Chapter Thirteen: Ritual and Ceremony — Sacrifices on the Fu Days and Folk Customs for Escaping the Heat

I. Sacrifices on the Fu Days: The Origin of the Rite

In antiquity, the sanfu period held its own dedicated sacrificial rites — "fu sacrifices" (fuji) or "sacrifices on the fu days." According to the historical record, the tradition of sacrifice on the fu days is exceedingly ancient. The "Basic Annals of Qin" in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) records: "In the second year of Duke De of Qin, the first fu was established, using dogs to ward off pestilential harm." In the second year of Duke De of Qin, the "fu" (the establishment and sacrifice of the fu days) began, with dogs used to exorcise the toxic, pestilential qi ("gu") of the heat. This is a relatively early record concerning the establishment of the "fu days," showing that as early as the state of Qin during the Spring and Autumn period, a system of sacrifice on the fu days already existed.

Why "use dogs to ward off pestilential harm" on the fu days$13 The ancients believed that during the sanfu, when the summer swelter is at its height and damp heat steams upward, pestilential illness and noxious qi ("gu," toxic heat) are most easily bred. The dog was held to belong to yang (some say the dog can ward off evil), and sacrificing a dog could exorcise the pestilential illness and noxious qi brought by the summer heat, ensuring safe passage through the summer. This custom of "killing a dog on the fu day to ward off calamity" reflects the ancients' reverence for the epidemic illnesses of high summer, and the simple psychological desire, through sacrifice, to pray for the protection of heaven and earth and pass safely through the summer heat.

At a still deeper level, the sacrifice on the fu days resonates with the philosophy of "fu" discussed earlier. The fu days are the special period when the summer swelter is at its height, yin energy lies concealed, and a person ought to conceal himself in quiet cultivation. At this critical juncture when "heaven-and-earth's qi is at the height of flourishing and about to turn," the ancients, through solemn sacrifice, expressed their reverence for heaven and earth, praying to pass safely through the year's most perilous scorching heat — this is precisely the concrete expression, on the fu days, of the ritual spirit of "respectfully bestowing the seasons upon the people" and "according with heaven and following the season."

II. Sacrifice to the Hearth and the Rites of Late Summer

As discussed earlier in the chapter on the Five Phases, the month of late summer holds "its sacrifice is to the hearth" — a sacrifice to the hearth god. The hearth is the place where fire is used. In late summer, when Fire virtue holds sway and the summer swelter is at its height, sacrificing to the hearth god who governs the fire of the stove is an arrangement of ritual propriety that "sacrifices to Fire with fire," according with the season.

Why sacrifice to the hearth in summer$14 On one hand, the hearth is the place of daily use of fire and the cooking of food, directly connected to Fire virtue; on the other, in the heat of high summer, the fire of the hearth is more likely to cause conflagration, and sacrificing to the hearth also carries the sense of praying for safety in the use of fire and guarding against fire hazards. At a still deeper level, the hearth god, in folk belief, is also regarded as the master of the household, a deity who observes good and evil — sacrificing to the hearth is also a solemn form of attending to household order and daily life.

In late summer (the sixth month), this is accompanied also by the sacrifice to "Central Earth" discussed earlier — "its sacrifice is to the central roof-opening." The zhongliu is the earth god of the center of the dwelling. Sacrificing to the zhongliu is a form of reverence for "the center of the dwelling, the center of the land," fitting precisely the spirit of "Earth virtue residing at the center" in the long summer of late summer. From sacrificing to the hearth (Fire) to sacrificing to the zhongliu (Earth), the rites of late summer themselves embody the transition "from Fire to Earth" — this once again forms a profound echo with the Five Phases configuration of Minor Heat, "Fire withdrawing as Earth rises."

III. Folk Customs for Escaping the Heat: Eating the New Grain and Tasting What Is Fresh

Around Minor Heat, folk tradition holds the custom of "eating the new grain" (tasting what is fresh) — once the new grain comes into season, new rice is cooked and brewed into wine, first offered to ancestors and spirits, and then shared among the family, in celebration of the harvest and in gratitude to heaven and earth.

The custom of "eating the new grain" embodies a profound spirit of gratitude. Around Minor Heat, the early rice ripens and the new grain comes into season, marking the initial harvest of a year's toil. Before partaking of the new grain, the ancients would first make offerings to their ancestors and spirits — a solemn expression of gratitude for the nurturing grace of heaven and earth and for the protective virtue of their ancestors. "Eating the new grain" is not merely a meal, but a solemn communion between heaven and humanity, between ancestors and descendants. It reminds people that a bountiful harvest is not to be taken for granted, but is the joint result of heaven and earth's nurturing, the ancestors' protection, and one's own toil, and ought to be received with a grateful heart.

This ritual spirit of "always sacrificing to ancestors before tasting what is new" has a long and continuous history. Throughout the "Monthly Ordinances" of the Book of Rites one finds records of "tasting the new" and "offering the new" — whenever new produce ripens, it must first be offered at the ancestral temple. This ritual of "offering the new" embodies the ancients' core conception of "repaying the root, returning to the origin" (bao ben fan shi) — never forgetting one's roots, remaining grateful to one's source. "Eating the new grain and offering it to the ancestors" as the new grain comes into season at Minor Heat is precisely a vivid embodiment of this spirit of "repaying the root, returning to the origin."

