About the Ceremony of Sacrifice for Confucius, there were two different kinds of opinions.One opinion supported that only thirty-six ˇ§Danceˇ¨ Students could dance during the Ceremony that we called "The Six Rows Dance". People supported this opinion because Confucius was very modesty without obeying the ancient regulation using sixty-four ˇ§Danceˇ¨ Students that we called "The Eight Rows Dance". But the other opinion supported that sixty-four Dance Students should dance during the Ceremony because of Confuciusˇ¦ greatness and his contributions.Until 1968, Jiang Kai-shek asked the ministers to improve and solve the problems.In 1970, the Committee stipulated that there should be sixty-four Students dancing during the Ceremony theoretically, but that is still according the size of the square.
The thirty-six ˇ§Danceˇ¨ Students dance for the sacrifice for the former dukes or prime ministers; however, the sixty-four ˇ§Danceˇ¨ Students dance for the sacrifice the former emperors or their ancestors.
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The square of Changhua Confucius Temple is smaller, so it only can contain thirty-six ˇ§Danceˇ¨ Students meantime. The thirty-six Studentsˇ¦ dance was called ˇ§Wenˇ¨ Dance. Among ˇ§Wenˇ¨ Dance, there would be two groups, the east and the west.And it contains three sacrifice ceremonies and ninety-six sections.
Three sacrifice ceremonies are ˇ§the First Sacrifice Ceremonyˇ¨, ˇ§the Second Sacrifice Ceremonyˇ¨, and ˇ§the Final Sacrifice Ceremony.ˇ¨
ˇ§Dan Siˇ¨ means the square where the ˇ§Danceˇ¨ Students dance.ˇ§Danˇ¨ means red color, and ˇ§Siˇ¨ means the stage.The present ˇ§Dan Siˇ¨ was made of stone, so people spread the red carpet on the square when performing the Ceremony.
The ˇ§Danceˇ¨ Students have a short bamboo pipe that is also an instrument on the left hand and three pheasant feather (originally one feather) on the right hand. |
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| The Formation of
the Rows Dance |
The Utensils for Dancing | The Utensils for Dancing |
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The Music |
The Arrangement of the Sacrifice |
The Sacrificing Utensils |
The Instruments
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The Categories |
The Clothing |
The Six Rows Dance |