The twenty-seventh day of the eighth lunar month is the birthday of Mr. Confucius.

The twenty-seventh day of the eighth lunar month is the birthday of Mr. Confucius. For more than 2,000 years, every year on this day, there have been activities to worship Confucius all over the world. Therefore, this day can also be said to be the birthday of Confucius. On this day, people hold Confucius Meeting, Dacheng Meeting, Saint Meeting, Confucius Temple Fair and other activities to commemorate Confucius and pass on Confucius' teachings.

Confucius (551 BC - April 11, 479 BC), whose surname was Kong, whose given name was Qiu, and whose courtesy name was Zhongni, was a native of Zou Yi (now Qufu City, Shandong Province) of the State of Lu during the Spring and Autumn Period. His ancestral home is Liyi (now Xiayi County, Henan Province) of the Song Dynasty. His father is Liang He, his mother is Yan. Ancient Chinese thinker, politician, educator, and founder of Confucianism.

Confucius lost his father when he was three years old, and his family fell into decline. In his early years, he worked as a minor official in charge of granaries and herding. He was not fond of etiquette and was familiar with traditional etiquette since childhood. In his youth, he was famous in Lu for his extensive knowledge of etiquette and music. He engaged in the profession of Confucianism and made a living by performing funeral rituals. In his middle age, he gathers his disciples to give lectures and engage in educational activities.

At the age of 50, he once served as the military commander of the Lu State, acting as prime minister and actively promoting his own political ideas. Soon after, he abandoned his official position and went to Lu due to disagreements with the political views of the rulers. He traveled around the country with his disciples and spread propaganda. His own political opinions and ideological doctrines have never been used. In his later years, he returned to the State of Lu and devoted himself to education, sorting out "Poems" and "Books", deleting and revising "Spring and Autumn", and making the transmission of the Six Arts his lifelong ambition.

Sacrifice

In the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, natural disasters occurred frequently and social unrest occurred. The Confucian scholar Mei Fu believed that this was because God was angry because he failed to properly arrange the sacrifices to Confucius. The imperial court accepted Mei Fu's proposal and named Confucius a descendant of Shang Tang to continue the sacrifices of the previous king. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Confucius was officially regarded as the national god, and his status was the same as that of the Sheji God.

The Tang Dynasty ordered every county to build a temple to worship Confucius. There are two big sacrifices every spring and autumn, and two small sacrifices on the first and fifteenth day of each month. Large sacrifices were initially presided over by academic officials, and later by local officials. After the Tang Dynasty, Confucius' status continued to improve, and the titles given to Confucius also continued to increase. In the Qing Dynasty, Confucius' sacrifice once became a great sacrifice on the same level as God and the ancestral gods of the country.