Sacrifice is a special phenomenon in China's history and culture, with a long history and deep roots. Like the primitive peoples in the world, China's ancestors also experienced the stages of nature worship, ancestor worship, totem worship and deity worship. It is China's original creation to fix these primitive worships through the sacrificial activities in temples and villages and bring them into the national etiquette mode for compulsory observance. Especially in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the worship of ancestral temples has become the first priority of the patriarchal clan system. In order to govern the country and maintain the ruling order, all kinds of behaviors are standardized and integrated into the Confucian thought of rule of etiquette, forming a very strict and complete institutionalized etiquette, that is, the etiquette system, which has been preserved in slave society and feudal society for a long time since the Western Zhou Dynasty and has had a great impact on the history of China for more than 3,000 years.
The sacrificial cultural characteristics of Jinci Temple are the concentrated expression of ancient sacrificial culture in China. The seventh sacrifice in Records of Jinci vividly described the grand occasion of sacrificial activities in Jinci at that time: "Although there are many Jinci temples, those listed as sacrificial ceremonies often entertain the four-year-old, but the Notre Dame Temple, Tang Shuyu Temple, Jellyfish Temple and Wanggong Xianggong Temple." "Every festival is a thoughtful thought that looks like a god. Sorghum and millet are fragrant and bright, and they are famous for playing ensemble music. As a result, men and women are busy, and there are children everywhere, rushing forward and rushing back, offering wine, offering silks and offering sacrifices, each with different people. Fu Jinyang's beautiful scenery is all in Jinci, and it is also a four-season scenery, which is extremely fresh. Not only the prince and grandson, but also the young Wuling are happy, and they will lose everything here. Even the poor will solve their problems, help the old and bring the young, and enjoy it every day. It has not changed since ancient times. " Jinci has sacrifices at four o'clock every spring, summer, autumn and winter, and the incense is endless. The deities, ancestors and sages sacrificed include Jade Emperor, Sun and Moon, Wenchang, Dong Prison, Mountain God, Tai Ghost, Jellyfish, River God, Well God, Dragon God, Land God, God of Wealth, Miao God, Grain God, Medicine King, Virgin Mary, Tang Hou, Most Holy Confucius, Jinsheng Mencius, Laozi, Guandi, Gong Bozi and so on. As the saying goes, "the change of yin and yang is full of vitality and the weight of the earth." He dare not compare! "
The frequent prosperity of sacrifices in Jinci is closely related to the fate of Jinyang ancient city and the influence of religious culture. Jinyang Ancient City is the place where tyrants are located. Because of its special geographical position, it has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. It "has a secluded swallow in the north and a bird's eye view of the Central Plains in the south". "It is close to the intersection of four blockades, controls the capital of Wuyuan, and is a huge town. It is not a saint." In the ancient history of China, most of the major military and political events that affected the historical development took place on this stage. Prince Jinyang and his grandson, as well as officials and ordinary people, who are deeply disturbed by war and natural disasters, are more eager to seek Jinnan Prefecture and relocate than ever and anywhere. The prestigious Jinci Temple is only ten miles away from Jinyang Ancient City, with beautiful scenery, tranquility, isolation, solitary life and aura everywhere. It's really an ideal place to send feelings to mountains and rivers and worship ancestors.
Moreover, since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Buddhism began to be secularized, and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism gradually merged together, which further promoted the development of China's sacrificial culture and integrated it with religious colors. During this period, Sheng Xing Buddhism in Xin, Bing and Fen areas with Wutai Mountain as the center also deeply influenced the sacrificial culture of Jinci. Especially after the large-scale construction of the Tianlongshan Buddhist Grottoes in the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Longshan Taoist Grottoes in the Tang and Song Dynasties, temples and Taoist temples in Jinci were widely built, and religious sacrifices rose, which complemented the traditional auspicious activities and the temple sacrifices lasted for a long time.
In the sacrificial culture of Jinci, it is particularly worth mentioning that Jinci, which was famous for its Tang Shuyu Temple during the Song Tiansheng to Jingyou period, built Notre Dame Cathedral on the original site of Jinci, and placed Shuyu Temple on the north side of the temple, which fundamentally changed the theme of offering sacrifices to the ancestors of Jin State.
