Sacrifice to Haitai

Offering sacrifices to Haitai, surrounded by seven colors of Sutra flags, mysterious and beautiful. Many Tibetans come here to offer sacrifices to the sea for peace and auspiciousness. The ceremony of offering sacrifices to the sea in August every autumn is more grand, which is a rare cultural landscape along the Qinghai Lake.

Sacrifice to Haitai

Qinghai Lake has always been regarded as an immortal sea in history. The rulers of past dynasties had religious and political activities of "sacrificing to the lake". As early as the Tang Dynasty (751), Emperor Xuanzong granted the title of "guangrungong" to xihaishen (Queen Mother of the West). Send envoys to sacrifice. In the first year of Qingli, Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty was granted the title of "Tongsheng guangrungong" and practiced remote sacrifice. In 1724, Yue Zhongqi, the governor of Sichuan Province, chased the subordinates of Luobu zangdanjin in Qinghai Province. He ran all day and night. Because he could not find water, his men and horses were very thirsty and couldn't ask for it. He prayed to the God of the West Sea for water, which made people dig for water. As expected, water was dug from the ground. Yue thought that "the God of Qinghai showed his spirit", so he went to the imperial court to "chase down the rebels, go deep into the poor mountains, and die because of his evil body. The God of the sea showed his spirit to give water, save the lives of the three armies, and ask for a long live grant.". In March of 1726, the Qing court declared the "Water God" of Qinghai as the "God of Lingxian Xuanwei Qinghai". The large-scale sea sacrifice activities with political meaning began in the Qing Dynasty. Steles were erected and pavilions were built by the lake, and officials were sent to offer sacrifices.

brief introduction

Qinghai Lake has always been regarded as an immortal sea in history. The rulers of past dynasties had religious and political activities of "sacrificing to the lake". As early as the Tang Dynasty (751), Emperor Xuanzong granted the title of "guangrungong" to xihaishen (Queen Mother of the West). Send envoys to sacrifice. In the first year of Qingli, Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty was granted the title of "Tongsheng guangrungong" and practiced remote sacrifice.

Historical sacrifice

In 1934, Song Ziwen went to Qinghai Lake to worship the sea. In the 25th year of the Republic of China (1936), Shao Yuanchong and his party, on behalf of the national government, sacrificed to the mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor in Shaanxi Province and then to the sea in Qinghai Province in May. The ceremony of offering sacrifices to the sea held in the autumn of 1940 is the largest one in the Republic of China. Chiang Kai Shek assigned Zhu Shaoliang, commander of the eighth war zone of Lanzhou Anti Japanese War, to Xining to offer sacrifices to the sea. The chairman of Qinghai provincial government personally arranged the activities. The eight princes around the sea, Gangcha Qianhu, wangshidai Qianhu, dajiayu Qianhu, qianbulu Qianhu, and Pleiades were informed to come to participate in the business, and suggested to prepare some horses, cattle, sheep, and precious local products as the preparatory office for Zhu Shaoliang's sacrificial activities. In the chamber of Commerce, we purchased more than 2000 pieces of Fu tea, more than 1000 Jin of wine, high-grade cigarettes, Chaguo, hada, red cocoon silk, mineral wax and so on. At the same time, they assigned people to undertake transportation, and sent people to Qianhu of Gangcha to borrow 8 new double-layer pattern yurt style accounting houses and more than 100 ordinary double-layer accounting houses. It was a serious matter to prepare for a whole week. On July 15 of the lunar calendar, a ceremony of offering sacrifices to the sea will be held at 8 am. The sacrifices on the altar include two slaughtered cattle, eight sheep, and candy. The procedure is "Qin music, firing guns, raising the flag, three bows, reading sacrificial rites" and so on. After the ceremony, more than ten live sheep were driven into the sea, and all the sacrifices were put in. In 1948, Ma Bufang, who was then the vice military and political officer of Northwest China and the chairman of Qinghai provincial government, appointed Gangcha qianhuhua treasure as the main sacrifice because of the tense situation, and organized thousands of Mongolian princes to hold a ceremony of sea sacrifice. At present, every year around April 20 of the lunar calendar, monks begin to build temporary Scripture halls at the sea sacrifice platform and chant scriptures for more than 10 days. On the fourth day of May of the lunar calendar, farmers and herdsmen around the lake area come to participate in the sea sacrifice activities, kneel down and kowtow to the Qinghai Lake, and pray for the safety of the sea god.

Related Legends

There is a beautiful legend about Jihai. It is said that in the second year of Yongzheng reign (1724) of the Qing Dynasty, Luobu zangdanjin, the Mongolian leader of Qinghai, went back to the Qing Dynasty to rebel, coerced Zhongtai Ji to return, occupied and harassed all parts of Qinghai. The imperial court sent Nian gengyao as general, led his troops from Gansu to Xining, eliminated the nearby rebels, moved the troops westward, and transferred Fenwei General Yue Zhongqi to the north of the sea from Songpan, now in halgai After encountering a confrontation, he captured Prince alabutanwenbu and his family, and found out that his main force fled to ikharji mountain in Gangcha. Yue Zhongqi led a large number of people and horses to pursue him while winning. People did not dismount, and horses did not stop. They traveled all night. Unexpectedly, when the army came to ikharji mountain, they learned that the leader luobuzangdanjin led his confidants, disguised as women, fled to southern Xinjiang by white camels with only one foot The rest of the army had no rest for two days and nights, no water to drink, no food to eat, and people were tired and thirsty. When they were hungry and thirsty, and their lives were seriously threatened, Yue Zhongqi stood on the top of the mountain and looked around, looking for water. Suddenly, she saw the distant sea and sky, which aroused her desire Yue Zhongqi ordered the soldiers to go to the mountains and dig wells for water. Sure enough, they dug up springs in several clean places. The thirsty people drank a good drink and the Jedi were reborn. They were deeply impressed by the kindness of the sea god. Later, Yue Zhongqi returned to the capital and told the emperor about this. The emperor was overjoyed and declared "Lingxian Xuanwei Qinghai Lake" The emperor bestowed the throne of God. The post station was quickly transferred to Qinghai and placed in the temple of the God of the sea. It was ordered to sacrifice the sea regularly in autumn and August every year. There was no mistake. From then on, the official sacrifice of the sea began.

Every year, the Qing government sent the Minister of sacrifice to the West Sea to hold a grand ceremony of sacrifice to the West Sea together with Xining road. It is said that there is a certain ceremony for the sea sacrifice, which is to summon the princess around the lake and thousands of families to join in the sea sacrifice, offer Qinghai local specialties to the court ministers, light the Buddhist lanterns, simmer the sangzan "queka", and kneel down to the sea. In the sound of the sea and the noisy sound of gongs and drums, set off firecrackers, light the pine branches, and the sea sacrifice begins. The court ministers read out the sea sacrifice text thousand, and the people jump and shout to the sea sacrifice sheep If the sheep shakes its head, it means that the God of the sea has received the offering. Then it drives the 13 sheep into the sea. When the offering sheep float in the sea, it throws all the offerings into the sea. Then, people shout, dance wildly, sing and sing to each other. After a grand sacrifice to the sea, it goes to zhazang temple to have a banquet for thousands of princes, and the banquet is rescheduled Gongfu, conforming to the imperial court, consolidating the frontier fortress, and sacrificing the sea activities have continued until now.

Address: 8 kilometers southwest of Quanji Township, Hubei bank, Qinghai Lake

Longitude: 101.780251

Latitude: 36.620938

Chinese PinYin : Ji Hai Tai