Analysis Of Festivals From The Perspective Of Authority And Folk During Tang And Song Dynasties

Tang and Song Dynasties experienced the stage of politically and economically great reformations, during which the autocratic monarchy system was reinforced. The rulers took many kinds of measures to strengthen the control of civilians, including the intervention on folk customs. This thesis aims to explore the social reformations of Tang and Song Dynasties and further analyze the methods and ways in which the government intervene the folk customs through the investigation of the inheritance of three festivals, namely, Cold Food Festival, the Emperor’s Festival and Zhong He Festival. It draws the final conclusion that authority power and folk power not only resist against but also depend on each other in terms of the folk customs.The first part describes the origin, transmission and customs of the Cold Food Festival in detail. It starts with the summary of several statements on the origin of the Cold Food Festival in previous studies, and then the reasons for the statement which the writer supports are elaborated. In the section of the transmission of the Cold Food Festival, the thesis would expound through spatial as well as psychological aspects. The analysis would emphasize the analysis of human beings, with breaking down the spatial restrictions. The festival customs discussed are mainly in Tang and Song Dynasties, as it is to explore the social reformations of Tang and Song Dynasties through the analysis of festival customs. Then through the elaboration of the course of Cold Food Festival turning from a folk custom to a national etiquette, the confrontation between authority and folk powers would be investigated.The second part would mainly focus on the introductions to the appearance, development, festival customs and civilians’ evaluations of the Emperor’s Festival. Regarding festival customs, the thesis would compare them between Tang and Song dynasties and the changes of festival customs from Tang to Song dynasties would be introduced, such as, the increase of the number of festivals, the complexation of customs, the increase of the amount of gifts, the decrease of rewards.Then through the elaboration of the course of Emperor’s Festival turning to a local festival,the confrontation between authority and folk power could be seen from the festival design and implement, with each has its own advantages in different stages.The third part introduces in detail the appearance, festival customs and development of the Zhong He Festival.The Zhong He Festival shares a lot in common with the Emperor’s Festival, as the festival customs of both festivals are based on the traditional customs. In terms of the policy festivals, authority and folk powers depend on each other to guarantee the development of the festivals.The forth part summarizes the features of festivals during the transitional period from Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty. The main features are as follows: the appearances of many new festivals and festival customs, the institutionalization of festivals, the dense entertainment atmosphere and the appearance of religious elements, the festivals’ nationalization and folk customs.The conclusion part introduces the relationship between etiquettes and customs. The government changes the customs into etiquettes to strengthen the co?ntrol over civilians and weaken civilians’ resistance.