One year ago on Round and Square (11 August 2011)—Middles: Tristes Tropiques (A Writing Lesson)
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Rural Religion in Early China."
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Rural Religion in Early China."
[a] Spring nature RF |
Spring Festivals and their Settings
Having described the buoyant connection between the
harvest and the autumn festivals, Granet proceeds to the other major festival
in the rural year, that of spring. At the close of a long winter, and before
men set out for the fields to live and cultivate for many months, people again
gather together. Before he launches into a narrative of spring, however, he describes the
setting for such festivals. They were, in his telling, both highly charged and exceptional. They
were set off from normal activity. These assemblies were
anything but ordinary.
The assemblies of rural communities were held in special
places: they
were beyond the cultivated fields in a part of the territory withdrawn from
domestic appropriation and profane use, on land that was holy for
everybody.[1]
were beyond the cultivated fields in a part of the territory withdrawn from
domestic appropriation and profane use, on land that was holy for
everybody.[1]
Les assemblées
des communautés rurales se tenaient ,en des lieux
consacrés : c'était hors des champs cultivés, dans une partie du territoire
soustraite à l'appropriation domestique et aux utilisations profanes, sur un
sol qui pour tous était saint.[2]
consacrés : c'était hors des champs cultivés, dans une partie du territoire
soustraite à l'appropriation domestique et aux utilisations profanes, sur un
sol qui pour tous était saint.[2]
[b] Willow RF |
The land, as Granet makes abundantly clear, needs to be
holy for all members of the communal assembly. It also needs to be rich and
diverse. We are not speaking here of an open field or other such mundane
location. We are speaking of highly charged places—the terroir with a certain je ne sais quoi—that shape the participants,
just as those participants shape the landscape all around them.
The location of these Holy Places is quite well marked
out for some parts
of China; but all I can describe is the general appearance, the ritual
landscape of the Festivals. For the unfolding of their traditional
ceremonies, they require a terrain variegated with woods, water, vales,
and heights.[3]
of China; but all I can describe is the general appearance, the ritual
landscape of the Festivals. For the unfolding of their traditional
ceremonies, they require a terrain variegated with woods, water, vales,
and heights.[3]
De ces Lieux
Saints l'emplacement est assez bien désigné pour certains
pays ; pourtant tout ce que je puis décrire, c'est l'aspect général, le
paysage rituel des Fêtes. Elles demandaient, pour déployer leurs pompes
traditionnelles, un terrain varié, avec des bois, de l'eau, des vallons, des
hauteurs.[4]
pays ; pourtant tout ce que je puis décrire, c'est l'aspect général, le
paysage rituel des Fêtes. Elles demandaient, pour déployer leurs pompes
traditionnelles, un terrain varié, avec des bois, de l'eau, des vallons, des
hauteurs.[4]
The details come straight from the text of the Classic of Poetry, but Granet’s interests go far
beyond the textual detail that he so loved. His is a poetics of movement and
interaction, both with other human beings and the natural landscape. It is as
though social interaction is carved into nature itself, and the very flow of bodies over the variegated terrain tied knots of ecstatic sociality that would remain taut for many years to come.
[c] Display RF |
There the crowd of pilgrims spread themselves, come from
afar, often in
carts, dressed in seasonal clothes that were freshly woven and of which
the dazzling newness declared the prosperity of each family.[5]
carts, dressed in seasonal clothes that were freshly woven and of which
the dazzling newness declared the prosperity of each family.[5]
Là se
répandait la foule des pèlerins, venus de loin, en char souvent,
vêtus des habits de la saison, frais tissés, et dont l'éclat tout neuf disait
la prospérité de chaque famille.[6]
vêtus des habits de la saison, frais tissés, et dont l'éclat tout neuf disait
la prospérité de chaque famille.[6]
Even here, as he discusses clothing and journeying,
Granet remains focused on the opening of the usually closed domestic order. The
clothing is almost like a spring blossom, and it “declares” or proclaims the
prosperity of that same (usually) closed social group. But the whole point
behind this is that it must be declared to someone—to
others, to the outside. Without moving
outside of itself, there is no declaration—only a new dress to wear in front of the same old kin. This is different: there is audience, and all of the lush, blooming countryside is the stage. The freshly tailored newness is
about much more than clothing. It is a social phenomenon, and an important component
of gathering together in the spring after a long winter’s isolation.
Granet moves on to a short description of the most closed
of participants in the normal domestic order. Women—who, even in peasant
settings, have their own form of “inner quarters” and social modesty—shine like
clouds in his telling. They “show themselves in groups,” not least because they need to
protect themselves at times such as these from appearing to be too “public” in
their sentiments. It is almost as though their hair and robes—the outer
manifestations of their sexuality—are supposed to take the role of public
proclamation, as the women themselves smile with reticence through the spectacle. This ostensible shyness while flashing the goods of teeming sexuality...no it is not just Granet's imagination (rich though that was). It is straight out of the Classic of Poetry, whose lines would make a Confucian schoolboy blush.
