Death Anniversary

lastmod 2022-08-31created 2014-05-0318 edits

Jesa (祭祀) or jerye (祭禮) is the act of expressing devotion by offering sacrificial food to spirits, including the gods of heaven and earth, the souls of the dead, and ghosts. However, in the East Asian Sinosphere, the jesa held on Seollal (Lunar New Year) or Chuseok is called charye. In a narrow sense it means the devotion offered to the gods of heaven and earth in the East Asian Sinosphere, and in a broad sense it refers to rituals of offering sacrifices in general, in connection with shamanism, ancestor worship, animism, and the like.

Category

• DeathAnniversary:Maxim: maxims related to jesa
• Perpetual calendar (manseryeok; 萬歲曆)
• Written prayer (chungmun; 祝文)
• Korean: 지방 (紙枋)

Jesa in Korea

There are the following rules for food placed on the jesa table.

• Peaches may not be offered.
• Fish whose names end in 'chi', such as kkongchi (saury), galchi (hairtail), and samchi (Spanish mackerel), may not be offered.
• Red beans may not be offered.
• Food seasoned with red pepper powder or garlic may not be offered.

These rules are still followed today, and it is said that this is because ghosts dislike the color red and garlic. Also, the jesa held during the day on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month, on holidays, on ancestors' birthdays, and so on is specially called charye (茶禮).

Jesa table (jesasang)

Jesa table setting Example jesa table setting

How to arrange the food (jinseol, 陳設)

1. The row for fruits (gwasil, 果實) or confections (jogwa, 造果). Following hongdong baekseo (紅東白西), red fruits are set on the east (東) side and white fruits on the west (西) side, and confections (造果) are set in the middle (中央), again with red confections on the east and white confections on the west.
   (Some follow joyul siyi (棗栗枾梨), separating tree fruits (moksil, 木實) from confections (造果) and setting the tree fruits (木實) on the west (西) and the confections (造果) on the east (東), while others follow hongdong baekseo and mix tree fruits and confections; refer to the arrangement diagram above and follow each family's own rites (garye, 家禮))
2. The row for chae (菜), i.e. namul (seasoned vegetables). Following jwapo uhye (左捕右醯), po (抱) is placed on the left and hye (醯) on the right. Namul, i.e. chimchae (沈菜) and cheongjang (淸醬), are set in the middle (中央).
3. The row for tang (湯). Tang with the five flavors (五味湯) are called dantang (單湯), samtang (三湯), otang (五湯), chiltang (七湯), and so on; eotang (魚湯) is set on the east, yuktang (肉湯) on the west, and sotang (疎湯) in the middle.
4. The row for jeok and jeon, which are fried in oil. Those made from fish (漁) are called eojeok and eojeon (漁煎), and those made from meat (肉) are called yukjeok and yukjeon (育煎). Following eodong yukseo (魚東肉西), fish (魚類) go on the east and meat (肉類) on the west, and following dongdu seomi (東頭西尾), the fish (生鮮) are placed with their heads toward the east and tails toward the west.
5. The row for ban (飯) and gaeng (羹). Ban (飯) goes on the left and gaeng (羹) on the right, and pyeon (rice cake) and myeon (noodles) are placed on the right and left respectively.

In the past, when factional strife was severe in Korea, each faction set its own family rites, and owing to the customs handed down since then, each household still differs slightly today. So refer to this arrangement diagram, but it is also fine to carry out the rite (行事) according to the family rites handed down in your household.

(Our family's) jesa table

Gijesa

• What is gijesa?

Gijesa, held in remembrance on the day an ancestor died

Gijesa (忌祭祀) is a jesa held on the day an ancestor died, to commemorate that deceased ancestor. Because this is a day of mourning for the deceased ancestor, it was called giil (忌日), and all affairs were to be refrained from. Jesa is generally regarded as an auspicious event (gilsa, 吉事), but gijesa is not. The nature of gijesa is clearly revealed in the practice of wailing (gok, 哭) during chamsin (參神). Wailing and refraining from all affairs on the death anniversary is not because the day is inauspicious, but because it is sad, being the day the ancestor died. That is, one's thoughts of the deceased ancestor are so deep that one dare not attend to other personal matters.

