Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors

 

 

 

            In Arthur Wolf’s book “Studies in Chinese Society”, there’s a section called “Gods, Ghosts, and Ancestors”. It describes the worship rituals in the everyday lives of people living in the rural areas along the southwestern edge of the Taipei Basin. Wolf starts by describing how each morning conservative families will burn three sticks of incense twice a day, the first is placed in a nice outside of the house for the benefit of the wandering ghosts, the second is dedicated to the Stove God whose images resides above a large brick structure where all meals are prepared and finally, the third is placed in a burner before the tablets of the family’s immediate ancestors (1974: 131). His entire essay goes on to explain how these three different acts of worship have their own significance in the lives of the Taiwanese people, his arguments in the essay revolve around how each worshippers conception of the social world places a significant role in their lives (1974: 131).

 

 

            The first act of worship involves the Stove God, in most northern Taiwanese homes there is a large brick cooking stove on which most of the families’ meals are prepared and it stands as a substantial symbol of the family as a corporate body. This stove possession identifies the family as an independent entity, this is of great importance because the owning of your individual family stove shows that you are independent and independent families never share a stove (1974: 133). Wolf goes on to explain how when brothers divide the father`s household, the eldest inherits the stove and the younger brothers will take hot coals from that said to their own stoves as a welcoming act to the stove god into their home. If a stove is contaminated with insects then it must be demolished and the bricks thrown into a river in order to restore peace for the family, there is thus a very apparent association not only between Stove God and stove but also between god and family (1974: 133).

 

 

            As someone who grew up in a western society in a Catholic household, I think it`s really interesting how much emphasis is put on a god and worshipping your ancestors, I grew up with the notion of their only being one god. However, my world view has evolved a great deal and I no longer really view one religion as being higher than another. I think there is merit in every religious practice, it may be hard to understand a different person`s belief system but I find this particular God worship system to be particularly intriguing. I think it’s quite interesting how Gods who have failed at their duties are tried and condemned to a public beating, whereas in the Catholic faith if God doesn’t do something for his followers it’s because he had another life plan for us and we don`t question him. While in Taiwan culture a god was tried for neglecting his duties and condemned where he was left in the hot sun to see how he liked it and finally after enduring all sorts of insults as broken in pieces (1974: 144). I am aware no every sub-culture within Taiwan share the same belief system the one Wolf takes about from a Westerners standpoint is quite impressive how they will punish a God for being neglectful whereas we simply accept it and decide it must be part of a bigger life plan God has for us.

 

Image Source:

Tablets: http://lifeoftaiwan.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ancestor-worship-taiwan.jpg

Stove God : http://taiwanpedia.culture.tw/images/media/religion/R379.jpg

 

References:

Wolf, A. (1974). Studies in Chinese Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

 

Ethnology of the Southwestern Pacific

In Toichi Mabuchi’s article “Ethnology of the Southwestern Pacific”, he talks about the concept of life sphere’s as well as how the change in social shift became a large area of study for him (1974: 175). Although when he began his studies he had no concrete idea about what the social shift distribution was. Mabuchi feels that the Institute of Ethnography has become handicapped by three different factors: research staff, research funds and the deadline for publishing results (1974: 176). As a result, of this he felt it better to begin studying the oral history of the Formosa rather than the cultural history since oral history came before anything was written meaning it had been around for a longer period of time. While he began his research Mabuchi became more and more interested in the “folk knowledge” of the Formosa, which included the oral history, encompassing both synchronic and diachronic dimensions within the society (1974: 176). Rapid change has occurred for the Formosa aborigines in regards to their culture and society during and after WWII, this resulted in it being very hard for research to now work within the aboriginal state.

  

 

            Most cultural activities within the Formosa are performed on a spatial base and such a base is demarcated by cultural activities (1974: 177). This base will then have geographical extensions and this connection allows for the people to have knowledge specific to their area and culture. This bond is quite flexible and varies depending on the cultural activities, however, in societies where intercultural exchange is more brisk and the differentiation of profession and status is more conspicuous making it often hard to demarcate the geographical spheres (1974: 177). This gives the impression that it is easier to study primitive societies where things are static and there is less differentiation in human activities, since they have not been as exposed to moving culture compared to people who live in big cities or who have access to advanced technologies (1974:177). This is part is due to tribes trying to keep out undue influence and who would rather live the lives they’ve grown accustomed to then have their everyday lives changed regularly due to technology, they believe in tribal closedness in order to exclude external influences on their lives. As a result of tribal closedness it is not unheard of that unfamiliar people of distant localities be regarded as supernatural, based solely on the idea that they’re different from the local tribe (1974: 177).

