{"title":"Death Beyond Death: Jian Spirits in Chinese Popular Belief","authors":"E. Volchkova","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article* examines the origins and development of notions about jian spirits, beings into which, according to Chinese folk tradition, the souls of the dead transform after their demise. An analysis of the few available references to jian in Chinese literature and folklore suggests that the first mention of jian as ‘ghosts of ghosts’ appears relatively late, in the 13th century, as the result of a combination of two independent traditions: the written jian formula used in apotropaic practices from at least the Tang period (618–907), and a complex of ideas about the mortality of ghosts and their posthumous fate that took shape in the early Middle Ages, possibly under the influence of Buddhism. A detailed development of the ghosts of ghosts motif occurs as part of High Qing supernatural discourse in the works of writers Pu Songling and Yuan Mei. By the end of the 19th century notions that had been created by such literary representation were inherited by the popular belief system. The evolution of ideas about jian, which continues to the present, as far as one can judge from the supply on the market of magical paraphernalia and the material of modern supernatural web novels, provides a vivid example of how new concepts of Chinese folk religious tradition emerge and transform.","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"68 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43426698","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Marian Devotion among the Roma in Slovakia","authors":"M. Slavkova","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0012","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"158 - 159"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46075145","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"New Religious Teachings and Narrative Baojuan in the Late 19th Century: The Example of the Complete Recension of the Scroll of Mulian","authors":"Rostislav Berezkin","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Most baojuan (precious scrolls), predominantly religious-oriented prosimetric texts in the vernacular language, in the late period of their development (late 19th–early 20th centuries) lost connection with heterodox religious teachings. Notwithstanding this several newly emerged religious traditions in the 19th century continued to use the baojuan form to propagate their teachings. This paper analyses specific religious ideas in the Complete Recension of the Scroll of Mulian, first printed in Hangzhou in 1877. This text still has not been translated into any foreign language and is rarely discussed in research work, although it is considerably different from the more widespread recensions of this baojuan. The Complete Recension includes many additional entertaining episodes from the voluminous Mulian dramas of southern China. We can also find ideas of syncretic religious teachings, including references to the inner alchemy technique, which is especially characteristic of the Former Heaven Religion (Xiantiandao) groups. I also compare this text with other recensions of the Mulian Baojuan still recited in China in order to demonstrate the interplay of various beliefs and practices in the late baojuan texts.","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"34 - 50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44369389","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How to Defeat a Demon: The Function of the Oirat Folk Narrative About Burning the Female Devil","authors":"D. Nosov","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The paper introduces the results of a case study that attempts to uncover the functions and probable genesis of a group of satirical tales told by the Mongolian peoples. Based on the example of one of the stories, about Argachi, a Til Ulenspiegel-like rogue character, popular among the Oirat Mongols of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the People’s Republic of China, an assumption is made about the possible practical function of the narratives, which is that they served to broadcast traditional litigation strategies. A comparison of the Oirat story of Argachi’s victory over the demon with a similar narrative recorded from the Halh Mongols showed that the strategy of behaviour described in the stories allows one to effectively get rid of a malicious, but not very intelligent, mythological character.","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"126 - 132"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48335705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Cat Spirits in North-Western China: Worship Practices, Origin, and External Relations","authors":"Ilya Gruntov, Olga Mazo","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0008","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper examines the cult of cat spirits in north-western China and their veneration by the Han Chinese, Tibetans, and Monguors. These spirits are revered as family spirits and guardians of wealth and property, but possess resentful and revengeful personalities. The paper explores the origins of the cult, local worship and summoning practices, protection methods, and links with other vernacular traditions in the region. The study uses a combination of research methods, including analysis of Chinese historical sources, published modern narratives, and the authors’ own fieldwork in Mongolia. The paper employs a qualitative and comparative approach to identify invariant features of cat spirits across various local traditions and highlights the assimilation of the cult into different traditional belief systems where it is enriched with new traits. The paper sheds light on the rich and complex tapestry of beliefs and practices associated with cat spirits. The article suggests that the cult of cat spirits may have had non-Han and non-Tibetan origins, possibly connected to Proto-Mongolic tribes.","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"101 - 125"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43168885","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Seeking an ‘Ideal Place’ in a Nuosu Origin Epic","authors":"M. Bender","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The Book of Origins (hnewo tepyy) is a major ritual text of the Nuosu, a subgroup of the official Yi (Yizu) ethnic group of southwest China. The narrative, existing in both written and oral variants, is part of a living tradition, especially among priests (bimo) and folk singers, in the Liangshan Yi autonomous region in Sichuan province and nearby Yunnan province. The epic narrates the creation of the sky, earth, and living creatures through the frame of genealogies. After an age of scorching heat, life is re-seeded on earth and a descendant of the snow tribes of flora and fauna finds a bride. Many generations later this union results in the marriage between an earthling and the Sky God’s daughter. The tropes of genealogy and migration intertwine in the storyworld as clans descended from the couple seek out an “ideal place” to settle and prosper in the local environment in a pattern that resonates with other epics from the southwest and the Southeast Asian Massif.","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"83 - 100"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43383664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Notes and Reviews: Book Review: Competing Ideologies in Greek Culture, Ancient and Modern","authors":"R. Hiiemäe","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0011","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"156 - 157"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45389498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Preface to the Special Issue: The Divine, The Demonic and the Beyond in Belief, Narrative and Practice of Central and East Asia","authors":"A. Solovyeva","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0002","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"17 - 20"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46920798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inspirational Insights: ‘Ecosystems’ and ‘Mind Viruses’ in Folklore Research: Does Folkloristics Need Memetics?","authors":"A. Panchenko","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The paper deals with applicability of the ‘memetic approach’ and ‘epidemiology of culture’ in present day folklore research. These theoretical models could be supplemented by certain ideas and hypotheses borrowed from actor-network theory and the cognitive science of religion. The development of contemporary folkloristic theorising could proceed from a new experimental ethnography that would combine memory and narrative studies, cognitive research and the theory of memes with more common or habitual methods of folklore research and cultural anthropology.","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"1 - 16"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46651920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Concern for the Invisible: Dwelling with Sensitive Horses and Vanishing Graves in Mongolia","authors":"G. Delaplace","doi":"10.2478/jef-2023-0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0010","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Dwelling well, for the Dörvöd herders with whom I have interacted over the years, involves getting a few things right about the invisible. On the one hand, they need to navigate spaces that are teeming with ‘things’ that not everybody can see plainly, and which are best left undisturbed. On the other hand, behaving properly towards spiritual ‘land masters’ that constitute the places through which herders circulate involves them conforming to a certain regime of marking, i.e. a geography that implicitly values discretion and disappearance. Considering two apparatuses with which the invisible is either taken care of or produced – saddled horses and gravesites –, this paper explores a concern, and a talent, that people in Mongolia exhibit for things that exist by virtue of (dis)appearing.","PeriodicalId":37405,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics","volume":"17 1","pages":"133 - 155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47509197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}