中欧社会论坛 - China Europa ForumThe Initial Research on the Gathering and Scattering Phenomena of Folk Belief
Authors: Kanazawa
Extract from ” Northwest Minorities Research, 2002 No. 2, pp.146-157“
In China, folk belief has long historical origins and a profound social basis. However, for a long time, whether in religious studies, or in studies of folk culture, the research into folk belief has been weak overall, especially with regard to its gathering and scattering phenomena. Its interaction with orthodox religion and the mainstream social movement in both traditional and contemporary society, as well as the studies of its relationship with various folk religions, are areas that have not been researched. Contemporary China is in a period of social transformation, whether proceeding from the traditional role of the Chinese folk belief pattern, or from our realistic national conditions, concerns and studying the trends in the evolution of folk religion and related strategy should have had immediate practical significance. This article aims first to raise questions whilst at the same time undertaking a preliminary exploration into these issues.
1) The nature of folk religion and its status in the social and cultural system
Folk belief means the religious beliefs rooted in ordinary people and their religious behaviour. Folk belief exists in a basic state in a social and cultural system, involving a religious type of structure and involving areas connected to its relationship with the primitive religion, its relationship with the clan - tribal religions and ethnic - its relationship with the national religion and its relationship with folk religion. Folk beliefs are primitive religions, rather than innovative.
In the native religion, clan - tribal religions, ethnic - national religion and folk belief are the three forms associated with each other, but not the same. The loose nature of the organisational structure will also distinguish folk belief from folk religion. From the synchronic perspective of the structure, folk belief is neither the dominant culture in a social and cultural system, nor the mainstream religion. From the diachronic point of view to position folk belief, then although it is not as prominent as Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and Christianity, yet to trace its source, is often to trace back to ancient times. Its history is longer than any innovative religion.
2) “Gathering” and, “scattering” of folk belief
Whether as a result of the conquest of foreign nations, social differentiation within the nation by the ruling class’s “From heaven and earth” policy, the monopoly of certain religious privileges, as the dominant clan - tribal religion, has caused a part of native religious beliefs and related religious behaviours to differentiate, evolving into folk belief. This has entered what might be called the “scattered” way. The “scattering” of folk belief is also shown as a lateral and emerging God making movement among the people, which is different from the proposal advocated by many scholars that religion has moved from the polytheistic faith of God to the monotheistic development of “gathering” to one God.
The path of “scattering” in folk belief has formed a crossing of horizontal and vertical lines. From the vertical perspective, folk beliefs evolved from the native religions, then of folk customs. Of the four elements: religious ideas, feelings, behaviours and organisation, folk belief contain less and less religious nature, but more and more of “custom”. From the horizontal point of view, although the new God-making movement has many absurd aspects, it seems to continue to advance along the original path of personification of the natural gods, personifying those unpersonified, and for those who have already been personified, repeating it once again or numerous times, portraying them as heroes or historical figures.
The evolutionary path of folk belief, not only has the downstream “scattering” trend, but also has the upstream of the “gathering” path. But the folk belief “gathering” has a distinct difference from the “scattering” mechanism, which is the artificial effect.
3) The trend of cultural integration on “scattering” and “gathering”
A) Spontaneous apotheosis and “traditional” infiltration of political ethics
B) The fundamental method: where to start “gathering”?
How can we understand the “gathering” and “scattering” mechanism of folk belief and folk religion in China, and how also can we understand the role of mainstream religions (Taoism in particular)? By bringing religious and cultural functions into full play for the integration of folk belief and folk religion, how can we seek an action plan beneficial to social development in the future, whether intentionally or unintentionally, actively or inactively? It is indeed worthy of dynamic research and investigation.