will wail and leap[1], leaping three times with each burst of grief. (Those who had gone up to the hall then) descend, and go back to their proper places on the east; where all bare the left arm and shoulder. The son (in the arms of his bearer is made) to leap, and (the women) in the apartments also leap. Thrice they will do so, leaping three times each time. (The bearer for the son) will cover up his sackcloth[2], walk with a staff, (ascend and) set forth the offerings by the dead, and then quit the scene. The Grand minister will charge the officer of prayer and the recorder to announce the name all round, at the five altars of the house, and at those (to the spirits) of the hills and streams[3].'
3. 𝖅ǎng-𝖟ze asked, "If the son and heir have been born after the burial (of the) ruler, what course should be followed?"
Confucius said, "The Grand minister and the Grand master of the ancestral temple will follow the Grand officer of prayer, and announce the fact before the spirit tablet (of the deceased ruler)[4]. Three months after they will give the name in the same place, and
announce it all round[5], and also at the altars to (the
- ↑ A most expressive indication of the sorrow proper to the occasion.
- ↑ The breast and shoulder of the child had also been bared.
- ↑ The "five household altars" are those at which the sacrifices were offered in the palace or house, often mentioned in the last Book.
- ↑ The characters of the text, "in the shrine temple of the father," denote the special shrine or smaller temple assigned to the father in the great ancestral temple; but that was not assigned till after all the rites of mourning were over. The characters here denote the spirit tablet which had been before the burial set up over the coffin, and which was now removed to a rear apartment. P. Zottoli simply has "coram tabellâ."
- ↑ At the courts of the sovereign and of the other princes.
