A Study Of Folk Beliefs In The North Of Shanxi Province In Qing Dynasty

Folk belief is a historical and cultural phenomenon reflecting the operation mechanism,social structure and group mentality of local society,and to a certain extent,it affects people's concept,behavior and even the governance of local society.It is helpful to understand the role of different groups in social operation and the relationship between different social groups by investigating the construction process of local social folk beliefs.In the Qing Dynasty,the folk belief system was constantly adjusted,the positive worship system was paid attention by the government,some of the positive worship functions were diverse,and widely accepted by the general public,indicating the infiltration and evolution of the national level positive worship system in the local society,which shows the continuous improvement of the influence of the national orthodox gods in the local society,and gradually shows the local characteristics.Obviously,the dual interaction of "state and society" is its main feature in the formation of folk beliefs.This paper mainly studies the types,construction,relationship with daily life and functions of folk belief system in the north of Shanxi Province in Qing Dynasty.First of all,on the basis of summarizing the general situation of natural geography and human geography in the north of Shanxi Province,through sorting out the local records of the north of Shanxi Province in the Qing Dynasty,this paper holds that the folk belief types in the north of Shanxi Province are mainly divided into natural belief,Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism belief,the belief of local people and famous officials,the belief of legends,ancestors and ghosts.Secondly,combing the establishment of the worship system in northern Shanxi in the Qing Dynasty,especially the existence form,quantity and distribution of the altar,Confucious'temple,Town God's Temple,Guan Yu Temple,Dragon God Temple and North Yue Temple,at the same time,inspecting the different attitudes of the government to the prostitution,and then analyzing the interaction between the local officials and the masses in the formation of folk beliefs,and analyzing the construction process of the folk belief in northern Shanxi in the Qing Dynasty.Thirdly,it discusses the relationship between folk beliefs and daily life in the northern Jin Dynasty of Qing Dynasty,and interprets the belief activities of common people in the age of,especially the influence of Yin-Yang belief,moon worship,Dragon God belief and Guandi belief on people's life concept.At the same time,it analyzes the relationship between folk beliefs and weddings and funerals.Finally,it discusses the social and economic functions of the folk belief in the north of Shanxi Province in Qing Dynasty.In terms of social functions,first,the function of educating the people is outstanding.Through the maintenance of the positive worship system,such as the construction of the loyalty and filial piety temple,the local officials publicize the"positive atmosphere" of loyalty,righteousness,festival and filial piety,which is conducive to the transmission of Confucian ethics and the standardization of public behavior.Secondly,the psychological function of the people is significant.On the one hand,through drought and praying for rain,people's anxiety is relieved.On the other hand,the "Play Contest" held by the sacrifice gods provides an opportunity for the people to have fun and relax,especially for women's groups to go out to pray for blessings and play,which is very important to release their pent up emotions.In terms of economic function,temple fairs regularly organized in folk beliefs have become a bazaar where traders gather to facilitate people's purchase of daily necessities and promote the development and prosperity of commodity economy.