Time

While the Meng national epic in the Gosaji (古事紀, ka′-dzrje′-kjeh) portrays ancient history as additive and linear, focusing on one character after another that have contributed to the present state, Themiclesian narratives of antiquity was markedly cyclical, which has contributed to the difficulty in chronologizing remote history. There is no firm chronology of events prior to 295 BCE in the Tsjinh or prior to 385 anywhere in Themiclesia, though Meng settlement in Themiclesia was several centuries old by that point. When it was necessary to chronologize events, generations instead of years were counted. One theory advanced to explain this contrast is that the Meng people who colonized Themiclesia continued to live in self-contained, consanguineous communities and had little need to establish dates with other communities, while their cousins in Menghe lived in a more open society where clans did not dominated individual lives as much.

The first linear chronology appeared with the cyclical sacrifice (viz. below) and the storage of den′, which recorded the quantities of sacrifices towards a particular ancestor and were deposited at his shrine. The next time a sacrifice occurred, the new den′ was deposited with the old one. Thus, events referenced the liturgical cycle in which it occurred, while finer pointers could indicate the particular sacrifice towards a particular ruler, e.g. on the day the ljep sacrifice happened at the Kaw shrine, in the second cycle of the generation (二祀高宗協日). Such a chronology could not align with natural time, because liturgical cycles lengthened from around 220 days to 480 days (by the 3rd c. CE) to accommodate each passing ruler. Liturgical cycles were frequently suspended due to warfare, natural disaster, or other unrecorded issues, such as the renovation of a shrine. Additionally, liturgical time was founded on ancestral cults, which were of little interest to individuals beyond the clan.

Around 100 BCE, states began recording events according to the civic cults, particularly towards Earth, rather than ancestral cults. The primary difference between them is that the former were frequently agricultural, which depended on climate and natural time, or astronomical, which relied on celestial timepieces. The skwjadh (歲) ceremony, which a settlement held to celebrate the harvest (年, ning), was used in lieu cyclical sacrifices under much the same principles. Thus, the Tsjinh people began recording public events according to the skwjadh ceremony during the ruler's reign, e.g. on the second skwjadh day of a certain ruler. In later literature, events relating to the royal ancestral cult were still recorded by its calendar, while the civic calendar came to dominate virtually all other contexts.

Mortuary practice

The mortuary practices as endorsed by the state cult has been summarized by rationalist thinkers in the late 12th century as "sumptuous burials, prolonged mourning, complex rituals" (厚葬久喪繁禮, ghwa-dzangh-kweq-smang-bar-riq). As cultic belief dictated that the human soul was undying and continued to possess the faculties of a human, only invisible to the living, piety towards the family, which is a private virtue that commanded public value, extends to the deceased members of the clan. The elaboration of funerary rites was therefore regarded as the devotion of the living, specifically the successor, towards the deceased. The rituals centred on the deceased moreover has the societal function of connecting family branches through veneration of common ancestors.

Nearing and after death

When a person nearned death, it was customary to summon witnesses to make a will. This practice prevented probate disputes by making the final will public. Royalty and other high-status persons were always moved into the main hall of the dwelling for this purpose. Particularly in the case of the emperor, the entire civil service in the capital city could be summoned for the occasion, to prevent falsification of the monarch's will.

Once the individual has died, a cloth was placed over his face, to ascertain that breath has ceased. The heir would strip off an article of clothing worn by the deceased and display it at the nearest window or door, exclaiming "return" (復, pruk). All doors and windows to the building where the deceased passed away would be opened, and food would be laid before the body. This custom has been connected with certain archaic healing techniques employed by witch-doctors, recalling the soul of the departed and inviting it with a meal, though its origins are unclear. After a time, the clothes are replaced on the body. This process repeats any number of times, but the higher the status of the deceased, generally the more repetitions. The pruk ceremony may have assisted primitive societies in distinguishing comas from death.

