As for the spirits of heaven and earth, they were included in the scope of ethics. And ancestor worship fit well with the Confucian notion of filial piety.
一來讓人民有敬畏之心，時時刻刻想到「舉頭三尺有神明」，才不致於勒贖搶劫、肆無忌憚。二來藉著各種節慶和歲時祭儀，讓終年忙碌的農家有機會「名正言順」地放鬆休息一下，也符合儒家所謂的「一張一弛，文武之道」。