EXPANSION AND EXTENSION IN HAKKA SOCIETY
55
on New Year and the grave festivals. This kin group, spanning over several localized major lineages might be called a 'composite lineage',13 a 'maximal lineage', or more conveniently 'clan'.
Maurice Freedman, in his analytical description of kinship structure and organization in the south-eastern provinces of China, recognizes latent possibilities of wider spans of kin bonds:
Past connections which were traced between lineages through fission might be made the basis for some sort of clan grouping, but there was no regular framework for the expansion of a segmentary system beyond the limits of a local group.14
The
Freedman's supposition comes true in the actual case. Lau clan could hardly be described in terms of organization or function; but still there is a clear concept of the Lau people as contrasted with other groups bearing the same or other surnames. This Hakka clan is then a loose 'we-group'; rather a concept than an organization. Common ancestor worship is the social ceremonialism expressing this unit, based on sentiment of common descent.15
Visits to the village of origin should have a symbolic aspect, comparable to the visits to the graves at the Ch'ing Ming and Chung Yang festivals in spring and autumn.16 The fact that ceremonial bonds connect localized lineages requires an analytical recognition of the clan. I prefer the term 'clan' to 'maximal lineage'. The Hakka concept of clan tsung-tsu (M) -- is one of an everlasting unit with a fixed foundation antedating what could clearly be remembered, while segmentary lineages tend to depend on historical processes of settlement. The latter emerge on a scale of generations provided by the clan.
There is good reason to focus particular interest on the process of segmentation. Freedman has traced
the intimate connection between the endowment of ancestral halls and lineage segmentation: a new segment came into being when property was set aside to finance a hall for it. ...lineage segmentation in this fashion was an aspect also of differentiation, in the sense that any section of a segment which wished to mark a new identity for itself on the basis of its superior status vis-à-vis other sections could turn itself into a sub-segment by establishing a hall,
EXPANSION AND EXTENSION IN HAKKA SOCIETY
55
on New Year and the grave festivals. This kin group, spanning over several localized major lineages might be called a 'com- posite lineage',13 a 'maximal lineage', or more conveniently 'clan'.
Maurice Freedman, in his analytical description of kinship structure and organization in the south-eastern provinces of China, recognizes latent possibilities of wider spans of kin bonds:
Past connections which were traced between lineages through fission might be made the basis for some sort of clan grouping, but there was no regular framework for the expansion of a segmentary system beyond the limits of a local group,14
The
Freedman's supposition comes true in the actual case. Lau clan could hardly be described in terms of organization or function; but still there is a clear concept of the Lau people as contrasted with other groups bearing the same or other surnames. This Hakka clan is then a loose 'we-group'; rather a concept than an organization. Common ancestor worship is the social ceremonialism expressing this unit, based on sentiment of common descent.is
Visits to the village of origin should have a symbolic aspect, comparable to the visits to the graves at the Ch'ing Ming and Chung Yang festivals in spring and autumn.16 The fact that ceremonial bonds connect localized lineages requires an analytical recognition of the clan. I prefer the term 'clan' to 'maximal lineage. The Hakka concept of clan tsung-tsu (M) -- is one of an everlasting unit with a fixed foundation antedating what could clearly be remembered, while segmentary lineages tend to depend on historical processes of settlement. The latter emerge on a scale of generations provided by the clan.
There is good reason to focus particular interest on the process of segmentation. Freedman has traced
the intimate connection between the endowment of ancestral halls and lineage segmentation: a new segment came into being when property was set aside to finance a hall for it. ...lineage segmentation in this fashion was an aspect also of differentiation, in the sense that any section of a segment which wished to mark a new identity for itself on the basis of its superior status vis-à-vis other sections could turn itself into a sub-segment by establishing a hall,
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