IV. The Wisdom of Escaping the Heat: Health Cultivation Within Folk Custom

Beyond "eating the new grain," the folk customs of escaping the heat at Minor Heat include various dietary and lifestyle practices — such as eating lotus (lotus seeds and lotus root to clear the heart and reduce fire), eating melon (watermelon and bitter melon to clear heat and relieve the summer swelter), drinking "fu tea" (to relieve the heat and quench thirst), and "sunning during the fu days" (exposing clothing and books to the sun during the sanfu to prevent mold and moths).

These customs may appear trivial, but in fact embody a profound wisdom of health cultivation and daily living. Eating lotus and melon accords with the health-cultivation principle that "summer belongs to Fire, and its proper flavor is bitter," using cool foods to counter the fire of the summer swelter; drinking fu tea replenishes the fluids lost through the heavy sweating of the summer heat; sunning during the fu days makes use of the intense heat of the blazing sun during the sanfu to kill the mold spores and insect eggs within clothing and books, embodying the ancients' wisdom of "borrowing heaven's power for one's own use" — during the sanfu, when Fire virtue is at its height, even the scorching sun itself is turned by the ancients into a tool for driving off mold and pests.

These folk customs for escaping the heat are the most vivid embodiment of solar term culture within daily life. They translate the profound philosophy of heaven and humanity, of yin and yang and the Five Phases, into the everyday practices of a bowl of food, a cup of tea, a day of sunning, a season of storing — allowing ordinary people, without even realizing it, to accord with the timing of heaven and tend to their body and mind. This is precisely where the deepest vitality of solar term culture lies — it is not merely a philosophy confined to the scholar's study, but a living wisdom woven into the daily life of every household.

V. The Original Meaning of Ritual Propriety: Beginning from the Sacrifices That Accord with the Season

Finally, let us ask a still more fundamental question: why did the ancients place such weight on these sacrifices and ceremonies that correspond to the season$15 What, ultimately, is the spirit of "ritual propriety" underlying these "fu sacrifices," "sacrifices to the hearth," "sacrifices to the zhongliu," and "offerings of the new"$16

The original meaning of the character "li" (礼, ritual propriety) is closely tied to sacrifice. Master Xu Shen's Shuowen Jiezi glosses "li" as "to tread 履; that by which one serves the spirits and brings about blessing" — ritual propriety is the norm of "treading" (that is, of putting into practice), the means by which one serves the spirits and prays for blessing. The earliest form of ritual propriety was precisely the ceremonial procedure of sacrifice. And sacrifice, at its root, is a solemn form of communion between humanity and the spirits of heaven and earth.

Why must this communion be carried out strictly according to the season (sacrifice on the fu days, sacrifice to the hearth in late summer, offering of the new grain to the ancestors)$17 Because, in the ancients' conception, heaven-and-earth's qi assumes different states in different seasons, and humanity's communion with heaven and earth must likewise accord with these seasonal changes — sacrificing to the hearth (the fire god) in late summer when Fire virtue holds sway, sacrificing to the zhongliu (the earth god) in the long summer when Earth virtue is at its height, performing exorcistic sacrifice on the fu days when the summer swelter is at its height, and offering the new grain to the ancestors when it comes into season. Ritual propriety is precisely the entire body of norms by which a person accords with the timing of heaven and maintains correct communion with the spirits of heaven and earth. This is why the Book of Rites prescribes, in the dedicated chapter of "Monthly Ordinances," the sacrifices proper to each month — ritual propriety is, in essence, "temporalized"; it must correspond strictly to the rhythm of heaven's timing.

Master Xun offers the most profound discussion of ritual propriety. He says: "Ritual propriety has three roots: heaven and earth are the root of life; ancestors are the root of the kind; rulers and teachers are the root of governance" (Xunzi, "Discourse on Ritual"). Ritual propriety has three roots: heaven and earth are the root of life; ancestors are the root of one's kind and lineage; rulers and teachers are the root of governance. These "three roots" correspond precisely to the core of the seasonal sacrifices at Minor Heat — the fu sacrifice, the sacrifice to the hearth, and the sacrifice to the zhongliu (reverence for the qi of heaven and earth), the offering of new grain to the ancestors (repaying the ancestors' virtue) — and all of this is, moreover, carried out under the presidency of the Son of Heaven (the ruler) and in accordance with ritual propriety (the teaching of teachers). The various seasonal sacrifices of Minor Heat are precisely the concrete realization of what Master Xun calls "the three roots of ritual propriety" — through sacrifices that accord with the timing of heaven, they bind humanity closely together with heaven and earth, with ancestors, and with the order of governance.

From this we can see that the ritual and ceremony of Minor Heat are by no means mere superstition or custom, but carry the profound spirit of "repaying the root, returning to the origin; revering heaven, honoring the ancestors; governing in accordance with the season." They teach people, at this critical seasonal juncture of high summer, at the height of flourishing about to turn, to treat with solemnity and reverence and gratitude their relationship with heaven and earth, with their ancestors, and with the order of things. This spirit of "ritual according with the season" is precisely the most solemn and most profound core of solar term culture.