Research On Ancestral Spirits Belief Of Shui People

This is a religious ethnography focused on the study of ancestral spirits belief of Shui people. Sandong Village, Sandu Shui Autonomous County in the Qian'nan Buyi and Miao Autonomous Region of Guizhou Province, is the fieldwork site of this study. This paper which follows an attempt to elaborate the religious interests of Shui people centre around the ancestral spirits, has utilized a mixed-method approach including field work and ethnography, suggesting for an inspiration on the characteristics of their cognition structure, worldviews and values. A further aim of this study is to delineate the general contours and principal features of their culture and life.The Shui people have a complex system which combines ancestral spirits belief, nature worship and spiritualism as well. By illustrating the complexities of this belief system, this paper first draws a distinction of three categories of spirits: ancestor, deity and ghost, which are recognized as relevant to different structural contexts. In general, ancestral spirits are vested with mystical powers and authority. Since ancestors are intimately involved with the welfare of the living, they retain pivotal structural positions in the system. The relation of the ancestors to their living kinsmen has been described as ambivalent, as both punitive and benevolent. The immediate ancestors of three generations are seen as dispensing favours, while the distant ancestors are often accused of being capricious. This contradiction or conflict in attitude and emotion towards ancestral spirit is thought to be shaped by some native rationalizations pertaining to various rites and practices. By assembling in this study some of the data thus brought to light and remarking their functions and implications in context, the value orientation which is embodied in the ritual will be systematically unveiled; they are indeed essential to the objective of their life. As the requirements demanded among the Shui people are secured by the postulates of belief, we shall consider that an adjustment rests upon a utilitarian perception has been occurred. In this process of adjustment, rational logical thought may be of considerable importance.In examining belief in a traditional Shui minority society, this study relates the concepts under scrutiny to needs, emotions, desires, and relationship. The local belief also mirrors the social landscape of its adherents. Underlying the myriad sects and cults in the Shui society, there exists a close association among the ancestral spirits belief and social integration. At greater depth, tracing through the interaction between religious behavior and social reality, this study will serve as an angle of entry in the consideration of the social structure. It leads us to achieve the social function of ancestral spirits belief as maintenance of social group Sanjialiufang(三家六房)on the basis of lineage. Meanwhile, it adopts a new perspective in understanding the social process, which is accomplished by following the path of nationalization.