On Ritual And Ethnic Identity

The Yi people in Daduza Village,Xiongbi Town,Shizong County,Qujing City,Yunnan Province,claimed to be “Gan Yi”.The “Binding Ceremony” is a ceremonial activity closely related to the life and production of the Yi people in the village.In the process of national advocacy for the rescue and protection of intangible cultural heritage,the ceremony was included in the Yunnan Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2017.With strong interest,the writer took field investigation for five times in the November 2017,February 2018 Spring Festival,April 2018,October 2018 and 2019 Spring Festival respectively.During the investigation and study,it was found that the ritual is closely related to the issue of ethnic identity.Ethnic identity is a hot topic of discussion in today's society.As one of the cultural representations,the artistic image provides a certain expression for discussing ethnic identity.Therefore,in order to find out how Yi people can carry out ethnic identity through the “Binding Ceremony”,the writer analyzed various elements in the ritual activities with the first-hand materials,and expounds the functions of the ritual on ethnic identify.The writer used the anthropological research method to analyze the ritual activities of the ritual through field investigation,in-depth interview and participation observation.The paper is divided into four parts.The first part mainly introduces the village context of Shizong County and Daduza Village in Xiongbi Town.Through field investigation,combined with historical records,based on the grasp of time and space,the village's natural environment and living environment are described.And the context of the “Binding Ceremony” is presented.The second part presents the “Binding Ceremony” as the identity of the Yi people.Starting from the ritual origin,the ritual activity process and the cultural changes of the ritual activities,the paper records the time and space characteristics of the ritual activities of the ritual in the village.The third part deeply discusses and interprets the external elements,processes,contents and characters of the ethnic identity in the ritual.In the external factors of constructing ethnic identity,this paper focuses on the analysis of the mask and costumes as the material culture of the history of Yi people in Daduza village,which has rich symbolic significance and connotation.As a carrier for constructing ethnic identity,it effectively strengthens the identity of the Yi ethnic group in the village.In the process of constructing ethnic identity,from the decoration process and praying activity,it can be drawn that the Yi people in the village,as the creative subject of national culture,have consensus to their national culture;in the content of constructing ethnic identity,through the analysis of the devout natural beliefs and respected ancestors of the Yi people in the village,it was concluded that the cultural identity is strengthened through the spiritual beliefs in the ritual;in the role of the ethnic identity,the inheritor and the actor are the holders of the national culture of Yi people in the Daduza village through analyzing the generative logic and cultural grammar in the formation of ethnic identity.In the fourth part,through the research on “Binding Ceremony”,the paper expounds that the ritual has the three functions of defining the boundary of ethic identify among Yi people in Daduza village,strengthening their collective memory and building their ethic belief.