An Anthropological Interpretation Of Dai Water Wells In Mengdi

In the traditional society of the Dai people, the well is usually related to their religion,lifestyle and traditional festivals. In this sense, the well becomes an extremely important carrier for their traditional culture, which has a great influence on their social life. In the1960s, before the existence of wells in the Dai village of Mengdi, the local people usually drank river water or rainwater. During that time, their worship were mainly of "the God of River"and "the God of Dragon."And in the1970s and1980s, wells began to enter into the life the villagers. Wells have changed their traditional way of obtaining water and influenced their pace of life. Since they do not need to obtain water from rivers far away from where they live, they have more time for production.Along with the change of the habit of drinking river water or rainwater to the habit of drinking well water, the Dai people has gradually transferred their worship of "the God of River"and "the God of Dragon"to other deities, such as "the God of Well."The relations between the Dai people and "the God of River"and "the God of Dragon"has become more and more remote while the relations between the Dai people and "the God of Well" become more and more intimate. Moreover, wells not only unite the local people with "the God of Well" but also make their interpersonal relations more intimate. The wells in the village provide them more public space for social intercourse, which can well be seen from the fact that the opportunities of conversing and socializing increase as they all need to obtain water from the public wells and sometimes they do some household chores by the side of the wells. In addition, the relations between families also become more intimate because of the sharing of a common well. And they tend to help each other more than before. Wells have played a significant part in promoting harmonious relations in the neighborhood.The worship of "the God of Well" of the Dai people is mainly shown in the ceremonies such as offering sacrifices, fighting for the new water and so on. The exclusion of women presence during the whole process of sacrificing can well reflect the taboos of forbidding women in some "sacred"places in the culture of Dai people. In the December of2009, tapwater entered into the life of the local people of Mengdi. Accompanied with the tapwater came some changes related with the culture of wells. Faced with this kind of new water", the locals needed to make some adjustments and choices. Some chose the tapwater, some chose the well water and some chose both. In this competition between tradition and modernity, they made choices based on their own benefits.The connections which had been strengthened by the wells are now weakening. Meanwhile,the sacredness and seriousness which used to be attached to the ceremonies have also changed into casualness and informality. The collective religious activities and ceremonies in the village have gradually become individual ones. Walls and fens were built around the wells, which can well indicate the breach of the interpersonal relations. The individualization of the society become more and more apparent.