Rite Book

Sarye pyeollam (Handbook of the Four Ceremonies) compiled by a late-Joseon scholar-statesman named Yi Jae (pen-name: Doam, 1680-1746), explains the four major ceremonies Korean people traditionally held to mark important familial events such as coming of age, marriage, funerals, and ancestral memorial rites. The book was intended to complement “Familial Rites,” an authoritative work on the subject written by the great Neo-Confucian thinker Zhou Xi (1130-1200), with ritual elements traditionally preserved by Korean families. The book was one of the most widely read books on family ceremonies and rituals in Joseon society thanks to its compromise between the principles provided by the Chinese classics and Korean customs.