<P> Religious practices were usually held in local shrines and sacred areas, which contained sacrificial altars . During a sacrifice or other ritual, the senses of all participants and witnesses would be dulled and blurred with smoke, incense, and music . The lead sacrificer would fast and meditate before a sacrifice to further blur his senses and increase the likelihood of perceiving otherworldly phenomena . Other participants were similarly prepared, though not as rigorously . </P> <P> Such blurring of the senses was also a factor in the practice of spirit intermediaries, or mediumship . Practitioners of the art would fall into trances or dance to perform supernatural tasks . These people would often rise to power as a result of their art--Luan Da, a Han dynasty medium, was granted rule over 2,000 households . Noted Han historian Sima Qian was scornful of such practices, dismissing them as foolish trickery . </P> <P> Divination--to predict and / or influence the future--was yet another form of religious practice . An ancient practice that was common during the Qin dynasty was cracking bones or turtle shells to gain knowledge of the future . The forms of divination which sprang up during early imperial China were diverse, though observing natural phenomena was a common method . Comets, eclipses, and droughts were considered omens of things to come . </P> <P> The name' Qin' (pronounced as' Chin') is believed to be the etymological ancestor of the modern - day European name of the country, China . The word probably made its way into the Indo - Aryan languages first as' Cina' or' Sina' and then into Greek and Latin as' Sinai' or' Thinai' . It was then transliterated into English and French as' China' and' Chine' . This etymology is dismissed by some scholars, who suggest that' Sina' in Sanskrit evolved much earlier before the Qin dynasty .' Jin' (pronounced as' Zhin'), a state controlled by the Zhou dynasty in seventh century BC, is another possible origin . Others argued for the state of Jing (荆, another name for Chu), as well other polities in the early period as the source of the name . </P>

What were the religious beliefs of the qin dynasty