The “xu ning” wooden slips Front

This set of “xu ning” wooden slips consists of 14 pieces, four of which are shown here. Varying in length, the slips were made from different types of wood, and inscribed in distinctive styles of writing. The characters on the long slips are bigger and less restrained, whereas those on the shorter pieces are correspondingly smaller and restrained. Written in ink in Han clerical script with identical contents, they are apparently transcribed by two different people. A single slip may bear one to three lines of a varied number of characters, and the inscription sometimes extends to the back.

The inscriptions, dated to the 4th year of the Jianchu reign (79 CE), tell of the prayers said by shamans, including Wu Xia and Zhao Ming, on behalf of the family to gods of cooking, stoves, fate, fire and so on, beginning from the time the mother was taken ill and ending with her departure in the hope that the deceased would be comforted and those who survived her would be protected. Therefore, the inscriptions provide the key to Han ideology, beliefs and customs.

The two characters “xu ning” appear repeatedly in the text. Some scholars think they refer to a kind of magical cure for a disease. Other scholars are of the opinion that they are equivalent of “yu ning”, the time of mourning following the death of one’s parents, seen frequently in another set of Han wooden slips unearthed in Juyan, Gansu province. Those performing the filial rites over such a long period very often suffered from illness caused by both emotional turmoil and diet. In order to protect themselves from disease and evil influences, they invited shamans to present offerings of food and wine to deities. Lastly, some hold the view that “Xuning” is simply the name of the deceased mother.