Danseol, honoring only that ancestor, and hapseol, honoring the couple together

Since gijesa is a rite for a deceased ancestor, its object is the ancestor who died on that day. In Korea, because the notion of the married couple is strong, the ancestor of the death anniversary is sometimes honored together with their spouse. Strictly by principle, the rite should be held for that ancestor alone. The 『Garye (家禮)』 also says: “Set up only one spirit seat. Setting up the spirit seat of only one person is the proper rite. In general, the death anniversary is a remnant of the funeral. On meeting the day one's parent died, one should think of the parent and perform the rite at their spirit seat. That is why no other spirit seats are set up. Therefore one performs the rite only for the spirit who is to receive it and not for the spouse. This is not because one regards the spouse's rite lightly, but because the grief lies with the one for whom the rite is to be performed. Therefore it is right to perform the rite for only one spirit. Performing the rite for the deceased father (go) and mother (bi) together, though earlier Confucian scholars have spoken of it, seems not something one can follow.” Holding the rite for that ancestor alone in this way is called danseol (單設). On the other hand, in Korea it was common to do hapseol (合設), honoring the couple together. Toegye Yi Hwang (退溪 李滉) is said to have held the rite as hapseol in practice, although ritual theory (禮說) called for danseol. Hakbong Kim Seong-il (鶴峯 金成一) likewise, in his book 『Bongseon jegyu (奉先諸規)』, recognized both, saying that danseol is the proper rite and that hapseol is rooted in human feeling. Meanwhile, the objects of gijesa include ancestors up to four generations and bulcheonwi jesa.

Individual procedures

(Our family's) gijesa

1. For reference, the lid (rice) is closed.
2. Light the incense and candles
3. Pour half a cup of wine (once) -> place the cup on the jesa table -> empty the wine from the table into the toeju cup (cup for discarded wine)
4. Only the representative bows
5. Pour wine into the cup (3 times)
6. Only the representative bows
7. Open the closed lid (rice)
8. Discard the wine into the toeju cup and immediately pour again in 3 parts
9. Place the spoon and chopsticks
10. Everyone bows
11. [Optional] Discard wine into the toeju cup -> pour wine into the cup (3 times) -> place the cup on the jesa table -> bow individually
12. (Turn off the lights) go into a room for a moment -> (after about 1~2 minutes, come out clearing your throat)
13. Prepare a container of water for removing the spoon and chopsticks
14. Remove the spoon and chopsticks (at this point, lightly drop some rice grains into the water container and place the spoon and chopsticks there)
15. Close the lid (rice).
16. (Without pouring the wine into the toeju cup) the representative tops up the wine personally.
17. Everyone bows.

Charye

• What is charye?

Charye, meaning the chamnye offered on Seollal and on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month (sangmang), together with the jesa offered on seasonal festival days (sokjeol) or holidays

Thus charye can be described as the jesa offered to ancestral spirits on seasonal festival days or holidays, together with the chamnye offered on Seollal and sangmang. Yi Mun-geon's (李文楗, 1494-1567) 『Mukjae ilgi (默齋日記)』 records the holding of charye: “On Jeongwol Daeboreum (the first full moon of the year), charye was held before the ancestral portraits enshrined in the portrait hall (影殿) of Anbongsa (安峰寺). Besides rice cakes, noodles, po, jeok, and fruit, the seasonal food yakbap was set out; after burning incense and gangsin, jujube tea [棗茶] and wine were offered and the prayer text was read. After reading the prayer text, two bows were made, and shortly afterward sasin was done with two bows.” Likewise, Gwon Mun-hae's (權文海, 1534-1591) 『Chogan ilgi (草澗日記)』 records in diary form that charye was held at the family shrine on the first and fifteenth of every month. The way charye was held is said to have been setting out noodles and rice cakes at dawn and offering a cup of wine.

Individual procedures

(Our family's) holiday tteok jesa

1. Burn the incense.
2. Pour half a cup of wine (once) -> place the cup on the jesa table -> empty the wine from the table into the toeju cup
3. Only the representative bows
4. Pour wine into the cup (3 times)
5. Place the spoon and chopsticks
6. Everyone bows
7. [Optional] Discard wine into the toeju cup -> pour wine into the cup (3 times) -> place the cup on the jesa table -> bow individually
8. Turn around for a moment
9. Prepare a container of water for removing the spoon and chopsticks
10. Remove the spoon and chopsticks (at this point, lightly drop some rice grains into the water container and place the spoon and chopsticks there)
11. (Without pouring the wine into the toeju cup) the representative tops up the wine personally.

Favorite site

• Wikipedia (en) entry on jesa
• How to set a jesa table ¹

References