Myth Making on an Ethnic Frontier; The Cult of the Heavenly Kings of West Hunan, 1715-1996  

Oleh:

Sutton, Donald S.

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Modern China vol. 26 no. 4 (Oct. 2000), page 448-500.
Topik: The Cult of the Heavenly Kings of West Hunan
Fulltext: 448MC264.pdf (243.79KB)

Isi artikel

Living inWest Hunan during the Qing or Republican periods, one could not ignore the Three Kings the White Emperor Heavenly Kings (Baidi tianwang), to give them their full popular title. No other gods had a comparable presence. Their shrines dotted the landscape, and their worship bridged all ethnic groups. Villages and zhai (Miao hamlets) lacking their own shrines sought palanquin visits by the Kings’ images. Miao travelers away from home set up temporary altars in the open. At the greatworship centers, signs ordered riders and sedan passengers on the roads to alight and walk, out of respect for the Kings. Before setting out on campaigns, Han soldiers prayed to them at camp altars and also gave thanks on their safe return. Days of rigorous fasting and abstention from normal activities accompanied the annual festival celebrating these gods. In times of violent conflict, Miao and Han would bring the Kings’ images, banners, or vestments into battle against each other. In peaceful times, disputants from all groups settled quarrels with oaths sworn in the presence of the Kings; they would be less likely to violate such oaths, itwas reported, than the magistrate’s judgments. So, to ease the burden of court cases in this remote area with its many in migrants and conflicts over land, officialdom tolerated the shrines and their attendants, the paralegal ritualists who officiated over a sort of divine high court, its very this-worldly decisions sanctified by blood oaths before the Heavenly Kings.

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