As the Confucian Analects puts it: "Be attentive to perform funeral rites to parents, and let them be followed when long gone with the ceremonies of sacrifice." "Of course ancestor worship also drew the clan together and served a consolidating function in a patriarchal society," elucidates Professor Tung.
「在此，祖先崇拜又有一種藉著祭祀行為以敦睦親族；結成宗法群體的社會功能」，董芳苑教授指出。