During the pruk ceremony, the body remains on the bed, and the family treats it as though alive, providing it with food and drink. When the pruk ceremony ends, the body is dressed and placed in a coffin in the ram (斂) ceremony. The clothes on the body range from a daily outfit to several dozen layers, depending on the family's preference and financial commitment. The transfer of the body always takes place close to midnight, and several spells are cast over the body. There is no concensus on how long the pruk ceremony must last, though anthropologists reason that it originally ceased after the body showed signs of decay. This is because the spells recited at the ram ceremony were to ward off corporeal decay, so that the spirit may still return to a functional body.

The ram ceremony is where state provision for soldiers who died in battle begins, assuming that their commanders had already performed the pruk ceremony on their behalf; the obligation to perform the pruk ceremony remains part of the duties of a field commander today.

Waiting period

On the day following the ramh ceremony, the prinh (賓, "to be guest") ceremony occurs. The coffin is moved from the east end of the dwelling to the west end, because the east was associated with hosts, while the west, guests.   The prinh ceremony marks the beginning of the funeral-proper, when the loss is accepted as irrecoverable. From the status of a human and family member, the deceased becomes an ancestral spirit (示, grih), staying as his family's guest, hence the ceremony's name. While seating orders usally places the head of the family on the west end, it is now reserved for the coffin of the deceased.

After the prinh ceremony, the demise of a family member is publicly announced. Wherever possible, messages are dispatched to consanguineous and marital relatives, as the paks (赴) ceremony. While long-distance messages were for only the privileged, the introduction of a modern postal service has enabled all families broadly to inform relatives. In the past, relatives that received the news were expected to travel to the grieved household and bear funerary gifts, either in money or in goods. The goods are not funerary goods of the deceased, but to defray the expense of the funeral, which could well be extremely costly.

For the duration of the paks ceremony, the coffin remains in the dwelling, perhaps for months or years. Some scholars take this as a vestige of an older, unwritten custom of secondary burial. In the 19th century, some thought it an inherited practice, citing Gojun and Jun dynasty texts, while others believe it arose independently in Themiclesia, possibly in imitation of aboriginal secondary burials. In these, the primary burial would last until the flesh of the deceased has decomposed, and the skeleton would be retrieved for the permanent burial; under the state cult's canon, remains are never removed from the coffin for the permanent burial. Today, most scholars think that Jun-dynasty practices were elaborated with reference to native customs when the first settlers arrived in Themiclesia, since the time elapsed between the prinh ceremony and burial in Jun times was not nearly as long as in Themiclesia.

The time separating the prinh ceremony and burial primarily also depended on social status. Monarchs were not buried until years elapsed, and the aristocracy typically allowed five to nine months. Emperor Qrirq died in late 2016 and was not buried until early 2019. Commoners that could afford daily ceremonies of presenting food and clothing could also elect to keep the waiting period as long as desired, though anything beyond three months was deemed unusual, if indicative of a very pious family or successor.

The long waiting period became a subject of criticism in the 19th century, particularly to Casaterran visitors who were shocked by coffins lying in houses. While they were sealed with clay, wax, and aromatics and likely not emitting odour, foreigners universally found the practice unacceptable, including those from Menghe and Dayashina. Mengheans in the late 19th century advocated cremation as a replacement of the waiting period, but many Themiclesians, particularly of a more traditional disposition, believed cremation amounted to corpse-desecration and a blatant violation of the duty of piety.

Burial

In the oldest datable burials, which are in the mid-7th century BCE, the residence of the dead became the site of their burial, as the enclosures in which they lived showed signs of occupation (pottery fragments, food remains etc.) It is plausible that the surviving family members continued to inhabit, in some capacity, the enclosure of the burial, and this would ground the tradition that "in former times, the living and dead lived in proximity and shared their property".

But even from such an early date, it appears that once the principal resident was dead and buried in a compound, that compound acquired a status different from other compound. Accordingly, there is a possibility that an even earlier state of affairs may be reconstructed, where this stigma of burial had not yet existed. It seems the notion of ritual sacredness and pollution may have been linked to each other or even identical in this period. On the other hand, the best-understood burials from this early time are the largest burials, while the practice amongst others remains yet poorly-studied.

