Research On The Belief Of "Dashan Grandma" On Anyang Mountain In The Western Anhui

Chinese Folk religion contains rich cultural symbol meaning and reflects the relationship between culture and the political power, which attract more and more attention of the academia. In the author’s home town——In the west of Huoqiu county in Anhui province, people believe in gods faith of "Dashan Grandma". Around October 15 lunar calendar in every year, thousands of pilgrims gathered at the foot of the mountain which named "Anyangshan", then climbed to the top of the mountain. They set off firecrackers and burn incense for "Dashan Grandma", some people even brought "Red Cloak " "Red Embroidered Shoes" "Red Eggs" "Happiness Candies"and son on, praying for the goddess to bless their family peace and good luck. People in this country called this activity as "Pilgrimage of Mountain", actually, it is the ritual of this folk religion"Dashan Grandma". These belief folk customs are the representative of a specific regional culture, which can reflect the local cultural psychology of people’s beliefs and their real life. In addition, it had experienced the ups and downs in the history, from which we can find the intangible control of social power and the will of the state in culture. Furthermore, in the age of new methodologies of ’"Representative Culture-Oriented’ Writing Style of Folk Recordings" and "reflective ethnography", following these methods concept to study of "Dashan Grandma" will be a meaningful attempt.This thesis includes five parts:the first chapter is the introduction part of the research background, the research significance, research methods, key concept, literature review and the innovation of the paper; The second chapter is the description of fieldwork site including the geography, history and the humanities of the western country in Anhui, and the daily observation of an ordinary villages’belief life in this area; The third chapter collects some legends about "Dashan grandma", such as "Wei Jing lady version" "the girl in Tang dynasy version" "the goddess of mountain version" "the belief of Sanxiao Empress version". These tales can help us to understand the origins of "Dashan grandma" belief; The fourth chapter includes the participant observation to the ceremony called "Chao Dashan" and the deep description related it. In this part, the author try to reveal the real scene of these folk custom and its ability of creating public space, integrating regional society; In fifth part, the paper try to do a "reflective ethnography" writing according clues of its changes from eighties of the 20th century to these days, from which we can see the relation between the national will and the folk beliefs.