| The Gourd Festival is a important festival for Lahu. foreign culture of other nations was absorbed, which makes the culture of Lahu also get enriched. The gourd festival rooted in the traditional culture of Lahu. Lahus’traditional culture is through a process about the development and change, it is the result of the society and economic factors joint. And the Gourd Festival is a reflection of this process.This is a study of the Gourd festival of Lahu of Lancang, Yunnan, the focus of this study is the development and change of the festival. The study mainly based on field work and oral history analysis, some other methods and theories of history and cultural anthropology are also used for reference. We hope to make clear how this festival comes into being, what pushes the development of this festival, and how it changes, and then we hope to explore a way for the further development of this festival in modern time.This study can be divided into four parts. The first part is about the history and the content of the Gourd festival. In this part, we will discuss the social and cultural conditions, based on which the government proposed this festival. We will make clear how this festival came into being in 1992s. And we will study the content of this festival.The second part is about the impetuses of the Gourd festival. The development of the Gourd festival gives credit to the efforts and cooperation of local government, elites of Lahu, as well as ordinary people. Based on Lahu’s traditional religions and folk customs, the local government makes a series of efforts to propagandize people about Lahu culture, and then propose such a festival, so as to enhance Lahu people’s national and cultural identity. Some elites of Lahu also participate in this national culture reconstruction. As these native elites are more influential among ordinary people, they take the lead in cooperating with the government and help the government introduce traditional culture to people. Their efforts play a great role in the process of national culture reconstruction as well as the rebuilding of local people’s ethnic identity. The support of ordinary people is the primary origin of the impetus of supporting this festival. In Lancang, ordinary Lahu people haven’t totally acknowledge this festival yet, as the degree of recognizing such a festival is in proportion to the level of economic development. People in better developed region may be more enthusiastic to the Gourd festival, but those in less developed districts may have less interest toward this festival. Now, Lahu people’s attitude toward the Gourd festival is still in the level of cultural self-awareness, only when this attitude of cultural self-awareness converts to cultural self-consciousness, ordinary people can become the mainstay of supporting the Gourd festival.The third part is a study of the change of the Gourd festival. The study of the date and the duration of the Gourd festival, the study of how the festival activities be conducted, the study of the content of this festival, and the study of the festival’s functions are covered in this part. In 1992, the government of Lancang firstly set up the Gourd festival. This was regarded as a rebuilt of Lahu culture. In 2006, the government changes the date of the Gourd festival, which can be regarded as the second rebuilt of Lahu culture. However, the first round of Lahu culture rebuilt was controversial at that time, and it failed to get the recognitions of some people. In such a situation, the second round of Lahu culture rebuilt would be even more difficult. To make this festival be easier accepted and be better recognized, the government changes the content as well as the way of conducting festival activities, to encourage people inherit national culture spontaneously. However, it would be very difficult to activate people’s enthusiasm to this festival without their general sense of identity to this festival.The forth part is the influence of the Gourd festival. The original intention of setting up this festival is to enhance the national cohesion of Lahu, but the boom of tourism amplified the Gourd festival’s functions of culture expanding, as well as its economic functions, as the degree of identity to this festival is now closely related to the level of economic development.I want to from different angle analysis, to get the influencing factors of the Gourd festival’s inheritance and change. So as to explore a good way for the future development of Lahu. |
