CHINESE RELIGION AND RURAL COHESION
19
ancestral hall association of the village, and since both temple and hall were run by the same people the two organizations were perhaps unlikely to compete for power. If however, a mono-lineage village had both an ancestral hall and a temple organization promoted and operated by different people, their competition in property accumulation and devices for controlling the community could mean much disharmony for the village.
One suspects that, generally speaking, ancestral hall and temple organizations must have been alternative forms for controlling village affairs, the one being based on mono-lineage villages and the other on multi-lineage villages. Although the literature does not always tell us the relationship of temple organization to the composition of villages in kinship terms, it is clear that the two forms of organization often performed identical functions. A temple organization in one area has been compared, in fact, to an ancestral hall association by Hsiao: it had extensive property and maintained a school.18 Births and deaths might be reported to the temple as they were to the ancestral hall and temples for popular gods sometimes drew up regulations for village control, including such economic arrangements as weights and measures and marketing days.
Those promoting popular temples usually did so by forming an association, or using an existing association in a village or part of a village. It has been noted that some temple associations (she) had headmen "from whom all villagers took orders".19 It is said also that sometimes families with common ditches or paths, that is neighbouring groups, joined together to make up a she. One might find, perhaps, the she division by neighbourhood taking place in the larger villages, or perhaps in those sections of a village occupied by different kin-groups without an ancestral hall association. Arthur Smith notes that it was commonly said the local god at one end of a village had nothing to do with the affairs at the other.20 Larger villages, then, might have been divided into several communities organized round different temples.
Sometimes a she appears, however, to have crossed village boundaries with many villages supporting the "incense and fire" (term for temple contributions) of a temple: this would then foster inter-village solidarities. Fairs and festivals in temples situated in areas with many villages provided opportunities for inter-village trade and further associations.
CHINESE RELIGION AND RURAL COHESION
19
ancestral hall association of the village, and since both temple and hall were run by the same people the two organizations were perhaps unlikely to compete for power. If however, a mono- lineage village had both an ancestral hall and a temple organiza- tion promoted and operated by different people, their competition in property accumulation and devices for controlling the com- munity could mean much disharmony for the village.
J
One suspects that, generally speaking, ancestral hall and temple organizations must have been alternative forms for controlling village affairs the one being based on mono-lineage villages and the other on multi-lineage villages. Although the literature does not always tell us the relationship of temple organization to the composition of villages in kinship terms it is clear that the two forms of organization often performed identical functions. A temple organization in one area has been compared, in fact, to an ancestral hall association by Hsiao: it had extensive property and maintained a school.18 Births and deaths might be reported to the temple as they were to the ancestral hall and temples for popular gods sometimes drew up regulations for village control, including such economic arrangements as weights and measures and marketing days.
Those promoting popular temples usually did so by forming an association, or using an existing association in a village or part of a village. It has been noted that some temple associations (she) had headmen "from whom all villagers took orders".19 It is said also that sometimes families with common ditches or paths, that is neighbouring groups, joined together to make up a she. One might find, perhaps, the she division by neighbourhood taking place in the larger villages, or perhaps in those sections of a village occupied by different kin-groups without an ancestral hall association. Arthur Smith notes that it was commonly said the local god at one end of a village had nothing to do with the affairs at the other.20 Larger
Larger villages, then, might have been divided into several communities organized round different temples. Sometimes a she appears, however, to have crossed village boun- daries with many villages supporting the "incense and fire" (term for temple contributions) of a temple: this would then foster inter- village solidarities. Fairs and festivals in temples situated in areas with many villages provided opportunities for inter-village trade and further associations.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.