Study On Beliefs Of Swing's Reproductive Function

As a folk religion, Witchcraft is an important component of our rural society. It is still widespread, and affects people's daily lives, values and ways of thinking. Swing is kind of folk magic in the pray ceremony in Shandong Weifang. In the view of the folklore, folk witchcraft is a main communication bridge between human and ghotst, divine beings, objects, and also human, with profound cultural connotations and the meaning of fertility worship. With same cultural significance, Witchcraft existing in many ethnics in different forms, has a common nature, pointing to the particular hope that witchcraft could help people to achieve the ultimate purpose of reproduction. Fraser's theory of witchcraft sorcery provides theoretical support to explain this phenomenon which implies primitive human thoughts. In modern society, although this magic has been squeezed out of the mainstream culture, but it still has a profound impact on national mentality and way of thinking. From the following aspects this article will explain the swing ceremony in term of folklore.●Historical background-Overview of the the origin and evolution of swing activity. Currently, scholars mainly focus on the study of the origin of the swing activity. There are three basic arguments, such as Qianqiu, Military training, and Hunting. With the development of productive forces, function of swing to keep healthy is maintained, making swing to become a popular folk activity.●Case Study-Investigation of swing pray ceremony in Weifang. Due to historical and geographical reasons Weifang still retains a swing pray ceremony, in which to have a Child is the core with a strong imperative feature. It reflects that during the historical evolution, the swing has been combined with the good wishes of people to have more children.●Theoretical support-Fraser's magic classification theory provides strong support to illustrate and explain the swing pray ceremony. Witchcraft theory could give a very good explaination to the original and primitive thinking pattern implied by the swing pray ceremony.Based on the theoretical analysis and case studies above, this paper will use method documents study, comparative analysis, and field investigation to explore ritual connotation of swing folk.