The Anima Of Holy Water:the Ceremonial Water And Water Worship Of The Dong Ethnic Group

Water plays an important role in human civilization, and water worship is a natural religion rooted in agricultural and social life. There are such traditions in the Dong ethnic group:"Where there are hills, there is hunting; where there are rivers, there are stockades; where there is water, there are scenes"; "Where there is water, there are fields"; "Human lives on rice, and fields rely on water." The civilization of the Dong ethnic group is written on water. As a saying goes,"The ancestors of human beings came from water, and my ancestors are born in water." Therefore, it can be seen that the civilization of the Dong ethnic group is a history about "water." The stockaded villages beside great rivers have formed a unique set of concepts, behavioral habits, and corresponding ceremonial practices about gods worship during the long-term life. It is no doubt that water is a key plot and core symbol on the meaning web woven by the Dong ethnic group in Chezhai Village. And, from daily life to festival activities, and from the transition ceremonies of individual lives to the stories and legends that spread in villages, water plays roles and are endowed with special cultural connotation. In essence, water is not a kind of matter or a representation, but a reflection of the unique cultural structures and concept schematism of the Dong ethnic group.To all ethnic groups, ceremonies are never metaphysical ways; both the process and the action object of the ceremonies are full of moral solemnity. To the Dong ethnic group, water is not only a kind of matter, but also a kind of symbol. Therefore, the paper takes water as the research object, and takes life transition ceremonies (such as giving a bath to the baby in birth ceremonies, brides’carrying new water in weddings, giving a bath to the corpse in funerals, keeping vigil beside the coffin, and passing the period of mourning), distress-relieving ceremonies (such as bridging to pray for babies, treating illnesses and abnormal deaths), and periodical ceremonies (such as receiving new water on Lunar New Year’s Day, worshipping ancestors on Tomb-sweeping Day, Tasting New Rice Day, praying for rain and Cattle Killing Day) for examples to explain how the Dong ethnic group places water in a close relationship with life and production and thus worship the various strength of water. Hence, the paper thinks that the water worship of the Dong ethnic group should be investigated in concrete ceremonial fields and ceremonial process, and that we should excavate the core of the water worship and the unique cosmology and life cognitive schema of the Dong ethnic group by taking ceremonies as the background, by taking water as the focus of attention, by applying field investigation methods, and by recurring to the performances in all kinds of ceremonies.Among the Dong ethnic group of Chezhai Village, "water" is a presentation of nature and a kind of life operation reflecting the circulation and commensalism of the myriad things. The spatial classification of water tallies with the cosmology of the Dong ethnic group, and the form of individual lives accords with that of water. The assembling of a series of related elements of the Dong society such as rivers, wells, witchcraft, ceremonies and sacrifices, and the combination of these images illuminate the internal logic of the delivery of human life and the creation of human civilization. Water is collected from heaven and earth and stores in the myriad things. Therefore, it can be said that the civilization of the Dong ethnic group is written on water. The holiness of water, memorial water and water worship compose the water belief in the Dong ethnic group; they form an integral part and reinforce one another:from tales of legends to the building of villages, water is closely bound up with the life of the Dong ethnic group, and water has experienced a process of being sanctified as a kind of ineffable matter; the instinctive appeal of a bumper harvest year and of procreation and propagation makes the Dong ethnic group endow water with anima, making water play the role of hierophany in ceremonies; in turn, the water worship and the holiness of water can only be better understood in concrete ceremonies; meanwhile, the repeated practice of ceremonies further increases the holiness of water, and intensifies the water worship. Therefore, the author specially chooses ceremonial water and the performances in the folk-customs of the Dong ethnic group as the skeleton of the paper, describes deep the water worship of the Dong ethnic group and the holiness of water in concrete ceremonies.The main view of the paper is:on the meaning web woven elaborately by the Dong ethnic group, water is an important part of it, and water has three functions:Firstly, it is a hierophany, being the carrier and the residence of souls, as well as a medium of linking up the heaven, the earth and human beings, and linking up the hell and this world. To the Dong society, water is absolutely not only a kind of indispensable resource in production and life, but also a kind of ineffable material; it is an important foundation for the Dong ethnic group to form their cosmology and reincarnation; secondly, water is cognized as a kind of animated strength, it gives birth to the myriad things, and it is endowed with various kinds of meanings from reproduction, growth to regeneration, while procreation and propagation constitute the root and the impetus of water worship; thirdly, water reflects the principle of reciprocity, and the social relationship is formed around water; water contains various knowledge hierarchies such as the source of life, human emotion and human relations; water standardizes morality and orders.