The Anthropological Analysis Of Funeral Ceremony Of Hui Minority In Tangwang Town

As a ultimate ritual of personal life, funeral ceremony is affected by the concept of the immortality of the soul. Under the influence of Islamic culture and Confucian culture, Hui culture is not only has completely Islamic culture, but also has its own characteristics. It is the outward manifestation of the group, which has its own religious faith、social organizations and social orders. In Dongxiang autonomous county of Gansu province, Hui’s funeral ceremony has a few differences from others, except for obeying strict sunna, it often has a ceremony that people throw money to the body. This paper explores the origin and evolution of such differences, in order to know the traces of relationship between the Hui culture and other culture. By the research of this ceremony, we can understand the thoughts about China’s Muslim, especially know the psychology and feelings of Hui Minority in the Northwest region. Meanwhile, we can discuss that the connotation of Muslims, and promote the development of Muslim culture. It also has a vital significance for collecting the local culture and national culture data.This paper is divided into the following several parts:the first chapter is an introduction for the topic origin and the research status. Then, as the perspective of the local people, use the Clifford Geertz’s theory----method of "deep description" to have a ethnographic description of funeral ceremony of Hui Minority in Heyan village, and fall it into three parts. First is the preparatory stage, second stage is the details of the funeral process, last is affairs after funeral ceremony. The most important part uses the "tajie" and throwing money ritual to expound and analysis the characteristics and functions of Tangwan town’s funeral ceremony of Hui.