Definitions
imperial ancestral sacrifice
Etymology
About
The character 禘 (dì) is a phono-semantic compound central to ancient Chinese state ritual. Its left component, the 礻 (shì) radical, indicates a category related to altars or religious ceremonies. The right component, 帝 (dì), provides the pronunciation and conceptually links the character to supreme ancestors or imperial figures. Historically, 禘 denotes a grand, formal sacrifice performed by the emperor to honor the dynasty's founding ancestors, a key rite for asserting state legitimacy and ancestral veneration. The term is thus crucial in classical texts concerning imperial ritual and political theology.
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