Why do Chaoshan people worship God? Is it okay not to worship?

Keywords: Chaoshan people; Polytheism; Psychological factors; Social and historical factors; Cultural factor

Worship of gods is a phenomenon that exists in China and even in all mankind, and so is Chaoshan people. As Chen (the second year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty) said, "Cantonese customs are still expensive, and temples flourish." As we all know, there are thousands of large and small temples in Chaoshan area. The gods worshipped in temples include natural gods (mother of heaven and earth, sun god, moon god, wind god, rain god, lightning god, mountain god, river god, animal and plant god, etc. ), Buddhist gods, Taoist gods, emperors, sages, heroes, honest officials and so on. On the first and fifteenth day of each month, women carrying baskets can be seen everywhere in the countryside, running between temples and making pious worship. Immortals are collectively called "lords" in Chaoshan. Why are hipsters so obsessed with the worship of God that they are worshipped by many gods, and they are not thrifty every year. This paper tries to analyze the causes of Chaoshan people's polytheism from the aspects of psychology, social history and culture.

First, psychological factors.

As early as "History of Han Dynasty Geography", it was recorded that "Chu people believed in witches and ghosts and worshipped them again". There is no reason for Chaoshan people to worship and believe in God, but because of the primitive religious thought foundation, their belief in God has formed an eternal thinking concept in people's hearts. When people meet their own destiny, it is easy to sprout a belief mentality, so people believe in God and worship God, no matter what it is. It is because they think it is useful and beneficial for them to do so, and they expect to be "responsive" to the sacrifice. The main reasons are: fear, insurance, entertainment, idolatry and so on.

(A) the fear of avoiding misfortune and seeking happiness

Faced with the mysterious sea where typhoons frequently occur and everything is raging, people naturally have a sense of fear. Under such natural conditions, it is obviously not easy to go fishing and harvest crops smoothly, and you will naturally pray for the blessing of the gods. Ye said in "On the Basic Characteristics of Customs": "When primitive people formed the earliest group, because of their ignorance of nature, they thought that the sun, the moon, the stars, the wind, the rain, the lightning, the mountains and the vegetation were all living gods, and they would bring misfortune to people. In order to avoid misfortune and seek happiness, they worshipped the gods and produced the earliest primitive religion and the custom of offering sacrifices and praying. " [1] reflects the belief of ancient ancestors that there is a mysterious force beyond nature around their lives, which dominates everything of people. Only through the ritual of worship and prayer can we make use of the divine power of the gods existing in the darkness to eliminate disasters and reduce blessings for them. It is precisely because Chaoshan people failed to master natural phenomena and rose to fear, hoping to have a god to protect them, so they worshipped nature.

Many temples in Chaoshan area worship the "right god" who can eliminate disasters and bring happiness to people. Since there is a "righteous god", there is naturally an "evil god", that is, an "evil spirit". The reason why hipsters worship this god is mainly because they are afraid of it, thinking that it will only "harm" people but not "bless" people. Therefore, when people encounter natural and man-made disasters, we should also make amends to him by offering sacrifices and praying, put in a good word and send him away. This kind of god has neither a name nor a regular sacrifice or a big sacrifice. Only when we encounter bad luck, we will quietly go to the crossroads or roadside to offer sacrifices. If the sacrifices can't be collected, we will leave them on the road to be trampled. Nowadays, this custom of offering sacrifices to gods has gradually evolved into collectivization and institutionalization.

Because Chaoshan people are afraid of worshipping ghosts and gods, they think that all the disappointments are caused by their disrespect for gods. If they offend ghosts and gods, they will get into trouble. Therefore, only by worshipping a few more gods can peace be achieved. Despite the advanced technology and a full understanding of these natural phenomena, the continuous influx of people entrusted this unconscious fear to the gods, which is also an important reason why Chaoshan area still worships many gods until now.

(2) Worship one more god and bless one more person's insurance psychology.

In Chaoshan area, most people who once lived here were Hairen and Shanren. They mainly rely on fishing and hunting, which is very dangerous and accidental. In addition, after the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the coastal areas were banned by the sea, which made fishing in the sea more dangerous. Due to the helplessness of life and political oppression, a large number of men risked their lives to cross the ocean to make a living in Southeast Asia, drifting at sea, and their parents, wives and children at home can only hope for the blessing of the gods. Pray for Mazu, the god of the sea, to keep them safe. Women who are usually at home will also go to the temple to burn incense for their relatives who are far away from home, comfort their hearts through silent prayers, and pin their blessings on the gods. These have influenced and educated hipsters since childhood. Therefore, on the first, fifteenth or eighth day of every year, housewives will choose sacrifices to the nearby gods and will not miss any of them. The purpose is to get the blessing of "masters", get rich, get rid of illness and be safe. In their eyes, if people worship me and one more god, it means that they have more insurance, and the sacrifices they pay will not increase, but they will knock on one more.

