repose[1] to him who is to personate the departed.
36. When he has returned and wailed, the chief mourner with the (proper) officer inspects the victim. (In the meantime other) officers have set out a stool and mat with the necessary offerings on the left of the grave[2]. They return, and at midday the sacrifice of repose is offered [3].
37. The sacrifice is offered on the day of interment; they cannot bear that the departed should be left a single day (without a place to rest in).
38. On that day the offerings, (previously) set forth (by the coffin), are exchanged for the sacrifice of repose. The (continuous) wailing is ended, and they say, "The business is finished."
39. On that day the sacrifices of mourning were exchanged for one of joy. The next day the service of placing the spirit-tablet of the departed next to that of his grandfather was performed.
40. The change to an auspicious sacrifice took place on that day, and the placing the tablet in its
place on the day succeeding:—(the son) was unable
- ↑ Where was the spirit of the departed now? The bones and flesh had returned to the dust, but the soul-spirit might be anywhere (魂氣無所不之 [ = 至]). To afford it a resting-place, the permanent tablet was now put in the shrine, and this sacrifice of repose (虞 [ = 安] 祭) was offered, so that the son might be able to think that his father was never far from him. For a father of course the personator was a male; for a mother, a female; but there are doubts on this point.
- ↑ For the spirit of the ground.
- ↑ If the grave were too far distant to allow all this to be transacted before midday, then the sacrifice was performed in the chamber where the coffin had rested. So says Wang Thâo on the authority of Zǎn Yî-shǎng (任翼聖).
