102
YUEN-FONG WOON
at Kwong-ue Ancestral Hall and all male members were entitled to the ritual pork there. In Freedman's terminology, the Kwaan of Na-loh was a segment of the "localized lineage" of T’oh-fuk, while the Kwaan at Lung-tsai She was a branch of "the dispersed lineage" of the Kwaan at T’oh-fuk with an intermediate market town, Che-hom, as its ritual headquarters.
Besides ritual connections with T'oh-fuk, the two villages were similar on two other counts. Firstly, both exhibited a pattern of residential segregation. In Na-loh, the Kwaan occupied ten alleys to the east of the village while the Oo occupied the remaining six alleys to the west. In Lung-tsai She, the Kwaan lived at the village head, the Tang in the middle and the Wong at the village tail. Secondly, there were very little intra-village marriages. My Kwaan informants from Na-loh had not heard of the Kwaan marrying the Oo there. One said, "They might marry the Oo from other villages but never in Na-loh itself." When asked why, he replied, "I do not know, it just didn't happen. The Oo were low class people, no one knew how they supported themselves." Informants also answered in the negative when I asked them about the incidence of marriages between the Kwaan, the Tang and the Wong in Lung-tsai She.
Despite these similarities, the two multi-surname villages were very different in ceremonial life. Na-loh exhibited a pattern of ritual segregation. There were two ancestral halls in the village: the bigger one in the middle for the Kwaan, the smaller one in the western corner for the Oo. Each had its own corporate property to sustain the rituals. These ancestral halls were similar to the ones found in the vicinity. In the middle of each hall was an altar. Under it was the Earth God Shrine. On top was hung a wooden board with the name of the hall. Below this board were two large ancestral tablets dedicated to the founder and his wife. On the altar itself were numerous tablets which were placed according to the genealogical hierarchy. These were admitted any time into the ancestral hall without a fee. But during the period of major repair or enlargement of the hall, a fund raising campaign would be held and any member who wanted tablets to be admitted ahead of the genealogical position would have to pay five dollars for each tablet. During this period, some even put their own tablets, known as "long-life tablets" (寿牌) there.
102
YUEN-FONG WOON
at Kwong-ue Ancestral Hall and all male members were entitled to the ritual pork there. In Freedman's terminology, the Kwaan of Na-loh was a segment of the "localized lineage" of T’oh-fuk, while the Kwaan at Lung-tsai She was a branch of "the dispersed line- age" of the Kwaan at T’oh-fuk with an intermediate market town, Che-hom, as its ritual headquarters.
Besides ritual connections with T'oh-fuk, the two villages were similar on two other counts. Firstly, both exhibited a pattern of residential segregation. In Na-loh, the Kwaan occupied ten alleys to the east of the village while the Oo occupied the remaining six alleys to the west. In Lung-tsai She, the Kwaan lived at the village head, the Tang in the middle and the Wong at the village tail. Secondly, there were very little intra-village marriages. My Kwaan informants from Na-loh had not heard of the Kwaan marrying the Oo there. One said, "They might marry the Oo from other villages but never in Na-loh itself." When asked why, he replied, "I do not know, it just didn't happen. The Oo were low class people, no one knew how they supported themselves." Informants also answered in the negative when I asked them about the incidence of marriages between the Kwaan, the Tang and the Wong in Lung-tsai She."
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Despite these similarities, the two multi-surname villages were very different in ceremonial life. Na-loh exhibited a pattern of ritual segregation. There were two ancestral halls in the village: the bigger one in the middle for the Kwaan, the smaller one in the western corner for the Oo. Each had its own corporate property to sustain the rituals. These ancestral halls were similar to the ones found in the vicinity. In the middle of each hall was an altar. Under it was the Earth God Shrine. On top was hung a wooden board with the name of the hall. Below this board were two large ancestral tablets dedicated to the founder and his wife. On the altar itself were numerous tablets which were placed according to the genealogical hierarchy. These were admitted any time into the ancestral hall without a fee. But during the period of major repair or enlargement of the hall, a fund raising campaign would be held and any member who wanted tablets to be admitted ahead of the genealogical position would have to pay five dollars for each tablet. During this period, some even put their own tablets, known as "long-life tablets" (✯✯) there.
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