Folk Beliefs and Customs

Ⅹ-85Folk CustomsShenyang, LiaoningBatch 3 (2011)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Xibe belief in Xili Mama is a folk belief of the ethnic group originating in the form of knotted-cord record-keeping and in the nature of ancestor worship, with distinctly Xibe ethnic characteristics.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Worshipping "Xili Mama" is a universal and unique group belief practice of the entire Xibe people. In legend, Xili Mama is a legendary ethnic heroine; in reality she arose from nomadic life. "Xili" in the Xibe language means continuation; "Mama" is the goddess-mother deity, meaning that under the protection of the goddess-mother, sons and grandsons can multiply and flourish without end. Thus, since antiquity every Xibe household has worshipped her, and every family has kept her image. The 16th of the twelfth lunar month is Xili Mama's birthday; on that day family members lay out offerings, burn incense, and set off firecrackers. Family members bow to the ancestors and to Xili Mama. Worshipping Xili Mama on New Year's Eve is a most sacred activity for a Xibe family. The male head of the household brings out Xili Mama, sets out offerings, lights incense, and bows. She remains on display until the second day of the second lunar month, when she is gathered up and put back in her original place. On that day the family eats tehele, buckwheat noodles. The belief in Xili Mama condenses the deep cultural tradition of the Xibe people; it is a cultural trait of the whole Xibe nation from antiquity to the present, and a bond linking the national spirit.

The birthday offering on the sixteenth

The first major sacrifice of the year: offerings, incense, whip-crack and kowtow to the ancestors and the goddess of continuity.

Receiving the goddess on new year's eve

On new year's eve the head of the household brings the goddess down, lays out offerings and the family kowtows, keeping watch through the night.

Returning the goddess and eating the buckwheat

After forty days on display the shrine is put away and the household eats buckwheat noodles to mark the new cycle.

Raising a new goddess for a split household or newborn

A new figure is made by the elder generation whenever a household divides or a male heir is born, keeping the ancestral one with the senior branch.

What the hanging objects signify

Every element of the hanging figure carries a meaning - continuity, unbroken lineage, placement relative to the hearth - passed down as explanations rather than mere form.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The belief in Xili Mama is passed down generation by generation in family units around Shenyang, with the making and hanging form varying somewhat from household to household: some hang the spirit-seat from the roof beam or above the stove area, taking it down at New Year to place it on a table; others fix it directly between the beams and pillars of the main room, letting it smoke and weather so it endures. When a family divides its property or gains a first grandson, a new Xili Mama is set up, so that each generation of the house has its own, and at sacrifice time they are all laid out together in order of seniority. Between village communities there is no unified temple or chief officiant; each household manages it on its own, yet all gather twice a year, on the birthday of the 16th of the twelfth month and on New Year's Eve. When visiting back and forth, people can see the number of pieces hanging, and the count becomes a silent measure of the prosperity of the house. The Xibe language calls the buckwheat noodles eaten at New Year tehele; eating noodles at the festival is linked to the divine intent of continuing the population, and this food custom entered the everyday home along with the belief.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Xili Mama transmitted by the Wu Jishan family of Bajiazi Village, Huangjia Township, Shenbei New District, has passed through nine generations, some four or five hundred years of history. Wu Jishan (recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): Male, Xibe ethnicity, born in June 1936, a native of Shenyang, Liaoning. The Xili Mama belief transmitted by the family has passed through nine generations, with some four or five hundred years of history. From childhood he was steeped in the Xibe belief in Xili Mama; through his father's verbal teaching he came to understand its content and meaning and the symbolic meanings of the hanging objects. Under his father's guidance he learned the method of making Xili Mama, and has made more than ten Xili Mama for other families. He is well versed in the ceremonial procedures of the Xili Mama birthday celebration. Whenever, on the 16th of the twelfth lunar month, a Xibe family divides its property or gains a first grandson, a Xili Mama is set up for them on that day. He values transmission, passing on everything he has learned to his sons and family members, and has established a Xili Mama heritage hall in his own courtyard. He is a representative inheritor of the folk belief (Xibe Xili Mama belief) project in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

Wu Jishan 05-3019
Xu Shunwei 05-3020
Huang Guanghui 05-3021
Chen Jikun 05-3022
Sinapinchu 05-3023
Liu Shimei 05-3024
Zhang Qingming 05-3025
Zheng Quanguang 05-3026
Ye Da 05-3027
Li Yaohui
Luo Shengzong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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