2 Analysis of the reasons for Chaoshan people's polytheism

From Chaoshan people's consistent treatment and worship of various gods, we can see that Chaoshan people have a strong sense of insurance and luck. Everyone hopes that the gods will appear. They wish themselves wealth, illness and peace, just to seek psychological comfort for themselves.

(3) Entertainment psychology

Sacrificing to the gods has become an indispensable part of Chaoshan people's life in the first and tenth five years. Nevertheless, it has gradually evolved into a "popular belief". In addition to the usual sacrifices, large-scale sacrificial activities will be held every year to invite the gods out of the temple and cruise around the village, that is, the fugue meeting. The original purpose was to exorcise evil spirits, and then it was gradually added to the celebration of the Spring Festival and entertainment, so it was necessary to travel around the world. There are many dances and entertainment activities in the worship activities, which are very lively, such as song and dance, centipede dance, double-biting goose dance, etc., as well as wonderful programs such as honor guard, gongs and drums team and flag team, which enrich people's cultural life.

In modern times, with the prosperity of the city and the development of commerce, the recreational activities of visiting gods in Chaoshan area have added commercial promotion factors. For example, Shen Min's "On the Customs of Chaoan New Year Festival" recorded Wang Anji's wandering activities in Chaozhou in the 1930 s, and many foreign businessmen formed advertising teams to walk with God with the banner of commercial advertisements. Local merchants prepared firecrackers, sacrifices and food in advance, and when the wandering god arrived, the clerk carried them. Then we lit firecrackers, set up incense tables, burned incense and prayed, and had a good time, not only welcoming God but also promoting our cause. The grand worship activities attracted crowds of spectators, which naturally contributed to commercial marketing, and benefited transportation, hotels, food, fireworks and firecrackers.

When people's material civilization is fully solved, they will think of the satisfaction of spiritual civilization, which will inevitably change in traditional sacrificial activities, thus adding various colorful elements, promoting the development of food culture to a certain extent, enriching the life culture of hipsters and improving their living standards. The entertainment psychology of this worship activity makes the hipsters live with relish and endless aftertaste. In rural areas, on the surface, we still respect the old and love the young, but in fact, entertainment has occupied the central position of the God Camp competition. For example, the ceremony of "leaving the old master" was originally an exorcism, but in modern times it has basically evolved into an entertaining competition. [2] Today, the traditional worship activities have almost disappeared, but they have become one of the entertainment activities of Chaoshan people. Therefore, we can see why people still believe in God in such a developed society, and it will not decrease.

(D) the psychology of idolatry

Because of the far-reaching influence of the folk custom of offering sacrifices to gods, people build temples to commemorate celebrities of past dynasties, just like offering sacrifices to gods. Except Guandi Temple (Guan Yu) and Shuangzhong Temple, which are generally built to worship the god of loyalty and righteousness, the gods sacrificed by Chaoshan people are mostly heroes who have made achievements in the local area. "If you try to convey the advantages of the exam and capture the people, you will sacrifice it." Han Yu has made great contributions to hipsters and is admired by hipsters. In addition to Chaozhou, there are Chinese temples, and most counties also have Chinese temples. Chaoshan people built temples to worship these figures because of their worship and admiration. Although there are some utilitarian purposes in it, worship still accounts for a little more. Chaoshan people are loyal and trustworthy, so in the hearts of businessmen, they worship Guan Yu extremely, thus promoting the polytheism of Chaoshan people.

Second, social and historical factors.

Among the many gods in Chaoshan, there were not so many at first, but during the Qin and Han Dynasties, Zhongyuan people moved to Chaoshan area, so there should be a custom of offering sacrifices to gods. After a long period of inheritance and variation, it has merged with the multi-god folk customs in the Central Plains, forming a distinctive local color and a strong Chaoshan style. In order to consolidate their vested interests, feudal rulers used the people's belief in God and the folk custom of offering sacrifices to God to build idols and temples for the people to sacrifice, so that the people could form a systematic concept of God and rule better. The worship of hometown gods by overseas Chinese provides financial support for the activities of building temples to worship hometown gods, and also promotes the polytheism in Chaoshan area, which constitutes a social and historical factor of polytheism.