Chinese poem illustration: 召南/采蘩 Shao Wind/Collecting wormwood by Anonymous
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Sacrifice and war matter the most for a state , for a country( 国之大者, 在祀在戎). Thus this poem came the second place in Shao Wind. The first poem is always about marriage and reproduction, which is the untold number one priority in Zhou dynasty, for Zhou people.
Preparing for sacrifice needs tons of work by man and woman, the nobles mainly. The sacrifice offered to God and Zhou ancestors composed by dishes of meat, fish, vegetables and wine. This poem is about the noble woman collecting wormwood days and nights.
This poem is like a folk song, which implies its earliest time of origin, it also revealed us how grand the event it was, how seriously the Zhuo people took this spring ceremony from an interesting and special angle.
召南 采蘩
佚名
于以采蘩？于沼于沚。
于以用之？公侯之事。
于以采蘩？于涧之中。
于以用之？公侯之宫。
被之僮僮，夙夜在公。
被之祁祁，薄言还归。
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