Agricultural Areas In Central Tibet Mountain Worship

As one of the most ancient worship objects, Mt.Yar-lha-sham-po possessed anextremely high position in Tibetan history and is still very famous in modern Tibetansociety. By the case study about a worship ceremony of the holy mountainYar-lha-sham-po, the writer wants to show the character, the structure and the functionof Tibetan traditional folk holy mountain ritual in central Tibetan agriculture area. Asone of the most ancient and most typical cultural activities, Tibetan mountain worshiprite stored a historical memory of Tibetan society. In the model of the interaction of“gods and men” in Mt.Yar-lha-sham-po worship ceremony, this article tries tounderstand the traditional Tibetan social hierarchy and its adjustment process in themodern society. The writer is not bounded to the “faith circle” or the “sacrifice circle”theory, which is often used by the predecessors in the study of Tibet mountain worshipactivities, but puts more strength on showing the adaptability of traditional culture tothe social change and the creativity of it.While in many articles Tibetan holy mountains and mountains spirits are usuallymixed together, the author distinguishes the spirits of mountains from the mountainthemselves, finds their historical origins, their developing tracks and the shapes and theappearances of the spirits in modern Tibetan deity morphology system at first, and thencombs the holy mountain systems, makes clear the position of Mt.Yar-lha-sham-po inthe system and the meaning of it, to show the inheritance and the development ofTibetan traditional culture by modern Mt.Yar-lha-sham-po worship ceremony.For showing the history of Tibetan holy mountains and the mountain spirits,understanding their history, and finding their value in Tibetan culture based on theexisting various document literatures the author uses the documentary method,analyses the meaning of Tibetan holy mountains, the mountain spirits in traditionalTibetan culture and the historical value of them. The Tibetan holy mountain ceremonyare analyzed by using modern western anthropologists theories and methods, especiallythe theories about the structure and function. Finally combining with the first-hand datafrom a fieldwork, the writer explores the social and cultural meanings of the modernmountain worship ceremony in central Tibet agriculture area and the cultural and socialintegration function of ceremony through the modern Tibetan Mt.Yar-lha-sham-poworship rite in the valley.