Actual living with the burial evolved into a symbolic, ceremonial form of living, in which supplicants who would have vacated the burial compound periodically returned to commune with the dead by re-enacting daily life with them. This transition would have been complete by the end of the Dark Ages. Various aspects of daily life with the deceased evolved into ceremonies and associated sacrifices that appear to underlie the unterminating litany of ceremonies that Archaic aristocracy engaged in. Even actions as simple as opening doors and windows were subject to divination and sacrifices, not to mention the preparation of meals and presentation of gifts.

By the time of the Middle Archaic (conventionally 200 - 1 BCE), the custom had shifted, now requiring removal of the dead to a compound built expressly for the purpose of their burial. It seems this may have been motivated by the increasing size and luxury built by leaders and their nascent role as political places; hence, requiring residents' evacation upon their owners' deaths would have been too wasteful, inconvenient, or both.

The Middle Archaic is thought to have witnessed the advent of dynastic kingship in Themiclesia, and undoubtedly the family compound of rulers were evolving into palaces that demonstrated the power of their owners but were also shared by other families for the transaction of public business. In such a case, the customary vacation of the compound would have impeded its stability as a political forum. The permanence of palaces would have greatly emphasized dynastic succession, which became more important and even primary from this time forth. Adrian March wrote that it is "hard to overestimate the revolutions ... when only a short time ago, father-son and sibling successions were not only uncommon, but actually forbidden."

As few ceremonies were conducted at the burial site, it could be distant from its family. Since a burial chamber needed to be excavated, softer earth was preferred.  

In preparing the burial site, a well-to-do family would ensure that the burial chamber, usually a straight rectangular shaft larger than the coffin, was flanked on all sides by wooden logs; this enclosure was called a kwak (槨). The kwak provided room for funerary goods to stand in an open space and not compressed by soil after closing the chamber, suggesting that their prolonged completeness was a major concern for families providing them. Cinnabar dust was sometimes used to seal spaces between the wooden logs of the kwak. Elaborate kwak might be the size of small buildings and possess separate chambers, both for structural support and to segregate funerary goods imitating living arrangements.

A second style of kwak has emerged more recently. A tunnel underground, supported with stone vaults, required excavating only the desired chambers. While stone masonry was costly, it proved less so compared to the massive excavation effort of the former style. Both styles were used for the burial chambers of royalty and nobility. Commoners and retainers of the wealthy were typically buried without a kwak.

The coffin is transported on a special vehicle, typified by two axles rather than one. If the coffin had showed signs of decay or penetration, the standard practice was to enclose it in a larger coffin. For coffins having experieced prolonged waiting, as many as four or five coffins could be added. When such a situation is expected, the outermost coffin could be decorated extensively, with inlaid precious and semi-precious stones, lacquer, or other similar elements. The coffin artwork was usually geometric in design, though anthropomorphic motifs are not uncommon. As these elaborate coffins were typically paired with sturdy kwaks, separating them from earth, they did not decay easily in the archaeological record; many stunning examples have been recovered.

Families usually filled the space between the coffin and kwak with funerary goods. In the most luxurious examples, bronzes were stacked together around the coffin leaving hardly any space. The contents of the kwak are different from those within the coffin. The latter are mostly small personal belongings like books, swords, pens, and toys, while the former contained items that conspicuously demonstrated the status and wealth of the deceased. This contrast is attributed to the visibility of the kwak′s contents to outsiders attending the burial ceremony, while those of the coffin were hidden.

In burials of royalty or clan leaders, the coffins of retainers or servants may also be present in the kwak. In some examples, their coffins surround and envelope the kwak. Retainers of very high status may possess their own kwak and be buried next to their master's kwak; some even have sub-retainers more closely attached to them than the ruler or clan leader. Conversely, those of low status may not have even a coffin to contain their bodies, and these burials are difficult to separate from human sacrifices that occur after burial.

