The Characteristic Habitudes In Resident Home Building Of Tujia Ethnic Group

Tujia ethnic group is well known for the suspended structure in their resident buildings. The unique habitudes accompanying constructing process present a great charm to folklorists. It is practical important to study this endangered live folk-custom.Using fieldwork,this thesis presents an objective visualization to the rituals related to resident home building in Tujia ethnic group. The inquisition of building rites for Tujia ethnic group inhabited at Laochakou at Xuanen county in Hubei province reveals in detail all the rite components, which includes Site Locating, Break Ground, Carpenter welcome party, Skeleton lineup, Worshipping Luban, Skeleton installation, Worshipping girder, Chiseling Girder, Tying girder, Raising girder, Girder turning, Girder praising, wine praising, pizza praising, Girder tossing, Girder stepping, carpenter farewell party, shrine installation and moving-in.The building rites are developed from the daily activity in Tujia ethnic group and consist of a series of folklore components. Building a home is looked as the start of getting wealthy by Tujia ethnic group, and behind the building rite are their wishes for good fortune. The observation of their habitude development reveals the building ritual is a routine process characterized by consciousness and culture inertia. Everybody has to follow these rules as they are building their homes. The building ritual is symbolic of life bearing and a method of propagating their ethnic emotions. The building ritual also has characteristics of theatre performance. The building site is actually the stage for the performance, and the carpenter is the actor who executes the building ritual by singing and dancing. The carpenter is not the only actor in the play, and the audience is also actively involved by role exchanging with the actor. The role exchange between player and audience presents the ritual as "Street performance". The building ritual also offers a chance for carnival and is also looked as a mobile festival inside Tujia ethnic group. It is further discussed the origin of this unique building ritual from the views of Fengshui and Taboo. The author explored the functions of these building rituals by analyzing the relationship between Ru and Dao teaching.It is also addressed at the end of this thesis that the decline of this unique custom of Tujia ethnic group is caused by the increase of population mobility and the evolution of modern building. The impact from the majority culture is another important factor forcing this custom into endanger situation...