魁 (kui) signifigance to Confucian thhought?

X

XiKe

秀才
I was at a Confucian temple recently and the charachter 魁 (kui) was everywhere. People were even paying RMB 300 to have priests burn specially marked kui sticks of incense for them.
In all the dictionaries I ahve checked, including pleco, kui just comes up as head, or chief. I was wondering if anyone could fill me in on its actual signifigance in Confucian thought.
thanks!
 
C

chao-ren

进士
I think what you witnessed was a ceremony to worship or honour the 魁星 god so named because one of the 4 stars of the big dipper is the kui 魁 star, a symbol of the god. This ceremony is supposed to be conducted during the 7th day of the 7th lunar month so witnessing this at this time of the year (August) is not surprising. Kui Star god is suppose to be the God of academic studies or academic performance , second only to Confucius who also very much represented education and learning. Sacrifices to such a god would probably improve one's chances in the exams. This ritual is very popular amongst the eastern min (闽） speaking people, which I would guess is equivalent of the Fujian province of today's China because the min dialect is spoken very much here and Taiwan.

Below is an excerpt I got after googgling :
　農歷七月初七，俗又稱“魁星生日”。“魁星”系北斗一星宿名。民間謂“魁星主 文事”。閩東一帶讀書人崇敬魁星，僅次于孔子，于“七夕”更有“拜魁星”之俗。“拜魁星”儀式亦在月光下舉行，和上述拜織女相類似，所以，在閩東一帶村庄里居民，若是一家人丁旺盛寬敞的屋子，“七夕”這晚，天井里往往擺上“拜織女”、“拜魁星”二張香案，仕女聚會一堂，又被分為兩個面面相對不同性別的小天地，非常熱鬧有趣。

　　“拜魁星”事先要糊一個紙人（魁星）：高二尺許，寬五六寸，藍面環眼，錦袍皂靴，左手斜捋飄胸紅髯，右手執朱筆，置案上。祭品隆重不可缺的是羊頭（公羊，留須帶角），煮熟，兩角束紅紙，置盤中，擺“魁星”像前。其他祭品茶酒等隨便。參加拜魁星的，于燭月交輝中進行，鳴炮焚香禮拜罷，就在香案前圍桌會餐。席問必玩一种“取功名”的游戲助興，以桂圓、榛子、花生三种果干，代表狀元、榜眼、探花三鼎甲，以一人手握上述三种果干各一顆，往桌上投，隨它自行滾動，某种果干滾到某人跟前停止下來，那么，某人即狀元、榜眼或探花；如投下的干果各方向都滾偏，則大家都沒有“功名”，須重新再投，稱“复考”；都投中，稱“三及第”；其中二顆方位不正——比如桂圓，榛子都不中，只花生到某人跟前，而某人即中“探花”。這樣投一次，飲酒一巡，稱“一科”，而謂“這科出探花”，大家向“探花”敬酒一杯。敬酒的“落第考生”下“一科”繼續“求取功名”，而有了“功名”的不參加。這樣吃吃玩玩，一直玩到大家都有“功名”為止。散場時鳴炮燒紙鏹，“魁星”像也和紙鏹一起焚燒。
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