Farming Ritual and Festival Folk Custom of Dong Ethnic Minority Group

侗族的农耕祭祀与节日民俗(英文)

In order to pray for harvest and express gratitude, Dong ethnic arranged sacrifices of farming in accordance with periodicity of rice production and its requirements to festivals and calendar. Meanwhile, New Year, Pray in Spring and Return in Autumn not only play significant roles in agricultural production, but also evolve to farming holidays which are enriched with more social connotations. Centered on husbandry and production, some folklore that is rich in local color has been formed in Dong society. The writer introduced some farming ritual of Dong ethnic group, such as, sowing, Kai Yang Men, Rain-praying, Chang Xin, reaping and Lunar New Year, summarized their belief in the land worship, festival ritual, ancestor ritual and ceres ritual. It is concluded that sacrifice is a production-related folklore, which is formed by repeated operation and constant practice. Some taboos were also prohibited in agricultural sacrifice because people were not able to change the unfavorable reality of farming with their insufficient experience and knowledge; however, they resorted to witchcraft for the purpose of harvest. It is believed that the activity of sacrifice will also be kept in the life of Dong ethnic group due to their dependency on agriculture and the land.

稻作农业的周期性特点及其对节令、历法的要求,使侗族产生了对应于农事生产各阶段、各环节的神灵祭祀习俗,以此来祈求丰收、报告收成和表达感激之情,而年节、春祈、秋报因为在农业生产中有着特殊意义,而被赋予更多的社会生活内涵,演化成农事节日。围绕着农业活动和生产习俗,侗族形成了富有地方特色的农耕祭祀与节日民俗。笔者介绍了侗族人民包括社节、下田节、清明节、开秧节、祭牛节、吃新节、祈雨节和春节在内的农事祭祀活动,综述了对土地崇拜的信仰及节日祭祀、祖先祭祀和谷神祭祀是侗族农耕祭祀活动的主要内容。阐明祭祀是在不断重复、反复操作的过程中形成的一种生产民俗,是人们在反复实践后的习俗惯制,在农业祭祀活动中相应产生的禁忌民俗则是人们因为经验与知识的缺乏,无力改变荒年及晴雨丰歉的现实而依靠巫术希望求得丰收的结果。笔者认为,尽管侗族传统社会已经发生了巨大地改变,但出于对农业和土地的依赖,农业祭祀活动仍将在侗族人们的生活中继续存在。