In their finery, the womenfolk, usually invisible and
shut up in their
hamlets, showed themselves in groups and shone like clouds. With their
sprigged robes, their grey or madder-red headdresses, they appeared
as beautiful as the mallow of cherry blossom.[7]
hamlets, showed themselves in groups and shone like clouds. With their
sprigged robes, their grey or madder-red headdresses, they appeared
as beautiful as the mallow of cherry blossom.[7]
Sous leurs
beaux atours, les femmes, d'ordinaire invisibles, enfermées
dans le hameau, se montraient en bandes et éblouissaient comme des
nuées ; elles semblaient, avec leurs robes à ramages, leurs coiffes grises
ou garance, belles comme la mauve ou la fleur de cirier.[8]
dans le hameau, se montraient en bandes et éblouissaient comme des
nuées ; elles semblaient, avec leurs robes à ramages, leurs coiffes grises
ou garance, belles comme la mauve ou la fleur de cirier.[8]
[d] Wholly RF |
Groups of people made or renewed relationships. Drawing
one another by
the sleeve, taking one another by the hand, they gave themselves up to the
joy of meetings long and impatiently awaited and which had to be of short
duration.[9]
the sleeve, taking one another by the hand, they gave themselves up to the
joy of meetings long and impatiently awaited and which had to be of short
duration.[9]
Des groupes se
formaient où se renouaient les vieilles relations ; se tirant
par la manche, se prenant les mains, tous se livraient à la joie des
rencontres longtemps, impatiemment attendues et qui devaient être de
brève durée.[10]
par la manche, se prenant les mains, tous se livraient à la joie des
rencontres longtemps, impatiemment attendues et qui devaient être de
brève durée.[10]
Note here the absolutely key point that Granet makes
about duration. By their very nature, festival interactions cannot be long term
ones (the anthropology meetings must end every November, the Olympics must come to a tearful, flame-snuffing close). They often are anticipated by both individuals and the larger group, for
long stretches of time. The planning can be intense. Nonetheless, the gathering
itself is all the more powerful for its relative brevity. Individual and group
anticipate, plan, and then explode, as it were, in social and religious
interactions that have an intensisty fueled by their very ephemerality. They are, by their very nature,
extra-ordinary.
Granet waxes eloquent as he describes the interaction
between people and their terrain. Note the manner in which he describes the
“filling” (in all directions, it should never be forgotten) of the terrain with
their happiness, generating more such happiness in the process of continual
renewal. This, again, is far more than a matter of individual emotions or
simply the sum of many separate emotional parts. This is a communal “filling."
In the enthusiasm of these solemn assemblies they moved
up and down in
all directions over the terrain, filling it with their happiness and feeling that
happiness fed by the memories recovered at their contact with the witness
of all the potent joys of their race.[11]
all directions over the terrain, filling it with their happiness and feeling that
happiness fed by the memories recovered at their contact with the witness
of all the potent joys of their race.[11]
Dans
l'enthousiasme de ces assemblées solennelles, ils parcouraient en
tous sens le terrain, le remplissaient de leur bonheur et sentaient ce
bonheur s'accroître des souvenirs retrouvés au contact du témoin de toutes
les joies puissantes de leur race.[12]
tous sens le terrain, le remplissaient de leur bonheur et sentaient ce
bonheur s'accroître des souvenirs retrouvés au contact du témoin de toutes
les joies puissantes de leur race.[12]
[e] Intense RF |
They wished to make this beneficent contact as intimate
as possible; from
it there seemed to come to them a prodigious enlargement of their inner life.
They experienced the presence of a tutelary power whose sanctity sprang
from every corner of the landscape, blessed forces that they strove to
capture in every way.[13]
it there seemed to come to them a prodigious enlargement of their inner life.
They experienced the presence of a tutelary power whose sanctity sprang
from every corner of the landscape, blessed forces that they strove to
capture in every way.[13]
Ce contact
bienfaisant d'où leur semblait venir un prodigieux accroissement
de vie intérieure, ils voulaient le rendre aussi intime que possible. Ils
éprouvaient la présence, d'une puissance tutélaire dont la sainteté jaillissait
à tous les coins du paysage, forces bénies que de toutes façons ils
cherchaient à capter.[14]
de vie intérieure, ils voulaient le rendre aussi intime que possible. Ils
éprouvaient la présence, d'une puissance tutélaire dont la sainteté jaillissait
à tous les coins du paysage, forces bénies que de toutes façons ils
cherchaient à capter.[14]
Finally, the “tutelary power” springs from the landscape
in every way. They strive to capture it, to make it their own. There is nothing
in the assemblies if they do not create a profound merging of society and
nature. The former is transformed by its interaction with a sanctified
environment. The energy of the social body, in turn, gives new sanctity to the
place.
Nothing will ever be the same.
Bibliography
Nothing will ever be the same.
[f] Tutelary RF |
Click here for other posts in Round and Square's "Rural Religion in China" series:
Notes
Notes
[1] Marcel Granet, The Religion of the Chinese People [Translated by Maurice Freedman] (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 41.
[2] Marcel Granet, La religion des chinois (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1922), 14.
[3] Granet, Religion, 41.
[4] Granet, La religion, 14.
[5] Granet, Religion, 41.
[6] Granet, La religion, 14.
[7] Granet, Religion, 41.
[8] Granet, La religion, 14.
[9] Granet, Religion, 41.
[10] Granet, La religion, 14.
[11] Granet, Religion, 41.
[12] Granet, La religion, 14.
[13] Granet, Religion, 41.
[14] Granet, La religion, 14.
Bibliography
Granet, Marcel. The Religion of the Chinese People [Translated by Maurice Freedman]. New York:
Harper & Row, 1975.
Harper & Row, 1975.
Granet, Marcel. La religion des chinois. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1922.
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