Study On Funeral Custom And Social Order Of Yizu In Guluju Village

The funeral customs and social order of local society have changed accordingly.Taking Gulu Ju Village,Nanhua County,Yunnan Province as an example,the author uses the research methods of anthropology,ethnology and sociology to explore the theme of "funeral customs and social order".The "social order" discussed in this paper contains two levels,one is the supernatural social order,the other is the real world social order.Through the discussion of this topic,the author tries to explain two points: first,the funeral in China is not just one of the life rituals at the cultural level,it is also a kind of social interaction and relationship construction.Second,in exchanges with other cultures,funeral is an important basis for dynasties to educate and shape core values.Therefore,this research can not only enrich the theory of state governance,but also have reference significance for the current funeral reform and rural revitalization.According to the research topic,the author focuses on how the local worldview and funeral rites deal with the local spiritual world and the real world,especially the kinship network and the neighborhood relationship.Then we discuss the entry of Christianity,the healing of the society by funeral rites,and the attempt to bring the individual into the whole of society.The author discusses the above contents in four chapters:The first chapter introduces the general situation of Guluju Village.Their ancient is related to the "Wu" branch which is one of the six ancestors of Yi Peoples,and its descendant is Mengshexinuluo,so the end points in <Zhilujing> are Kunming and Weishan in Dali.Villagers believe that "lungs are the best" so to be used to sacrifice the ancestors.Huocaomabuxiaofu is a local mourning custom characteristics,the villagers get it by planting hemp,spinning hemp weaving cloth.In the early 1930 s,Christianity was introduced into Nanhua County,known as the "Zhonghuaguoneibudaohui",which belongs to the Neidihui.The Yi people,who make up about 3 percent of the Christian population,are mostly middle-aged and elderly women.Tuzhu faith is the autochthonous of the villagers which is closely interwoven with ancestor worship.The second chapter introduces the key elements of social organization and social order presented in the process of funeral ceremony,including the personnel,objects,space,social organization and the whole ceremony process.The concentrated display of the Huocaomabuxiaofu,"Cungong" and the Xiangbang organization makes the funeral activities become public activities in the community,and all the villagers must show up.The ceremony consisted of Bimo and Eipo,the Houqin represented by the uncle and the Shiqin represented by the daughter.The wearing of Huocaomabuxiaofu shows that there is a different family cultural order.Xiangbang organizations and Jiazu organizations provide labor mutual assistance and emotional reciprocity to the host family to maintain the village community.Funeral ceremonies unfold in two dimensions of time and space,namely: from the beginning of the fall of breath to the end of the funeral after Zhilu,from the house of the memorial to the burial ground.The third chapter mainly through ritual language-offerings,to restore the faith of the locals world,the world is under the influence of the real world,is the symbolic world,we can see the local ecological view and world view,and the place names in real society,space and social order sequence,supplies level symbol,etc.Concretely,the symbolic meaning of trees,locks,colors and so on is used to construct the supernatural social order of the underworld.The construction of the real social order in the Yang world consolidates the unity of the family through the family worship centering on the ancestral lingai,and continues the social communication through the relationship between the nephew and uncle centering on the relatives.The fourth chapter focuses on the order reproduction of different ritual subjects in the funeral ceremony.From the perspective of faith,Christians tend to be individualized and separated from the village community,but the social organization and social order emphasized in the funeral ceremony pull them back,that is,the daughter who has been converted to Christianity still plays the role of "Shiqin" in the funeral ceremony of their parents and elders.This "ritual" behavior reintegrated them and their families into the village community,so that the village could achieve relative stability while maintaining individual differences.This is the village community and social order in the stage of ritual threshold,as well as the emphasis on the existing social order.During the ritual process,the dutiful son draws strength to return to the "structure" society by various "anti-structure" behaviors,resumes the family order broken by death,and starts the normal production and life.Relatives,friends and other ceremony participants carry out ritual practice according to their identities and roles to consolidate and reproduce the "differential" social order.To sum up,the author concludes the following viewpoints: First,the funeral ceremony is a symbolic presentation of the real world,which emphasizes the existing order;Second,the reason that funeral ceremonies are held and changed constantly lies in their functions of integrating collective memory,standardizing social behavior,maintaining social order and maintaining village community.Because in the process of funeral ceremony,funeral customs and social organization reintegrate different individuals and families into the community of the village.In the historical process of modernization of rural society,the change of funeral customs in Guluju shows how funeral connects the state power,local tradition and the life world of ordinary peasants.This survey can be regarded as a novel perspective to understand the relationship between civil society and state power from the perspective of ritual and symbol.It can bring a new atmosphere to the current research on national governance and rural revitalization.