Sacrifice to Heaven
| Sacrifice to Heaven | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 祭天 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 祭天 | ||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | Tế Thiên Lễ tế Nam Giao | ||||||
| Chữ Hán | 祭天 禮祭南郊 | ||||||
| Korean name | |||||||
| Hangul | 제천 | ||||||
| Hanja | 祭天 | ||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||
| Kanji | 祭天 | ||||||
| Hiragana | さいてん | ||||||
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Sacrifice to Heaven (Chinese: 祭天; pinyin: Jìtiān) is an Asian religious practice originating in the worship of Shangdi in China. In Ancient Chinese society, nobles of all levels constructed altars for Heaven. At first, only nobles could worship Shangdi but later beliefs changed and everyone could worship Shangdi.
Modern Confucian churches make this practice available to all believers and it continues in China without a monarch.
It has been influential on areas outside of China including Japan, Vietnam, and Korea.
The Jì (祭) in the Chinese name is the same Je as in Jesa.