tự điền
Definition
- Noun (Historical):
- Sacrificial land / Cult land: A specific type of rice paddy or farmland in historical Vietnam, the harvest from which was dedicated to and used for funding communal or ancestral worship ceremonies and rituals.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- Thu hoạch từ mảnh tự điền được dùng để tổ chức lễ hội làng. (The harvest from the cult land was used to organize the village festival.)
- Hương ước quy định rõ việc quản lý các thửa tự điền. (The village conventions clearly regulated the management of the sacrificial fields.)
Advanced Usage
- The concept of "tự điền" is deeply tied to the traditional Vietnamese village () structure and its system of communal rites. It represents a material foundation for spiritual and communal life.
Variants and Related Words
- Công điền (n): Communal land; public land owned by the village, distinct from as its yields were for general village expenses, not exclusively worship.
- Hương hỏa (n): Lit. "incense and fire"; refers to property or land set aside specifically for maintaining ancestral worship.
Synonyms
- Cultivated land for rites
- Worship-dedicated farmland
- Sacrificial field (in a historical East Asian context)
Related Concepts
- Tế tự (n): Worship ceremonies, rites.
- Điền trang (n): A larger estate or manor; a broader term for agricultural landholding.