In Xiang Xi,hunan Province Research On Ecological Folklore Of Ethnic Minorities

Xiangxi,located in the northwest of Hunan Province,is a typical minority area populated mainly with Tujia and Miao minority groups,which are mixed living together whilst have their own small communities.The natural environment of high mountains and dense forests,the unique ethnic structure,the mysterious Wu Chu culture and complex historical changes have made the magnificent and colorful ecological folklore in Xiangxi.In order to explore the internal mechanism of ecological folklore’s generation and evolution,understand ecological folklore’s development of the minority groups in Xiangxi,explore the local knowledge of ecological folklore in Xiangxi,strengthen the protection of intangible cultural heritage of ecological folklore in Xiangxi,promote the construction of ecological civilization in Xiangxi,This paper takes ecological civilization and Rural Revitalization as the backround,comprehensively use multidisciplinary theories and methods the theory such as folklore constitution,ecological adaptation theory of ecology,anthropological theories of ethnic habitat and local knowledge,cultural adaptation and cultural consciousness theory of culturology etc.On the basis of defining the connotation and extension of ecological folklore,this paper makes a special study on the ecological folklore of the ethnic minority groups in Xiangxi by focusing on the formation mechanism,external appearance,inner spirit and future trend of ecological folklore.The so-called ecological folklore refers to all the cultural forms related to ecology that are gradually formed in the long-term economic activities and social exchanges of an ethnic group or certain folk groups,and are passed down from generation to generation and relatively stable.On the one hand,all the folk customs that contain ecological factors or ecological phenomena belong to the category of ecological folk customs.Xiangxi’s stilted-house,pack basket,Tujia brocade,Miao costumes,Guzhang Maojian,Xiangxi Miao medicine,maple worship,Meishan taboo,immobilizing snakes,Maogusi dance,Tujia Dongdong Quin,etc all belong to the category of ecological folklore.On the contrary,Xiangxi Panhu myth,walking corpses,drilling bull sacrifice,crying marriage belong to the folk customs of human society internal affairs.Since it has nothing to do with ecology,it obviously does not belong to the category of ecological folklore.On the other side,all ecological folklores belong to ecological culture,but not necessarily to the category of ecological civilization.This is because the "ecology" in "ecological folklore" means "related to ecology",which is different from the "ecology" in "ecological civilization" which means "eco-friendly" and "eco-harmless".As a matter of fact,the ecological folklore that develops and utilizes natural resources is precisely the object that needs to be regulated and reformed by the construction of ecological civilization.As the ecological folklore of folk culture,what is the mechanism behind it,and how does the ecological folklore of Xiangxi become what it is today? In this regard,anthropologists believe that human beings are advanced animals with both biological and social attributes,and the generation and development of ecological folklore must be influenced by both natural and cultural environments.In other words,the natural environment and social environment of Xiangxi constitute the ethnic habitat for the generation and development of ecological folklore of ethnic minorities in Xiangxi.The forming process of ecological folklore in Xiangxi is not only the process of ecological adaptation to the special natural environment,but also the process of cultural adaptation to the social environment in Xiangxi.The ecological adaptation mechanism played a leading role before the "bureaucratization of native officer ",and then the cultural adaptation mechanism played a leading role.In general,the ethnic structure composed mainly by Tujia people descended from Ba people and Miao people descended from Chiyou,the Chief-chief system established in the Yuan Dynasty,the policy of "reforming the land and returning to the current" during the Yongzheng reign,and the national economic strategy after the reform and opening up of New China,have become the four major social environment factors in Xiangxi.It plays an extremely important role in the evolution of the ecological folklore of the ethnic minority groups in Xiangxi.In general,the ethnic structure composed of Tujia ethnic group as the descendant of Ba people and Miao ethnic group as the descendant of Chiyou,the chieftain system established in Yuan Dynasty,the policy of "bureaucratization of native officer" during Yongzheng period,and the national economic strategy after the reform and opening up of new China are the four major Xiangxi social environment elements,and play an important role in the generation and evolution of ecological folk customs of Xiangxi ethnic groups.The essence of folklore is culture.To study ecological folklore,it is necessary to explore the cultural core through the appearance of folklores.The ecological folklore of Xiangxi ethnic groups not only contains the ecological consciousness of worshiping and fearing nature,conforming and adapting to nature,developing and utilizing nature,conquering and transforming nature,enjoying and poetic nature,protecting and improving nature,etc.,but also reflecting a strong sense of ethnic identity,tenacious ethnic enterprising spirit and harmonious spirit,exhibiting the strong cultural charm of Wu Chu relic,rich local knowledge,open cultural prosperity purport and self-strengthening consciousness of rejuvenating Xiangxi.These are essence and soul of the ecological folk customs of Xiangxi minorities.Especially,the Wu Chu relic and local knowledge are worthy of more attention and further study.From the perspective of future development,today is an era of great changes not seen in a hundred years where Xiangxi ecological folk custom has encountered many new problems.It is necessary to realize its own development through cultural consciousness.First of all,many traditional ecological folk arts,such as Tujia brocade art,Tujia Maogusi dance,Miao silver forging,have fallen into an embarrassing situation of no successor in inheritance,so it is necessary to effectively protect them as intangible cultural heritage.Secondly,those ecological folk customs with development value can be protected and developed in the process of industrialization by establishing cooperatives and developing folk tourism.Thirdly,due to the influence of subjective and objective factors,there are probably some conflicts and contradictions between the folk culture popular in the local society and the official culture prevailing in the mainstream society.It is necessary to adjust and transform the ecological folk culture that does not meet the requirements of national policies,laws and regulations.In the new era of ecological civilization,the emphasis is to regulate and innovate randomly-set-free folk custom and excessive wildlife consumption folk custom such traditional ecological folk customs to realize the modern transformation of ecological folk customs of Xiangxi minorities.