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Jongmyo jerye

Jongmyo Jerye
Korean Royal Ancestral Ritual Music-Jongmyo Jeryeak-01.jpg
Jongmyo jeryeak
Korean name
Hangul 종묘제례 or 종묘대제
Hanja 宗廟祭禮 or 宗廟大祭
Revised Romanization Jongmyo jerye or Jongmyo daeje
McCune–Reischauer Chongmyo cherye or Chongmyo taeche

Jongmyo Jerye or Jongmyo Daeje is a rite held for worshipping the late kings and queens of the Joseon Dynasty in Jongmyo Shrine, Seoul, South Korea. It is held every year on the first Sunday of May. The Jongmyo rite is usually accompanied with the court music playing (Jerye-ak) and dance called Ilmu or line Dance. Jongmyo Jerye and Jeryeak were designated as the first of South Korea's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2001.

The Jongmyo rites originated from Ancient China. These rituals were seen as essential to the preservation and continued prosperity of the state and so each dynasty in China and Korea placed a great deal of importance in them which can be seen from Confucian texts and the very mention of 'preserving the Sacred Shrines' whenever there was talk about the state being in peril. The ceremonies reinforce the Confucian link between ancestors and their descendants, parent and child, essentially the family; the act of communing with them is a prayer and invocation for the ancestors for the preservation and good health of the state.

They were practised in Korea for the first time in Silla era and preserved from the Goryeo Dynasty to the last Korean Dynasty of Joseon. Along with the ceremony for praying to the Gods of Earth for bountiful crops, it is considered Korea's highest-ranked rites. These practices have been lost in China due to the abolition of the monarchy but Korea still preserved it well after their own monarchy was abolished.

The current ceremonies are organised and performed by the descendants of the former royal family, the Korean Imperial Household, with assistance from other cultural organisations. The King's role is played by a senior member of the Household, usually the Hereditary Prince Imperial of Korea, who technically would have performed the same rites if Korea was at present a monarchy (the former kings being his actual ancestors).


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