| The Lahu ethnic group is an ancient minority in China and one of the 16cross-border ethnic groups in Yunnan Province.Together with the Han and Dai,the Lahu have tilled and developed the border regions of southwestern China.As a core part of the Lahu cultural system,ritual therapy offers important insights into Lahu social history,ethnic relations and family-state relations.This paper focuses on Keka,a Lahu village in Jhutang Town,Lancang Lahu Autonomous County.It gives a systematic and comprehensive account of Keka's village history,way of life,social organizations,festive culture,views of the universe and man,and,on that basis,analyzes the therapeutic rituals performed by the Lahu,such as exorcism,necromancy and prayer for blessings,as well as the underlying cultural logic.The paper focuses on how the history of ethnic struggles and migration has been internalized by the Lahu and become a way of delimiting demographic/geographic boundaries and establishing individual,family,regional,and ethnic identity.This paper consists of eleven chapters divided into three sections.The first chapter ande the second chapter introduces the background of Keka village.Keka is an ancient Lahuna village that,after its formation,has gradually developed an agricultural economy based on rice cultivation.Keka villagers generally maintain their indigenous folk beliefs,while a minority of village households have converted to Christianity.The village manages its public affairs using the Kaxiekalie system,while married couples are generally distant relatives from different genealogical trees.The universe resulting from the mixing of Lahu spirits and ghosts forms the contextual basis of the performance and practice of their therapeutic rituals.The second section introduces the various forms of Lahu therapeutic rituals in Keka.The Lahu people in Keka would slaughter chickens as a tribute to the spirits of their ancestors to obtain information about their physical health and wellbeing from the spirits,which form the basis for performing corresponding rituals.This creates a sense of control in the face of a future that is uncertain and uncontrollable.These therapeutic rituals,which aim to address “spirit-induced diseases”,demonstrate a highly delicate and sensitive ecosystem that the Lahu people have constructed over the long history of their interactions with the external environment.This ecosystem includes the Lahu group's efforts and wisdom generated when facing pressures from the natural world,and also represents the bridging of rifts that have existed,on and off,among the ethnic group during the course of national development.In the “wave superposition ceremony” to pray for blessings,the “wave” is a resource that can be accumulated,transmitted and transformed.The wave superposition ritual injects new energy into the patient and their social relations,which creates the conditions to sustain the individual and the group.Through soul-related rituals such as name changing,necromancy and Zongbamingba,the Lahu group,by fostering individual and group identity,maintains a high level of identity in the household,village and universe,which provides a basis for the establishment of a rigorous ethnic system.In the “Xiba biting disease” ritual treatment,people view “Duo” as a force that is harmful to the human body and must be guarded against.A disease reflects Duo's invasion and malicious pollution of the human body,and the disease is treated and the patient saved by purifying the body using Xiba.The “Xiba biting ghost” ritual is a system of mutual suspicion and differentiation within the ethnic group when living resources and space are limited.It is a mechanism for cohesion and division of Lahu society at the village level.The seven chapters lead to the conclusion that the Lahu ethnic group is not a marginalized group set apart from empires,modern states and market economies.Its therapeutic rituals are the outcomes of a medicinal culture stemming from long years of migration and ceaseless absorption of the cultural achievements of neighboring ethnic groups throughout history.In this process,the past is embodied through rituals,which not only maintain legacies of the animistic system in primitive society,but also ancestor worship,the system of spirits commuting between this world and the afterworld,the prayer system that originates from Mahayana Buddhism,and even Shamanistic telepathy systems.These systems,instead of contradicting each other in one ethnic group,have mingled,interacted,and eventually become closely linked with the Lahu social system as part of Lahu cultural character.They have deeply affected how the Lahu understand and act on disease,life and death,fortune and misfortune,and ethnic relations and family-state relations. |
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