| The thesis tries to display the belief life in a village of the east of Shandong, with the guide of the theory of village folklore and using the written mode of "folklore annals commanded by representative cultural items". Hengding Village is composed of three natural villages, that is, Hengding village, Caishen Temple village and Up Five-li village. These natural villages are in the same geographical region, having the homogeneity in their social culture and the homology in their history. There are five temples in Hengding Village (besides the village God temple), as well as a Guandi temple located in a neighbor village which has a close relationship with Hengding Village. Besides, this village belongs to the Middle District of Shandong Province in administration, but has the custom of "inviting Jiatang" that is popular in the east of Shandong. Anyway , the objects of belief in the village can be supposed various. Through all the field work, the author finds that the villagers' believes, which stand out their daily lives, penetrate their daily lives in many ways.Clan culture cannot be said strong in the whole village, though in each family clan conception is still passed on, for example, the custom of "inviting Jiatang" is still popular during the Spring Festival and the Fifteenth of the 7th Month, when married daughters are strictly prohibited returning to their born families. There is no organization center in clan sense in the village having deferent clan names. Generally speaking, the village temple or ancestral hall of a village always becomes a center of its local organization. However, through investigating the clan organization and the belief organization of Hengding Village, we find that there seems to be no probability of substitution between the ancestral hall and the village temple. From the whole ancestor worship ceremony, we find the expectation of brother harmony and unity is always stressed, when seems to exclude married daughters. This is the fundamental difference between ancestor worship activity and other sacrifice activities.The status of the East Temple and the West Temple can be known from the temple architecture. Their status is closed connected to the gods offered sacrifice. The villagers think that the status of the Xuanwu Emperor is only inferior to the Yuhuang Emperor. The Yuhuang Emperor is in charge of the Heaven, while the Xuanwu Emperor is in charge of the human world shouldering the important task of blessing households and the country. Compared to the Xuanwu Emperor standing high above the masses, the Mountain Tai Mother is more close to villagers' daily lives. She is in charge of the safety, heath and bearing of people. What is sharply different from the huge , magnificent and bright Xuanwu Temple is Longjun Temple. The Longjun Temple is beside the Xuanwu Temple, where Longwang is enshrined and worshipped. The status of Longwang is quite inferior, so his temple is also low. However, that agriculture is the chief method of making living decides the importance of Longwang to the villagers. The Niuwang Temple and The Longwang Temple have a close relation with carrying trade and service trade, which are deputized by "business" during Ming and Qing dynasties. Although there are always many making living methods in Hengding Village in the history, agriculture is still the most important. The religious sphere of every temple and the marriage sphere are completely superposable. This proves that the religious life of the village has important influence in quite centralized district and has a kind of social significance in some degree. |
PDF Full Text Request