Begin forwarded message:
Date: June 4, 2006 8:42:25 AM EDT
Subject: Re: Fire worship in Northeast Asia
Dear Pamela and others,
New Year customs that could well be labelled 'fire worship' are found widely in the northwest marches of China, along the Great Wall. In many parts of Shanxi, local people used to build large pagodas or other structures out of enormous blocks of coal, and then set them alight for the Shangyuan festival on the 15th of the first month. The custom is also found in contiguous parts of northern Shaanxi (the Jin dialect-speaking areas). When I was doing fieldwork in Shaanbei during the 1980s, I made a visit to the former prefectural city of Yulin in the far north of the province. This was in 1986, and Yulin was still a closed area. I was astonished to see, on the outskirts of the city, a huge pottery furnace in the crude likeness of an open-mouthed semi-human monster, standing in the middle of a large open area. About 12 feet high, this was meant to be packed with coal, which was set alight for the 15th of the first month. When I visited Yulin again in 1990, this strange device had disappeared.
There is plenty of evidence of Mongol cultural influence among the local Han Chinese in the country outside Yulin - they drink their tea in the Mongol style and live in tiny scattered settlements called huochang. Yulin used to be a major entrepot for the central Asian trade, with three drumtowers and a main street (shopping street that is) some 5 li from north to south.
David Holm
University of Melbourne
Pamela Crossley wrote:
Dear All,
A question was posed to me recently by Caroline Humphrey that leaves me curious about something. Her question to me was about the visit to the Kangxi court of the Mergen Gege'en, supposedly the occasion for his composition of the liturgy for fire worship of Chinggis. I think most to the answer to Caroline's questions relates to Mongol practices, and I suggested that, among other things, she read Chris Atwood's 1996 in article History of Religions. However, this left me curious about Manchu/Tungusic/Northeast Asian traditions of fire worship. I only know a little bit about it and among Manchus rituals there is, in my impression, only a faint residual impression of the fire reverence. Is there a good history of fire worship or ritual in Northeast Asia, among non-Mongolian speakers? I found tidbits on Evenk and Orochen practices, just wondering if there is something more developed somewhere.
Thanks for any suggestions,
Pamela