A Study on Social-Cultural Faith Interaction in South China 第4页2.1Forms of Long Mu Faith Expression
Wu bing’an suggested, “Throughout the ages, people’s living goals and needs are the basic reasons for folk-customs’ formation, succession, preservation and application. As long as the living goals and needs are without satisfaction, they will express their wishes and needs by all kinds of folk customs ceaselessly.” Folk faith would be transformed into local folk-custom activities. Further, Long Mu Faith has been transformed into a folk-custom activity for its local influence and long existence.
2.1.1Sacrificial activities in Long Mu Birthday's Festival
According to historical records, sacrificial activity has a history of over 2,000 years during Long Mu Birthday's Festival.
“From the May 2nd in the lunar calendar (the 1st and 15th days of each lunar month) is the conventional worship day, country towns of De Qing County held many competitive activities, such as Loong-Boat Race, Loong and Lion Dance Races, etc. When the May 8th in the lunar calendar comes, sacrificial activity is moving to its climax, many civilian organizations come to Yue Cheng from different places by boat or by land, for example, He Sheng Tong, Hui He Tong, Long Zhao Tong, Wei Yu Tong, etc., the confluence of the Xi River and the Yue Cheng River is crowded with many boats. There seems to be an extraordinary number of people around for the day.”
“In addition, customs also include squibbing firecrackers, dramatic performance, etc. During the reign of Qing Emperor Guang Xu, Dong Yu Tong set up a stage for dramatic performance for seven successive days for reciprocating for her kindness, which is an exceptionally grand occasion.”
2.1.2Conventional Festivals Derived from Long Mu Faith
Long Mu Cultural Faith is always vividly conveyed by ritual behavior. Besides the sacrificial activities have mentioned above, there are some derivative ritual activities, which have became accepted traditional customs over a long-term development and affected people’s psyche and actions accordingly.
These conventional activities are including: touching Long Mu bed, drinking “holy water”, taking incense ashes with water, eating “golden pig” (roast suckling pig), freeing carp, stamping Long Mu golden seal, burning incense and joss paper, etc.
The touching Long Mu bed means that someone goes to Long Mu bedroom and touches her pillow, quilt, mosquito-curtain in her bed, which believed will bring good luck; and sometimes, temple keeper (miao zhu) also put some lotus seed, red jujube, peanut, and Long Mu magic figures, etc. between the pillow and the quilt, everything goes well with people who grab them.
Temple keeper named a spring of mineral water as “Holy water”, which let the visitors buy some “Holy water” home. And later, temple keeper conducted the spring by running water pipe inside Dong Yu Tong, the “Holy water” will outflow when devotees kneel on cushions，and stop when they stand up, which seems miraculous, so many people buy them home.
“Taking incense ashes” means when the incense burned out, then people take the ashes with water. The ashes are regarded as “panacea” that could heal collywobbles and incised wound. Someone said in a ludicrously pompous manner, the incense should be made by sandalwood, or the ashes will be of no effect, certainly, which is lack of scientific evidence, the psychological factor is taking action.
Eating “golden pig”, actually, the so-called golden is because the color of pig is roasted to be golden. After sacrifice, sometimes, people will eat the roast suckling pig inside the Temple, which means that people could get health and wealth.
Freeing carps means that people set free carps to the river. Why? The answers varied, some said, "Long Mu find delight in freeing living creatures, so the others to do the same"; some said, "Long Mu died for choke with fishbone"; and also probably because fish is the embodiment of Loong.
Stamping Long Mu golden seal means that the temple keeper will help visitors stamp Long Mu golden seal on their new towels, which could dispel the evils.
Burning incense and joss paper is always joined with the freeing carp’s activity. People burn incense, joss paper and firecracker over the riverside, which purpose is to sacrifice the little decedents who died for a fire accident of worship boat during a year in Qing Dynasty. The sacrifice of mourning for the dead has grown up the burning custom.
Paying respect with “Long Mu fortune incense”: The “Long Mu fortune incense” is special-made incense, people can write their wishes of marriage, job, business, etc. on the incense according to their date of birth, and then some indications would display after burning out. Someone will succeed by acting according to the indications.
Besides the folk-custom activities, there were many competitive activities held in every village in the past, mainly including, Loong-Boat race, Wooden-Loong race, Loong-Boat parade.
The combination of folk-custom activities and sports and recreations makes legendary color fade away, meanwhile, secularized color strengthen gradually, which is the common trend of folk custom development.
2.2Community Meritorious Service Capacity of Long Mu Faith
Long Mu Cultural Faith has formed and came down in South China, and restrains the native’s behavior and consciousness by orderly activities. The force of habit, traditional power and psychology faith constitute the basic of custom binding force, which isn’t depending on the power of law and scientific-cultural confirmation. Having this kind of foundation, Long Mu Cultural Faith custom activities have handed down, and exerted its service capacity to the society.
2.2.1Restraint Force
The Long Mu Cultural Faith is binding to people. Once we are living in this world, we are in the sea of folk customs; we can’t live without folk customs. Folk customs vary from country to country and past to present. Folk customs are not like the law, but firmly have the enormous restraint service capacity to people's thought and behavior by unwritten common law. Once the folk-custom phenomenon established, it would produce one kind of restraint service capacity for everybody.
Long Mu believers have the same agreements and habits in the ceremonial activities, especially, in the 8th day of the fifth Chinese lunar month, the Long Mu Birthday's Festival, people go Yue Cheng to worship Long Mu with such sincerity as praying for celestial blessing. As an important supplement to society and the law, the restraint service capacity of folk custom could emit positive effects that the law can not instead in many aspects, for example, if someone catches a carp, he will set free it; if somebody comes across a green snake, he need to worship it; if someone sails a boat across Long Mu temple, he have to handle three things: blow whistle, fire fireworks, and bang percussion instrument, which is a traditional habit, no one has dared to break the rule. Therefore, we are unable to judge its rationality. Long Mu status is very high in native's mind, for she has done very many good deeds for the locality, for instance, help cope with floods, escort boats travelling in Pearl river, and she also was conferred many titles by all previous dynasties’ emperor. Such a good image becomes natives’ worship and role model, so the emergence of the custom that has been discussed above stems from the respect that natives to Long Mu.
2.2.2Regional Identification
The folk-custom activities have service capacity of regional identification、social integration for the locality, and they could enhance internal unity and promote external relations so as to further strengthen the local economy. Professor Wang mingming said, “Ancestor worship and region worship are the same as local social organizations which serve community's internal unity and external relations.”, “Looked from a local society, the folk religious rite probably plays a positive role in the modernization process: (1) promote the local social relations; (2) drill social competition. Furthermore, the folk religion is an extension of modernization process, it is not the backwardness, and it is related with the emergence of the folk commercial spirits.”
“Folk worship and ceremony revival have reflected the reappearance of folk community and family identity in modernization process”. “Folk religion revival is promoting mutually with folk social network revival in modernization process.
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