Three-year mourning (a description of the "San nian wen" chapter of the Confucian "Li ji" treatise)

The author analyzes the San Nian Wen [三年問 ] chapter of the Confucian Li Ji [禮記] treatise; the chapter that is related to the description of the aspects of mourning. It was considered in the past that «nothing is more important in the rite 禮 li than the mourning». The text of the San Nian Wen chapter is composed in the form of questions which explains the name. Ceremonial rules set by traditions and fixed, among others, via canonical texts dictated different length of mourning periods: three months, five months, a year, three years. The article analyses the reasons for setting up different mourning periods for deceased relatives including the three-year mourning for Father and examines the footing that was used to determine the length of a mourning period. It was based on the natural periods of time (month, season, and year). A certain reference point that was used for determining the mourning periods was one year. The reason for that is the course of nature, its full cycle being one year. A father is the head of a family and thus mourning for him was supposed to be longer than for other relatives, even a mother. Furthermore, mourning for him was supposed to be more elevated. And that quality was achieved through extending the mourning period for three years. Mourning for Father was called 斬衰 zhancui. The clothes to wear for this mourning were made of the coarsest cloth and as the rules stated could not be hemmed. If Father died first than Mother, she was mourned for with a three-year 齊衰 zicui rite: the length of mourning was equal to Father’s, but its level was lower - zicui and zhancui were different. Other mourning periods existed as well: nine, six, and three months. These types of mourning were considered to be lightened as they showed that no loss can be compared to Father’s or Mother’s death. The next level after zhancui and zicui was 功服 gongfu that was separated into two categories depending on the degree of relation with the deceased: 大功 dagong and 小功 xiaogong. If the mourning was rather serious than so-to-say six-month “basic” mourning period, it was extended by one season and thus turned into dagong which lasted nine months. If the mourning was a lighter one, then a season was subtracted from six months and thus it turned into 緦麻 sima - a mourning period lasting three months. Between nine-month dagong and three-month sima was xiaogong that lasted for six months. The length of the mourning period depended on the degree of relation with the deceased and on the depth of sorrow felt by relatives. The depth of feelings was adjusted through compassion 恩 en, justice 理 li, temperance節 jie, malleability權 quan. Various kinds of mourning clothes are mentioned. The description of the contents of the chapter is accompanied by the first Russian translation of San Nian Wen part.