So that the hearse and heavy goods can be moved into the kwak (usually 10 – 15 m underground) without a crane, ramps are dug towards it. The number of ramps correlates with the size of the burial and thus the status of the deceased. As the kwak was usually square or rectangular, those with one ramp on each side were the largest. Those with two opposite each other were smaller than the former, while those with one still lesser, but all those with ramps were significantly larger than those without ramps.

After the whole burial is in place, the kwak is sealed from above with additional planks or logs. Soil is then piled upon it to form a burial mound (封, pjong). In early examples, more human sacrifice victims are found in the refill soil. In the burial of King K.r′ang of Kem, who ruled northwest Themiclesia in the 3rd c. BCE, there were 5 layers of 100 decapitated victims each; along with the 182 victims in the burial-proper, it is considered the largest burial of the period. Yet even during that time, such elaborate burials were already criticized by competing rulers as "cruel beyond human understanding" (慘絕人寰, s.r′em-dzjot-njing-gwrjên). Tumuli with four ramps typically had more than 100 retainers buried; those with two, around 20; and those with one, 10.

Veneration

After the burial is complete, the djak (袥) ceremony is held to consecrate the tjo′ (主), a stone tablet that represents the spirit (示, grji) of the deceased. During the prjinh ceremony, the spirit is thought to reside in the visible coffin, symbolically staying as a guest in the household. After the coffin was buried, a stone tablet is fashioned from rocks near the burial site and brushed with sacrificial blood in the djak ceremony, reprising the mrer ceremony that occurred on the coffin. The application of blood is believed to imbue the tablet with the qualities of a living body, which blood represents. The trjek (陟) ceremony next occurs to invite the spirit to exit the coffin and to inhabit the stone tablet. The tablet is then carried to the household or a building to become the new home of the spirit inhabiting the tablet, where the dingh (奠) ceremony occurs.

A dedicated building to house the tablet is called a tsung (宗), "shrine". Such an expense is only possible for the most resourceful individuals, and most families would instead place their tablets in a prominent place in their dwellings. If the dingh ceremony co-occurs with the finishing of a new shrine, the shrine must also be consecrated by sacrificial blood on its doors, thresholds, windows, pillars, beams, and ridges on its roof. After the dingh ceremony, the spirit is regarded to be in its own house and no longer a guest with the living, indicating the end of the funerary rites for the family of the deceased. The head of the household would then resume his seat at the west side of the house.

Royal shrines are typically enclosed by walls and include a sizeable building in them, where ceremonies occur. The shrine walls are surrounded by a second layer of walls (垣, gjon), and between them lie offices of the shrine's officials and warehouses to store implements and other materials used for ceremonies. The whole complex is called kjung (宮), "palace".

Royal ancestral worship

Interior of the East Shrine, used as an exhibition hall in 2010; the tjo of Emperor Gwidh-mjen is visible

The Themiclesian monarchy paid particular attention to the worship of its ancestors, whose ability to afflict the living and to ameliorate it was regarded as important to the entire state. While minor clans have dissolved as functional social units since the 6th century, prominent clans have resisted this trend to some extent, with the royal clan (公族) being the most obvious case. State resources are diverted to the upkeep of royal cult, allowing it both to flourish and to retain archaicisms that would impossible in non-ruling clans. Some ancestors are regarded as particularly powerful and merit a great quantity of sacrifices, while others are seldom consulted at all. This variation may be related to the abilities that these ancestors showed while living, re-interpreted as deified powers after they died.  

To facilitate the worship of ancestors, the royal house (公室) maintains a shrine to each of its reigning ancestors. Today, such shrines are littered throughout Kien-k'ang and the region surrounding it. While consorts were buried in separate tumuli, they are usually venerated at their spouses' shrines. The scale of the shrines depends on successors' attitude towards their ancestors and the financial security of the royal house at succession, since smaller shrines are almost never enlarged. Unlike Menghean dynasties that generally ended veneration of ancestors some generations away, the Themiclesians maintained it for all predecessors. Menghean visitors characterized this as "indiscriminate worship" (遍祀其先) that went against Gongja's (Shinasthana: k′ong′-tsje′) teachings about emotional economy, while Themiclesian visitors were aghast at the idea of closing a shrine to an ancestor.

