Exploring Mazu Worship at Fujian Assembly Hall in Hoi An,Vietnam

Hoi An Ancient Town in Vietnam is not only a UNESCO(United Nations Educational,Scientific,and Cultural Organization)World Heritage Site but also a convergence point of traditional and modern cultures.Throughout its historical transitions,the cultural heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town has been well preserved and developed,and the worship of Mazu,an essential component of Hoi An’s culture,is no exception.As far as is known,Hoi An in central Vietnam houses the most Mazu temples,including the Chung Wah Hall,the Guangzhou Assembly Hall,the Fujian Assembly Hall,the Teochew Assembly Hall,and the Hainan Assembly Hall,among others,with the Fujian Assembly Hall being the most vibrant center of Mazu worship.This study employs field surveys and literature research to explore the Mazu worship practices at the Fujian Assembly Hall in Hoi An,Quang Nam Province,Vietnam.

神圣与世俗:凉山彝族祖先崇拜与家支社会

凉山彝族祖先崇拜诞生于人类社会文明形态初现时期,祖先崇拜中的矛盾情感,使彝人世俗化的信仰动机过渡至神圣崇拜行动层面。彝族祖先崇拜并非泛祖先崇拜,具有我向性的特点,信仰者和信仰对象范围由世俗社会的家支规模决定。彝族祖先崇拜是彝族家支制度在神圣信仰世界的投射,反映了信仰本身所依存的社会结构的特点,凉山彝族祖先崇拜和家支社会的交融,论证了涂尔干的经典命题“宗教起源于社会”。凉山彝族的祖先崇拜和家支制度同中国自古即有的崇祖重宗思想一脉相承,具有中华文化共同性的特征,在现代化进程中,传承其优秀的传统文化有利于促进各民族的交往交流交融和铸牢中华民族共同体意识。

From Ancient Rituals to Modern Spirituality:The Evolution and Personalization of Religious Experience

This paper explores the evolution of religious experience from ancient nature worship and ancestor reverence to modern individualized spirituality.It examines how early spiritual practices were deeply intertwined with daily life,later becoming institutionalized through formalized religions with complex rituals and doctrines.The rise of mysticism,emphasizing personal connections with the divine,persisted alongside institutional religions.In contemporary society,the shift towards"spiritual but not religious"reflects a return to personalized spiritual paths,driven by individualism and the desire for direct,meaningful spiritual experiences.This trend's implications for both individuals and society are also discussed.

The Cult of Mazu in Hainan,China and Among Vietnamese Hainanese Diaspora:A Comparative Study of Mazu Culture

The cult of Mazu is a common folk belief in China and Vietnam.Originating from the Song and Yuan Dynasties,particularly during the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the cult of Mazu spread to Vietnam through maritime trade and migration from coastal regions of China.After centuries of integration and development,it evolved into its own cultural system of Mazu worship,becoming an important component of Vietnamese folk culture.Hainan,China,as a crucial supply station on the Maritime Silk Road,has close connections with the transmission of Mazu culture to Vietnam.This paper adopts field investigations and literature research methods to explore the Mazu worship and culture in Hainan,China,and the Qiongfu Assembly Halls in Vietnam.

The Relationship between Dali Lord Worship Ritual Activity and Regional Landscape Architecture in China

The paper had introduced Lord Worship ritual activity unique to Bai Nationality and analyzed Dali landscape characteristics from the aspects of landscape pattern, architectural courtyard pattern and plants landscaping. In the perspective of surface, line and spot landscape architectures, Lord Worship ritual activity had been analyzed. It had revealed that the development of Lord Worship ritual activity was rooted in local landscape environment, and temple's site selection, square construction, activities' route selection and construction of forest land in front of residences were all based on landscape environment. After the analysis of the relationship between Lord Worship ritual activity and landscape places, it had opened a new thought for researches on religious activities and regional landscape. It could explore and recover some traditional folk cultures when environmental landscapes had been studied, so as to promote the inheritance of national culture.

The White Stone Worship of Qiang People

The White Stone worship is an inseparable cultural part among Qiang People in the history and their daily lives.It has relationship with the God,with Qiang people's fondness of the white color,with the fire-making,with the function of white stones as the tool and weapon for survival,and with the worship for Snow Mountain.The White Stone is the oblation in Qiang Families,the architecture-Blockhouse relating to the white stone is famous worldwide.The essay also discusses the links between the white stone worship with Qiang people in the past and in the future,

The White Stone Worship of Qiang People

The White Stone worship is an inseparable cultural part among Qiang People in the history and their daily lives. It has relationship with the God, with Qiang people' s fondness of the white color, with the fire-making, with the function of white stones as the tool and weapon for survival, and with the worship for Snow Mountain. The White Stone is the oblation in Qiang Families, the architecture-Blockhouse relating to the white stone is famous worldwide. The essay also discusses the links between the white stone worship with Qiang people in the past and in the future.

