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Abstract

An offering is one of the important and essential components in most religious rituals. It is a religious means to fulfill one’s wishes and to maintain a good relationship with gods. However, an offering could be given to gods who are even unfavorable or threatening to human beings. In this case, it aims to repel the gods away after reducing their displeasure and rage. An Offering mainly consists of food and there are various other components beside the food. There are certain rules to provide offerings to gods such as time, locations, procedures and methods. These principles have been solidified over a long history by concepts of gods and traditions of various religions. Members participate in a family worship. The main purpose of a family worship is for the peace of the family. The procedures of a family ritual are relatively simpler than other rituals: only thrifty offerings, rubbing hands prayerfully and bowing down on the ground are needed. Usually, the cost of the ritual are not be too burdensome to the family because an offering is simple in its kind and its size is small. It doesn’t mean that all practices of the ritual are as simple as they appear. There are implicit orders in family worship besides its explicit, general rules. The practices are performed with many subtle details and principles. For example, offerings could be set on a table, on a white paper, on a clean straw －straws could be laid straight or across －, on a winnow, on a stone mortar, in bowls －specifically, whose bowl of the family －,or in a large brass bowl; there are also rules to set spoons on the table in which direction and how many. Sometimes, spoons could be stuck into the rice. Different rice cakes such as rice cake with red beans or steamed rice cake could be used. In addition, how many layers of rice cake with red beans should be used and how to discard the pure water after usage are also decided within rules and rationales. Some offerings can be shared with neighbors but some are restricted only to the family members. The religious concepts of the gods and their characters are reflected in the offering practice. These gods include ‘the god of house’, ‘the god of street’, ‘the god of sea’, ‘the god of village’ and ‘the other wandering gods’. In other words, their characters, roles, and status affect how rituals are performed and what kinds of offerings are made: how to cook the food, how to set the table, how to discard or distribute the offering.