The ceremonies held to worship royal ancestors can broadly be divided in two kinds, the cyclical sacrifice (祀) and particular sacrifice (祭). Early in Themiclesian history, rulers arbitrarily ordered sacrifices to ancestors when the need arose. Socially, sacrifices were, a mutual experiences between descendants of the same ancestor and also a transferral of property between participants. Both confirm the status of the senior or reigning line relative to the cadet lines, both from the venerated ancestor. Thus, the frequency and scale at which sacrifices occurred was contentious between branches of the clan. The cyclical sacrifice arose in the Hexarchy to organize thitherto-particular sacrifices. It provides attention to every royal ancestor to maintain harmony between lineages. Particular sacrifices could still occur apart from the cyclical sacrifice, however.  The cyclical sacrifices includes only the current ruler's grandfather and the generations before, collectively called the ladh-grji (大示), "major spirits"; his father and deceased uncles are the smjaw′-grji (小示), "minor spirits".

Cyclical sacrifice

The cyclical sacrifice spanned the liturgical year and consisted of four successive sub-cycles, the prang (祊), gep (協), ljek (翌), and long (肜). Each sub-cycle began with the den′ (典) ceremony. The name of each royal ancestor and their spouse would be written on a tortoise shell, followed by a question for the day in the decameral week on which sacrifice should occur, while each week corresponds to a generation in the family tree. A hot poker is applied causing the shell to crack, which is interpreted as the approval for the selection. After a day is selected for each ancestor, another tortoise shell, the den′, is inscribed with the order in which the royal ancestors are enumerated. Then, in the first three days of each decameral week, more oracles are taken to determine the quantity and method of the sacrifices to the ancestors selected for that week. Possible victims are cattle, sheep, pigs, and hounds, and figures usually fluctuate between one and ten. In extreme cases up to a thousand cattle have been used. After each sub-cycle concludes, the tsrêk (冊) ceremony occurs, where the tortoise shell recording the quantity and method of sacrifice to an ancestor is locked in a chest in his or her shrine.  

Each sub-cycle entails a peculiar ceremonial context. The prang ceremony is held at the gate of the shrine, while the gep, ljek, and long ceremonies are all held in the courtyard. In the oracular process, typical methods of sacrifice include ngjah (御), mru (卯), bjat (伐), trak (乇), and rjaw (尞), representing clubbing, splitting in half, decapitation, evisceration, and burning respectively. Victims are sacrificed in order of their size, cattle then sheep, pigs, and hounds; however, humans were used before cattle in remote antiquity. Prior to the main sacrifice, other ceremonies include, tsuh (奏) and prodh (拜), meaning music and prostration. After the sacrifice, the blood of the victims would be collected (血) and brushed (釁) on the tjo (主), the stone plaque representing the ancestor, and poured over the shrine floor. The stone pillars, blocks, and basins in the shrine courtyard are facilities for these sacrificial actions.  

Particular sacrifice

Particular sacrifices are frequently used to solicit the support of one particular ancestor. Ceremonies include kuh (告), ngjai (宜), trjek (陟), krungh (降), prjin (賓), tsun (尊), djak (袥), and others.  The kuh ceremony was held to report human affairs to ancestors; the ngjai involved laying out prepared foods in the shrine. The trjek ceremony was held after an ancestor was recently buried, inviting his spirit to live at the shrine erected for him. The krungh ceremony was held to invite the High God to descend upon an ancestor's shrine, while the prjin ceremony applied to invite ancestors to each others' shrines. The tsun ceremony was used to elevate a "minor spirit" (小示) to a "major spirit" (大示).  The djak ceremony was held as a procession from the tomb to the shrine.