According to Li Daoyuan's Notes on Water Classics in the Northern Wei Dynasty, the original site of Tang Shuyu Temple is in the present Notre Dame Hall. Zhao also confirmed the location of Shuyu Temple in the newly-built inscriptions on Jinci Temple in the Northern Song Dynasty. In addition, from the analysis of the existing Millennium Bai Zhou on both sides of Notre Dame, it seems that the ancestral temple in Tang Shuyu should also be built in the Zhou Dynasty. Because according to the traditional concept of China, it means that the immortal pine and cypress are only planted in ancestral temples, Buddhist temples and Taoist temples. However, there were no Buddhist or Taoist buildings in the Zhou Dynasty, so the existence of Bai Zhou and its planting on both sides of the main hall indicate that this is probably the location of the ancestral hall of Tang Shuyu.
Song Taiping rejuvenating the country for four years, Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi ordered "destroy Jinyang City, relocate Jinjun County, and take Yuci as Bing". In the seventh year of Taiping and Xingguo, he moved to Tang Ming Prison (now Qian Miao Street, Taiyuan City), and was reduced from a political and military center to a tight state, specializing in military affairs and commanding Hedong Road. The purpose is to eradicate this "land of Longxing" and "seat of government", prevent the recurrence of unrest from the source and form a separatist situation. This is completely in line with a series of measures to strengthen centralization after the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty. Perhaps because of this political need, the sacrificial ceremony of Tang Shuyu, the ancestor of Jin Dynasty, gradually faded in Jinci. At that time, Jinci was more than forty miles away from Bingzhou City, and it was located in a remote place, so the sacrifice was not as convenient as before. However, people who live in Jinci building houses feel the benefits of Jinshui and worship the inexhaustible spirit of Jin Quan for thousands of years. Therefore, based on the understanding that the water and women in the five elements of Yin and Yang belong to Yin and can also continue their lives, they imagine the water god as a girl, a jellyfish and a virgin. During Song Tiansheng's reign (A.D. 1023- 1032), there was a drought in Bingzhou, and many people prayed for rain, so the girl and Tang Shuyu were enshrined in the temple. At the same time, Tang Shuyu was renamed Fendong King, and the ancestral temple dedicated to Tang Shuyu was rebuilt in Yicheng. The maiden shrine in Jinci is dedicated to the God of Jinshui, the first monarch of Jinci, and later generations may seal the Virgin and Uncle Jiang. Since then, folk activities of offering sacrifices to water gods, praying for rain and praying for children have become increasingly popular. Tang Shuyu Temple was rebuilt and rebuilt several times, and finally it was turned into Notre Dame. Up to now, although there is no historical data to prove that Notre Dame was built by imperial edict, it is a fact that the temple was ignored by Zhao and Song Dynasties in Jinci. By the second year of Song Dynasty (A.D. 1087), the main god in the temple had not only completely turned into the Virgin, but also painted dozens of portraits of girls. It is supplemented by the construction of fish pond flying beam, golden platform and red bridge in front of the main hall, which extends and strengthens the main axis of the building complex, highlights the grandeur of the main hall of Notre Dame, and promotes the worship of the virgin ginger to the supreme position. Since then, the sacrificial theme of Jinci has changed from ancestral temple to water god. The Virgin Mary has also been blessed for many years because of the legend of praying for rain many times to benefit people's livelihood. Even later generations only knew the Virgin Mary, not Uncle Yu, so they lost the root of Sanjin. Therefore, the history of Jinci seems to have been shortened from more than 3,000 years in the early Western Zhou Dynasty to more than 1,000 years in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. However, if we observe and think from another angle, integrating this kind of folk sacrifice into the landscape environment of the scenic spot and combining it with tourism appreciation will undoubtedly make the sacrificial culture of Jinci more close to the people and more colorful.
As the carrier of sacrificial culture, ancestral temple architecture has been handed down from generation to generation in a long history, and its specifications and scale are second only to the imperial palace and large Buddhist temples. It is precisely because of the political needs of the ruling class for the patriarchal clan system and the idea of rule by etiquette that the achievements of this ritual architecture are highly praised. Jinci was born under such a background, and its existence naturally has unusual significance.