Study On The Rites Of Passage Of Gaduo Wa From The Spatial Perspective

Ritual process is an important field of ritual research in ethnology.The rites of passage and its“the model of rites of passage ”of “separation-margin-aggregation”proposed by French scholar A.van Gennep is one of the classical theories in this field.With its “modeling”tool characteristics,“the model of rites of passage ” is widely used in the ritual research of ethnology,anthropology and folklore,and has also had a deeply impact on the fields of transnational immigration,identity,social change,tourism and leisure.However,it is precisely because of its “modeling”characteristics that“the model of rites of passage ”is not only widely respected by the academic circles,but also widely questioned.The questioning mainly focuses on two aspects:one is that the model is only a structural separation of the ritual process,and can not analyze the cultural characteristics of the specific society;The other is that this model does not show the dynamic mechanism of the rites of passage.It can only describe“what” and “how to do” in the ritual process,but can not explain “why”.In order to deepen the understanding of “the model of rites of passage ”,respond to the queries of academic circles and expand the application boundary of classical theories,this study studies the rites of passage of Gaduo Dazhai Wa(hereinafter referred to as Gaduo Wa)in Cangyuan Wa Autonomous County,Lincang,Yunnan Province,which is located on the border between China and Myanmar from a spatial perspective.Referring to A.van Gennep and Victor Turner’s classification of rituals,this study divides the rites of passage of Gaduo wa into three categories: life rituals,year-old celebration and liminoid identity transition.At the same time,the rites of passage are analyzed in their respective main spaces,which constitute three independent and interrelated parts of this study,namely,the life rituals centered on the house space,the village space and the liminoid identity transition across the border.On the basis of “field investigation”and “literature analysis”,the study is carried out around the two key words of “space” and “the rites of passage”.As far as “space”is concerned,it takes physical space as the carrier,integrates social space and spiritual space,and introduces “house space”,“village space” and cross boundary space respectively along the idea of from small to large,from inside to outside,and from private to public.Correspondingly,it explains the individual “life etiquette”,the collective “year-old Festival” and the “liminoid identity transition” across the border.Under the guidance of the “holistic view”,six kinds of the rites of passage of Gaduo Wa,including wedding,funeral,new rice Festival,Spring Festival,cross-border marriage and migrant workers,have been deeply described.On the one hand,it shows the traditional culture of Gaduo Wa of “direct crossing” and “cross-border”,on the other hand,it reflects the characteristics of its “heterogeneous and orderly” times.After the “deep description” of all kinds of the rites of passage,this paper traces back the era background and social trend of thought of the “the model of rites of passage ”,analyzes the paradigm dilemma faced by the model with the development of society,and puts forward the “space-norm” interactive model of the dynamic mechanism of the rites of passage,trying to resolve the above dilemma.Finally,the“space-norm” interactive model is applied to the social and cultural research of cross-border ethnic minorities in order to test and correct the model and open up a new path for the research on transitional etiquette.The study found that the rites of passage of Gaduo Wa has three characteristics:first,with the sequential holding of life etiquette,the individual’s position in the house space continues to change,and the individual status presents the cyclic characteristics of “sacred-profane-sacred”.second,the festival has realized the spatial aggregation of everyone,human and God,and the social relations between men and women,elders and children,inside and outside,saints and customs have been continuously strengthened and reproduced.Third,The living space and spiritual world of Gaduo Wa are moving from traditional closure to modern opening,but only part of the transition of liminoid identity has achieved a smooth transition,some have been in the ambiguous threshold for a long time,and some have to return to the pre-threshold state.The research holds that,first,through the multi-level analysis of the transitional ritual structure and the multi-level analysis of the subject,we can not only show the ritual process,but also deeply analyze the social structure and cultural core of the ritual subject.Second,the individual status in collective celebration is only“incomplete inversion” and strengthening,rather than the subversive reversal mentioned by Turner.Third,In addition to the smooth “aggregation”,there are also“eternal threshold” in the threshold for a long time and “threshold reversal” before being forced to return to the threshold.Fourth,the power of the rites of passage comes from “norms” is the dynamic mechanism of the rites of passage.The diversity of their interaction modes determines the diversity of the results of the rites of passage.In short,with the help of the analysis of various the rites of passage of Gaduo Wa,on the one hand,through the multi-level analysis of structure and the analysis of subject multiplicity,this study responds to the academic doubt that the “the model of rites of passage ”can not analyze the specific social and cultural characteristics;On the other hand,it constructs the “space-norm”interactive model,defines the power and dynamic mechanism of the the rites of passage,not only clarifies the reasons for the various results of the rites of passage,but also resolves the dilemma of the times encountered by “the model of rites of passage ”.In addition,this study explains the social and cultural development of cross-border ethnic minorities from the perspective of“space-norm”interaction,puts forward the concept of “heterogeneous and orderly”social structure,provides an analytical tool for studying the characteristics of today’s ethnic minority society,and applies the theoretical model based on social practice to social practice,The academic goal of “practice-theory-practice” has been realized.