Evolution

The cyclical sacrifice was first domestically attested in the Hexarchy and shares much in common with Menghean practices of both Gojun and Jun dynasties. The Tsjinh that nominally unified Themiclesia was one of the six major states of the Hexarchy and became a model for later practices in not only religion but politics as well. Its successors the Sungh and Rjang were both too short-lived to alter the elaborate worship not only practiced by the Tsjinh but common for ruling dynasties in Themiclesia.  

In 543, the Chŏllo emperor Wŏn arrived in Themiclesia and was keen on adopting certain native customs that both re-assured Themiclesians of his intentions and emphasized his ancestry as the incumbent head of the Meng dynasty; thus, he built shrines to each of his 27 reigning ancestors. The Mrangh's worship differs from that of previous dynasties as cadet branches are absent from Themiclesia. However, as the dynasty stabilized and sought other means to affirm its legitimacy, ancestral worship began to consume less of the state's time and resource. Additionally, the Mrangh court usually neglected to worship deceased empresses

In the 600s, rather than consulting the oracle to determine the order of and quantity of sacrifice to each ancestor, the emperor usually only consulted one oracle with the charge to "worship all the spirits above and below, the emperor will have their auspices" (祀上下徹示皇帝受佑). By the end of the dynasty even this became uncommon with the establishment of the "fixed den′ " (常典) that determined the order and quantity of sacrifices without the use oracles at all. However, the total quantity of sacrifices offered remained unchanged from their averages in the Tsjinh; this was probably because the victims would be sold cheaply to the public at the end of the ceremonies, which was an important incentive for the public to support these ceremonies originally meant for the royal house's benefit.

The rise of the Dzi in the 8th century saw a revival of Tsjinh-style customs in ancestral worship. As the Dzi clan (at least reportedly) was a long-established one and maintained sacrifices to its ancestors while not ruling, the application of Tsjinh-style rites was seen as a cultural reversion to a period before foreign rule; however, the 209-year Mrangh dynasty has influenced Dzi rites as well. Oracular practices were restored to their former frequency only for the first few generations, after which the "fixed den′ " remained in use, apart from the first den′ ceremony of the liturgical year. Dzi rites were also influenced by the culture of Kem, which were understood as more archaic and native. Nevertheless, human sacrifice, still practiced in Kem, was not restored by the Dzi.

Human sacrifice

Human sacrifice was once widely practiced in Themiclesia, most victims being aboriginals. The first Meng settlers regarded aboriginals as not fundamentally different from animals. Terms applied to animals like raw (牢), "a pen", were used to quantify them, and descriptors such as "white" or "black", normally describing animals, were too used to categorize them. On the other hand, Meng settlers used their totems to identify them or commented on their "rulers", which indicated that they did recognize some human faculty in aboriginals. Nevertheless, the word "human" (人, njing) was never used to count aboriginal persons. Even where individuals of Meng origin were used as victims, they were distinguishable from aboriginals, the former called "humans". Human (Homo sapiens) victims were sacrificed in the same manner as animals.

The matter of human sacrifice was once taboo in all but the earliest Themiclesian historiography, and various apologies have appeared to dispute the veracity of the material that record it. The first annals, which date to the turn of the 2nd c. BCE, preserve oracular results that lead to particular sacrifices, some of which involve human victims. However, most of these victims are aboriginals referred to by their totems, such as Tiger or Bear, so apologists argued that these victims were in fact not persons but tigers and bears. This leaves a minority of records that unambiguously record oracular auspices for using "human" victims, which apologists argue are only presented as victims but never actually killed. This is difficult to reconcile with the fact that words describing sacrificial action, such as rjaw (尞, "burn"), applies to both animal and human victims without indication that it was real for the former and fictional for the latter.