 

  

Mabuchi starts to describe the life spheres of the Formosa aborigines, which are, geographical knowledge of the “life sphere”, geographical knowledge of the “observation and hearsay sphere” and geographical knowledge of the “legend sphere” (1974: 179). In the geographical knowledge of the “life sphere”, he talks about how farming huts are often build right next to the farms in order for them to be closer to their work, and although it started out being used mainly during the busy farming season most eventually will turn into permanent homes. This information is indispensable for aboriginal culture, and this makes it so that the farming life of the aborigines has no great relevance to the degrees of expansion on their geographical knowledge (1974: 179). Hunting is a much more important phase of their subsistence than farming, although there are no professional hunters among them except some of them have better hunting skills than others.  The geographical knowledge of the “observation and hearsay sphere”, relates to a sense of encirclement of the area in direct contact with daily life activities, although the knowledge is less deep and less detailed than the life sphere (1974: 180). The geographical knowledge of the “legend sphere”, looks at a much wider geographical knowledge area, though not rarely colored with supernatural taints, it is still preserved in the oral tradition for some reason or another, much beyond the regions of observation and hearsay sphere (1974: 182). Mabuchi, last point in his article is all about ethnic and regional diversity where he discusses the different recognized ethnic groups that make up Taiwan.

Image Source:

Formosa Aboriginal (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Aboriginal_with_formosan_dog.jpg)

Formosa Sculptures (http://www.travelingboy.com/guest/taiwan1.jpg)

References:

Mabuchi, T. (1974). Ethnology of the southwestern pacific. Orient Cultural Service.

Liminality

Liminality, what does it mean and how does it apply to our lives? Liminality can be referred to as “a spatial/temporal position of ‘geopolitical threshold’”, which is how the author, Stephane Corcuff, referred to it throughout the article (Corcuff 2012: 34). However, another definition of liminality is “an in-between, transitional period of time”, which is what I have decided to talk about.

As a university student I think we all have this feeling of being in-between, we spend 3-5 years of our lives in university a place where people come and go, most not really knowing where they’re going in life while others have master plans of how their lives are supposed to turn out. As fourth year students our time in-between is almost up, it’s now time to face the real world, start making real decisions and becoming a part of society. Yet, for most making the jump isn’t easy, how do you go from this in-between phase of your life to the real world, there are so many things that need to be figured out first, like once school is done what’s next? Grad school, second bachelors, college, job market, where should I live, what do I want from life or maybe even moving home to figure out what to do. This liminal stage has stretched on for the majority of our lives, we’ve spent so much time in school and in reality has it prepared us for the real world, are we really normal functional and well adjusted people.

A catchphrase that could very easily sum up this liminal stage is “Fake It Till You Make It” and once you’ve finished your degree; you’ve faked it and nodded your head when the professor asked a question, have you really made it? What does it really mean to make it, how can you tell if you’ve made it and you’re out of this perpetual liminal stage you’ve been in for the past 3-5 years of your life. Who defines if you’ve made it or not, can you arbitrarily decide you’ve made it and you’re out of the liminal stage?

Everyone has an opinion about what we should now be doing with our lives, would it be so wrong to take a year off and travel? If you aren’t sure what you want to do in life I say travel, sure it’ll cost you but in the end wouldn’t it be worth it, exploring the world at your own pace and not worrying about much around you. People have mid-life crisis, why can’t we have an after university crisis, use the knowledge we’ve gained over the past years and put it to good use. Visit the Galápagos Islands and Darwin’s finches to learn more about natural evolution, because who knows maybe at the end of our lives we’ll realize that between birth and death we’re in a perpetual liminal stage and hopefully we’ll have lived life to the fullest.

Image Source:

The Keep Calm-O-Matic (http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-fake-it-til-you-make-it-2.png)

Darwin Island (http://www.atlanticadventuredivers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Darwin1.jpg)

References:

Corcuff, S. (2012). The liminality of taiwan: A case-study in geopolotics. Taiwan in Comparative Perspective, 4, 34-64.