| Traditional Chinese society is a small peasant economy,and agriculture is the foundation of socio-economics.In the traditional society with low productivity,astronomical phenomena have become an important factor affecting agricultural production.When climate disasters occur,witchcraft has become an important solution,which has led to many folk rain god beliefs.In Yuci,Shanxi,folks mostly believed in the rain god,and from this village,a special network of village contacts —the relatives of gods and immortals.The advancement of the modernization process has continuously squeezed the nostalgic living space,and the record of the relationship between "fairy relatives" can retain a little of the original ecology of the village.This article takes Yuci District,Shanxi as a survey object,uses local history and temples,inscriptions,folklore and other rich data to explore inter-village relations and village temple culture in the region,and makes full use of field survey methods,participation methods,and philology methods.Finally,the article’s conclusions will be demonstrated to make the content of the paper more detailed.Because of the climatic factors,the Shanxi area is prone to drought.In the field of natural and human ecology,praying for rain has a long history.There are many Yuci rain gods,which are mainly divided into human gods and natural gods.Orthodoxy and spirituality are the internal driving force for the subject selection in the deities.The rain-seeking ceremony across villages in Yuci area has various forms.Hao Village,Xihebao Village,Yuchengping Village,Hougou Village,Yao Village,and Dachang Village have their own characteristics,reflecting different aspects of folk beliefs.Human-god interaction reflects the distinctive national character and characteristics of family,humanistic thinking,collective unconsciousness,gratitude thinking and the principle of reciprocity.The folk rain god belief network in Yuci,Shanxi is mainly constructed based on kinship of immortals.The belief network mainly consists of three paths: pseudo-kinship,pseudo-in-law,and magic event.Among them,pseudo-kinship and pseudo-in-law are the main paths.Compared with the construction of fairy relatives in Taigu area,the relationship between the fairy relatives in Yuci area is more in line with the characteristics of the rain god alliance,two-for-two alliance,and the ceremonial cycle is not fixed,as described in "Yuci County Records".Under the network of relatives of immortals,a cross-village prayer rain faith alliance was reached between the villages.The sacrificial ritual is full of multi-level and multi-angle confrontation,and its essence is a game of belief resources.Under the shroud of belief culture,Yuci local society has formed a complete set of rules for interpersonal communication.The relatives of the gods have established the belief atmosphere of the local society,and members within the same belief range have gained psychological and identity recognition,and have established a solid communication channel.At the same time,faith as a resource has also caused conflicts and struggles within the group.Folk rituals are not immutable,but are constantly changing with national orientation.Since 1949,the relationship between folk rituals and state power has changed from conflict to conspiracy,and folk rituals have also made corresponding self-adjustments.However,under the impact of modernization development,they still face difficulties in inheritance and continue to struggle.In the new era of rapid information dissemination,a faithful record of folk belief activities will help to enrich the study of village culture.To explore the transformation and adaptation of traditional folklore,to survive in a situation where living space is constantly being squeezed,and to try to maintain the core connotation of traditional folklore.This is the thinking point and significance of this article. |
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