Caches of oracle bones dating to the 4th through 1st c. BCE were discovered in 1738, recording the use of human victims; these were interpreted as forgeries by denialists. With the advent of modern archaeology, thousands of human skeletons have been recovered from sacrifical pits. Moreover, many of these skeletons show signs of large, fatal wounds and restraint prior to death, in place and manner similar to the animal skeletons discovered around them, which is conventionally interpreted to mean these humans were victims of the same sacrifices as the animals. Additionally, the denialist argument interpreting totems as animals predicts that there should be large quantities of tigers, bears, and wolves in sacrificial pits; however, these wild animals are virtually never discovered. Hence, since 1900, most historians conclude that human sacrifice was a historical practice ending in the 1st century CE in Tsjinh and at other times in other places, with a minority of scholars defending denialist arguments since then.

Perhaps the most apparent vestiges of human sacrifice are stone pillars, blocks, and basins in the courtyards of shrines. Though interpreted as ornaments since the Mrangh dynasty, scholars state that these implements were designed for the physiology of human victims, as none of the ordinary sacrificial animals would fit easily into them.

Sites

The state cult, broadly defined, has engendered a number of sites for its practice. Some of these sites are under active state patronage, while others are protected as cultural monuments, and still others have been converted as public venues. Former sites have been discovered by archaeologists, some having been opened to the public as ruins and museums.

Civic cults

The civic cults (邦祠, prong-mlje) today consists of the God Cult (帝祠) and the Earth Cults (社).

The High God Cult has a single site in the large public forest in the north of Kien-k'ang, called the God Hill (帝丘). The site is enclosed around an earthen mound around 5 meters tall, with steps from the south leading up to the top of the mound. The top was rammed in regular intervals to provide a firm surface, though in recent years a road roller is used for the same purpose. Customarily, every winter solstice the Emperor pours animal blood over a pile of firewood and sets it alight, so that smoke reaches the heavens, where the High God is believed to reside. The pouring of blood ended in the late 19th century, as it was regarded as savage and unhygienic, though the burning of the pyre remained. However, the Marine Prefect argued in 1981 before the House of Commons that burning firewood in the middle of a forest represents a risk of forest fire, the consequences whereof may be catastrophic. While the motion to stop the ceremony never passed the house, the Comptroller of Ceremonies provided logs of sawdust, which were less likely to create cinders that might start a conflagration.

According to the canonical understanding, each county possessed its own Earth Shrine (社), but many of these fell into disrepair or obscurity after urbanization. Originally, an Earth Shrine included large stone pillars as subjects of worship. These sites remain recognizable for megaliths, and shrines were usually located outside of urban areas, which prevented their demolition in recent times. State-sponsored cultic activities at Earth Shrines ended in 1911 as part of a broad Liberal policy to eliminate "superstitious" activities, though these sites remained places for communal events, many of which continued the spirit of the festivities held before abolition. In recent times, some localities have attempted to resurrect the Earth Cult as public attraction, though public reaction is mixed. Opponents state that the state should not promote activities of a religious character, while proponents provide that Earth Cults celebrated community, rather than religion.

Royal ancestral cult

Layout of the Dah Shrine, completed in 1744

There are currently 31 royal ancestral shrines recognized by law that house stone tablets. Most of these are located in Kien-k'ang, though some are in nearby counties, and one is in Rak-l'jang.

Some of the shrines were built before the commencement of the present dynasty but converted to the worship of its ancestors since. The two oldest standing shrine dates to 489 and 540, the latter still dedicated to its original object, King Ngjon of Rjang. Five other shrines are more than 1,000 years old, but only five are still used as shrines. While every ruler received a shrine to his memory, its size reflected his contemporaries' and successors' assessment of his reign. The shrine to King Ngjon of Rjang, for example, is 14 bays wide and 4 deep, making it as large as a hall in his palace. The largest shrine in recent history belonged to Emperor Gwidh-mjen, measuring 108 by 36 meters and covering 3,888 m² under the main hip roof; it was so large that it was built across the River Kaung for lack of space. Conversely, some of the recent shrines to unremarkable monarchs were quite small, which can be intepreted to mean a decreasing emphasis on monarchs. The shrine of Emperor Grui was small and economical by design to fit into the increasingly-crowded capital city.

