Daozuo Customs
01 · Historical Records
Worship of the Rice Ancestor is the main form of expression of Wannian's rice-cultivation customs. Also called 'Worship of the Rice God' or 'Worship of the Mother of Five Grains', it originated in the ancient 'tasting the new crop' ancestor-offering activities of high antiquity.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The rice-cultivation customs are traditional rites and folkways formed by the people of Wannian County, Jiangxi Province, in the course of planting rice and preparing rice as food. From ancient times to the present, rice has been the main crop cultivated in Wannian County. The Dayuan Xianren Cave and Diaotonghuan sites within the county are among the cradles of human rice-cultivation culture. Through long practice in rice farming, Wannian gradually developed a system of rice-cultivation customs rich in content and broad in scope. The 'Record of Rites (Liji), Yueling (Monthly Ordinances)' records: 'In this month, the farmers present the grain; the Son of Heaven tastes the new crop, first offering it in the ancestral temples.' The 'Jingchu Suishiji' (Record of the Year and Seasons in Jing-Chu) also mentions: 'On the first day of the tenth month ... people in the north today prepare sesame soup and bean rice on this day, which presumably began as tasting the new crop when it first ripened.' Every year in the autumn harvest season, under the presidence of the clan head, villagers of all ages and both sexes from Wannian's villages gather in the ancestral hall, set up incense tables, and lay out offerings of chicken, fish, eggs, and fruit, as well as the five grains—rice, broomcorn millet, foxtail millet, wheat, and soybeans—performing three kneelings and three bows to give thanks to the goddess who governs the growth of the five grains: the Rice Ancestor (Mother of Five Grains). Worship of the Shegong (Earth God) at seasonal festivals is also an important element of Wannian's rice-cultivation customs. At festivals such as the Spring She and Autumn She, villagers, led by the clan head, carry sacrificial animals and bring incense and candles to the Shegong temple to offer sacrifices, praying for favorable weather and abundant harvests in the coming year. In addition, these customs also permeate festivals, life-cycle rituals, and daily life. Rice-farming proverbs circulate widely among the people of Wannian and are also an important theme in folk performing arts.
The autumn offering to the ancestor of rice
After the harvest the whole village assembles in the ancestral hall where the head presides over offerings of meat, fruit and five grains, and kneels three times in gratitude.
Rites to the earth god at the spring and autumn altars
At the seasonal altars the villagers, led by the head of the clan, carry a sacrifice and incense to the earth god, praying for rain and an abundant year.
Tasting the new grain
The ancient rite of tasting the new grain and offering it first at the ancestral temple underlies the village custom: the new crop is presented before it is eaten.
Rice rites in festivals and life occasions
The custom reaches beyond the ritual day into weddings, births, funerals and daily life, each with its own rice offerings, which is why it never fell out of use.
Proverb lore and folk singing
Agricultural proverbs circulate widely and supply material for folk singing; sowing, watering and reaping are compressed into rhymed lines that a farmer can sing.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Tongzhi-era (Qing dynasty) 'Gazetteer of Wannian County', volume 2, records: 'Its fields are fertile and rich ... the farmers labor diligently at their plowing', showing that the local land is fertile and the custom of diligent farming prevails.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Wannian's rice-cultivation customs are collectively transmitted by the local people: all who live in the Wannian area and engage in agricultural production are direct or indirect transmitters, inheritors, and promoters of the customs. Involving belief in gods and spirits, seasonal festivals, folk art, and folk oral literature, Wannian's rice-cultivation customs are a 'living fossil' displaying traditional society and the lives of the people of Wannian, a microcosm of social conditions and a subtle reflection of popular mentality. They hold considerable value for historical and folklore studies and are of positive practical significance for strengthening community cohesion. The value of Wannian's rice-cultivation customs lies half in belief and half in the seasonal round. Four elements—belief in gods and spirits, seasonal festivals, folk art, and oral literature—overlap here: the Rice Ancestor is the chief deity worshipped, the Shegong is the local guardian, and farming proverbs are an agricultural textbook compressing long observation into short sentences. The old custom of 'tasting the new crop' recorded in the 'Liji: Yueling' and the 'Jingchu Suishiji' shows that this practice of giving thanks with new grain and timing it by the solar terms had already taken shape before the Song dynasty, and Wannian has preserved it to this day. The Xianren Cave and Diaotonghuan sites at Dayuan within the county provide distant material evidence for these customs, allowing local ritual practice and the question of rice origins to corroborate each other. Transmitted collectively by all the villagers, the rice-cultivation customs are not the rites of a few but the shared seasonal experience of a whole village.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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