Characterization of Acoustical Worship Heritage in Schmerzhaften Mutter Gottes, Vilgertshofen-Germany

The dynamics between sound decay and soundscape determines the acoustical worship heritage in a worship space that needs to be conserved along interventions in time.The soundscape of Schmerzhaften Mutter Gottes,Vilgertshofen was measured by derived Acoustical Worship Parameters:Sacred Awe(SAWE),Sacred Intelligibility(SINT),and Sacred Silence(SSIL)for“TOCCATA”of Johann Sebastian Bach rendered on the pipe organ.The sound energy decay in the church,conducted from two sources:choir loft and altar,generated acoustical monaural measures(RT60,EDT,D50,C80,TS,STI,Leq)in accordance with ISO-3382.The Reverberation Time(RT60)spectral analysis and Loudness(Leq)positional analysis showed the church to be more reverberant for the impulse from the altar location on the sanctuary floor and optimally loud for the impulse from the pipe-organ location on the choir-loft.SAWE,SINT and SSIL significantly related with subjective acoustical quality of Balance(SAQBAL)and Loudness(Leq)(p≤0.05).SAQBAL showed positive correlation with rapid speech transmission index(RASTI)(p=0.18).

Hungry Ghost Festival, An Ancestor Worship Day

THE fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar (August 15 this year) is the Hungry Ghost Festival or Zhong Yuan Festival. It has been a day for ancestor worship, mourning for the dead, and burning paper money to honor the deceased. The Hungry Ghost Festival and New Year’s Eve, Qingming Festival, and Chongyang Festival (which will be introduced in detail later in this magazine) are the traditional festivals in which Chinese people pay tribute to their ancestors, each having their own characteristics. As an ancient Chinese traditional festival, it has a history of thousands of years.

The Application to Evaluate Worship Location Based on Geospatial Analysis: Case of Indonesia

The application of geospatial analysis is a need to respond to the increasing number of social conflicts caused by the existence of public places of worships (PPW) in Indonesia. This conflict eventually becomes endemic among Indonesian cross-cultural society. Even though the government has produced a regulation-like policy namely SKB 2006 to manage the establishment of PPW, its contribution to avoiding or reducing the conflicts is in question. Researchers notice that the policy is misused in some incidents to even trigger the conflict. It is due to the presence of people participation defined in SKB 2006 particularly to determine the legalization of PPW. Currently there is no exact foundation used by the government to precisely measure the status of PPW, hence the decision to permit or reject any proposal to establish PPW is determined by the acceptance of surrounding society which in many occasions becomes the cause of the conflict. Therefore the government needs to regain control over the existence of PPW since these types of buildings are public facilities used by people in cross-cultural society. The research is to provide accurate information regarding the existence of PPW and the impact of their presence using geospatial analysis. The objective is to analyze the interaction between PPW and its surrounding objects. The analysis is based on PPW coverage, overlapping and blank spot area. A case study has been conducted to analyze the existence of PPW at Cemorokandang village, a part of Malang city in the province of East Java. The application highlights the issue of overwhelming PPW in the location of analysis.

Erik Erikson and the Church： Corporate Worship thatSustains through Crises

The work of developmental psychologist Erik Erikson （1902-1994） has profound implications for understandingand ministering to the different generations represented in the church. Erikson has garnered attention from religiouswriters in recent years including Eric Geiger, Lee Steele, and Catherine Stonehouse because of the correlation of hiswork with religious thought and values. Though Scripture must remain the standard by which worship is governed.

Liturgical Ministers as Ministerial Leaders＇ Implications for Parish Worship in Nigeria

This paper explores liturgical ministers as ministerial leaders to embrace different liturgical functions as ministries of service. This is against the backdrop of Tridentine liturgy whereby the worship is looked up as an exclusive leadership function of the priests alone to lord it over others. It identifies lack of active participation by the lay faithful as one of the major factors escalating passive participation in the liturgical celebrations in Nigeria. In this way, the paper argues that rethinking ministerial leadership is a medium to promote active and parish liturgical participation. Their implications suggest the bishops and priests to ensure that the lay faithful take part fully aware of their ministerial leadership role, actively engaged in the rite and enriched by its effects. Employing descriptive and analytical methods, the mantra of the paper is that in a parish worship where liturgical ministers thrives well as ministerial leaders, it produces mature Christian faithful who know their faith, understand their liturgical roles and diligently exercise them. Such a parish community operates on a level of facilitative and participatory leadership where everyone is carried along through direct participation in directing the liturgical celebrations of the parish.