Building style, other than scale, also informs about the esteem in which deceased rulers are held. In the archaeological record, the earliest shrines were indistinguishable from buildings meant for human residence. Starting in the 4th century, palaces began to show greater emphasis in depth (extension perpendicular to the main ridge), made possible through more creative pillar arrangments and longer-spanning beams. The Ladh-gjek-ntenh of 'Kên'-ljang Palace was deepened from 4 bays to 5 in the rebuilding of 361. These alterations were evidently not carried over to shrines, which remained conservative in architecture. On the one hand, this conservatism may be attributed to the absence of consistent human activity in shrines and therefore motivation to alter its architecture to suit contemporary living habits and tastes. On the other hand, conservative appearances have been used to suggest gravity and legitimacy, which ancestral shrines certainly embodied.

Shrine name			Dedicated to		Spouse		Completed	Status
Anglian	Shinasthana
Left	左宗	Dzai	Emperor Muk	穆皇帝	Empress Dowager Njing	仁太后	1859	Standing, open
Right	右宗	Gwrje′	Emperor K.rjong	龏皇帝	Empress Ku	祰皇后	1775
High	高宗	Kaw	Emperor Lji	夷皇帝
Low	下宗	Gra′	Emperor Tjang	章皇帝	Empress Dowager Ghor	桓太后	1865	Standing, open
West	西宗	Sner	Emperor Grui	懷皇帝	Empress Dowager Gwidh	惠太后	1925	Standing, open
East	東宗	Tong	Emperor Gwidh	惠皇帝
New	新宗	Sjing	Emperor Hên′	顯皇帝	Empress Hrus-′an	孝安皇后	2019	Standing, open
Middle	中宗	Trjung	Emperor Kwang	光皇帝
Generational	世宗	L′jabh	Emperor Rêng	靈皇帝
Dah (County)	杜宗	Dah	Emperor Gwidh-mjen	惠文皇帝	Empress Mja	蕪皇后	1744	Ruined
Inner	內宗	Nubh	Emperor Hor	桓皇帝
Shining	昭宗	Tjaw	Emperor Tsrjêk	刺皇帝
Outer	外宗	Ngwadh	Emperor Hrus-mjen	孝文皇帝			1762	Standing, open
Across	度宗	Dagh	Emperor Mjen	文皇帝	Empress Hrus-tjaw	孝昭皇后	1890	Standing, open
Rear	後宗	Gos	Emperor Kaw	高皇帝
South	南宗	Nem	Emperor Brjêng	平皇帝
Complex	文宗	Mjen	Emperor Goi	龢皇帝	Empress-Dowager Hrus-′jik	孝懿太后	1915	Standing, open
Upper	上宗	Djang′	Emperor Mjen of Dzi	齊文皇帝			812	Standing
Crimson	殷宗	′Rer	Emperor Tur	敦皇帝
Mathematics	算宗	Stsorh	Emperor K.r′ang	康皇帝
Thunder	電宗	Linh	Emperor ′Ju	幽皇帝
Tall	尊宗	Tsun	Emperor ′Ei	哀皇帝	Empress Langh	蕩皇后	1823	Ruined
Innundation	汛宗	Srêrh	Emperor Ng′jarh	獻皇帝	Empress ′An	安皇后	1852	Standing, open
Cordial	龏宗	K.rjong	Emperor Mja′	武皇帝
Side	旁宗	Pjang	Emperor Snjang-mjen	襄文皇帝
Small	小宗	Smjaw	Emperor ′Jik of Mrangh	孟懿皇帝			670	Ruined
Beautiful	靈宗	Rêng	Emperor Mjen-mja	文武皇帝
Large	大宗	Ladh	King Ngjon of Rjang	梁元王			540	Standing, open
Granary	稟宗	Brjem′	King Mjen of Sungh	宋文王			498
Rak (river)	洛宗	Rak	Emperor Hrus	孝皇帝
Delta	汜宗	Sljeh	Emperor K.rjang	景皇帝	Empress K.r′ang	康皇后	1827	Ruined

Related cults

Naval cult

Main article: Naval Mages

See also

• Sindoism
• Sindo creation myth