spring, called Yo; that of summer, called Tî; that of autumn, called Khang; and that of winter, called Khǎng[1].
6. The son of Heaven sacrificed to Heaven and Earth; the. princes of the states, to the (spirits of the) land and grain; Great officers offered the five sacrifices (of the house). The son of Heaven sacrificed to all the famous hills and great streams under the sky, the five mountains[2] receiving (sacrificial) honours like the honours paid (at court) to the three ducal ministers, and the four rivers^ honours like those paid to the princes of states; the princes sacrificed to the famous hills and great streams which were in their own territories.
7. The son of Heaven and the feudal lords sacrificed to the ancient princes who had no successors to
- ↑ The names of some of these sacrifices and their order are sometimes given differently.
- ↑ For four of these mountains, see pages 217, 218, notes. The fifth was that of the centre, mount Sung, in the present district of Sung, department Ho-nan, Ho-nan. The four rivers were the Kiang, the Hwâi, the Ho, and the Kî.
sacrifices. When a sacrifice was offered, the tablet was brought out and placed in the centre of a screen, in the middle of the fane. As the line lengthened, while the tablets of the grand ancestor and joint ancestors always remained untouched, on a death and accession, the tablet of the next oldest occupant was removed and placed in a general apartment for the keeping of all such tablets, and that of the newly deceased king was placed in the father's fane, and the other three were shifted up, care being always taken that the tablet of a son should never follow that of his father on the same side. The number of the lower fanes was maintained, as a rule, at four. Those on the east were called Kâo (昭), and on the west Mû (穆), the names in the text here. See the Chinese Classics, I, pp. 266, 267, and the note there.