Freedom of Worship: Interpreting Joshua 24:1-28 in African-Igbo Traditional Religious Context

The news media are often replete with sad stories of religious intolerance,with some gory pictures of the victims thereof.In Joshua 24:1-28,the Israelites were asked by Joshua to choose whom they would like to serve.It smacks of religious freedom.Using the text as a theological fulcrum,this study emphasises the fundamental human right of freedom of worship in the context of the religious freedom embedded African-Igbo religious tradition.Given the diverse religious views in the world,it is dialogue and mutual respect which would make religious peace possible.Bad religious leaders and teachers mislead their adherents to do violent and bloody proselytization.But people should not be held under duress to accept a particular religious idea or to adhere to a particular group of worshippers,sometimes with only one alternative,that is death!Indeed,every religion should recommend itself by the amount of love and peace it engenders in the world.

Social Promotion Mechanism under the Dai People’s Traditional Worship of“Dragon Forest”

“Dragon Forest”culture has a long history,and it is the oldest and most primitive traditional culture of the Dai Nationality.As the holy forest of the Dai Nationality,“Dragon Forest”is the resting place for the souls of the“Meng God(tribal ancestor)”and“Zhai God(clan ancestor)”of the Dai people.Dai people not only respect and worship“Dragon Forest”,but also set up a temple in“Dragon Forest”and hold sacrificial activities regularly,to pray for health and happiness from their ancestors.“Dragon Forest”is the combination of multiple factors,and has been continuously protected by worship and taboo for thousands of years.It combines closely the natural system,belief system and social culture system,becomes a place that supports people’s ideas,values and spirits,and solidifi es into a structural force in the social structure,which plays a certain role in promoting the social mechanism of local village community.

Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Origin of White Jade Worship： On the Myths of the Yellow Emperor＇s Eating Jade and Queen Mother of the West＇s Presenting the White Jade Ring

The white jade worship, born in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, brought about a ＂Protestant Revolution＂ in the development history of Chinese jade mythology, which had deep influence on the nation＇s ideology and material production in the following 3,000 years. The myths of the Yellow Emperor＇s eating the white jade cream and the Queen Mother of the West living in Kunlun Jade Mountain, as recorded in Classic of Mountains and Seas, are mythological imaginations of the historical reality that the jades were spread from the West to the East and recreated by people living in the early state of the Central Plains. All such motifs, no matter the white jade cream that produced black jades, the Yellow Emperor＇s planting the jade flowers, the Kunlun Jade Mountains （the Mountain of Jades） where the Queen Mother of the West lives or the Jade Lake, clearly show Chinese indigenous worship for the white jades. Scholars like Su Xuelin and Ling Chunsheng think that Queen Mother of the West is the goddess of the moon that originated from the old West Asian civilization. However, such idea is full of contradictions and flaws after the discovery of Chinese unique worship for white jades and the holy mountain of Kunlun. The book Classic of Mountains and Seas, with records of 140 mountains that produce jades and 16 mountains that produce white jades, can be the white jade worshippers＇ bible to explore the holy material resources.

Discussion on the ＂Worship Elegance＂ and ＂Express Aspiration＂ in Zhu Xi＇s Music Thoughts

The idea of ＂worship elegance＂ in Zhu Xi＇ are ＂worship elegance＂ and ＂express aspiration＂ , namely thoughts s music thoughts has been commonly discussed by most theorists, but there ＂restrain feelings＂ and ＂express feelings＂ co-existing in Zhu xi＇ s music thoughts.

Discussion on the ＂Worship Elegance＂ and ＂Express Aspiration＂ in Zhu Xi＇s Music Thoughts

The idea of ＂worship elegance＂ in Zhu Xi＇ s music thoughts has been commonly discussed by most theorists, but there are ＂worship elegance＂ and ＂express aspiration＂ , namely ＂restrain feelings＂ and ＂express feelings＂ co-existing in Zhu xi＇ s music thoughts.

An Analysis of Africans’ Blind Worship Towards European Culture in V. S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River

As an important early work of Nobel laureate Naipaul and a model of postcolonial works,A Bend in the River has been studied for decades.It is not hard to find Africans’blind worship towards European culture after reading this book.This paper aims to explore the manifestations of Africans’blind worship towards European culture in the novel by a close reading and acts as a wake-up call for almost every nations existing in the age of globalization to firm their own national cultural stand and enhance cultural confidence so as to remain invincible in the unprecedented changes.

China lost worship for the West

The financial crisis has dented the former sense of Western cultural superiority over Beijing and is taking all into unchartered waters.It may take a long time to recognize,but it will happen:The most important casualty of the financial crisis is not the disruption of the Wall Street-centered fi nancial

The Study of the Language Functions in the Benzhu Worship of the Bai Ethnic Groups in Dali,Yunnan

The Benzhu worship is a traditional folk activity of the Bai ethnic group in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Prov?ince, which has long history with colourful culture. When the sacred ceremonies are held, Bai villagers always get together to celebrate. In the Benzhu worship, language plays significant functions, including the performative function, recreational function, emotive function and interpersonal function.