Yao folk religion is the

ethnic religion In religious studies, an ethnic religion is a religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group. Ethnic religions are often distinguished from universal religions, such as Christianity or Islam, in which gaining converts is a pri ...

of the Yao people, a non-Sinitic ethnic group who reside in the

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

, Hunan and surrounding provinces of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Their religion has been profoundly intermingled with Taoism since the 13th century, so much that it is frequently defined as Yao Taoism ( ''Yáozú Dàojiào'').Alberts, Eli.
A History of Daoism and the Yao People of South China
'. Cambria Press, 2006. In the 1980s it was found that the Yao clearly identified with the Chinese-language Taoist theological literature, seen as a prestigious statute of culture ( ''wénhuà'').Litzinger, Ralph A. ''Other Chinas: The Yao and the Politics of National Belonging''. Duke University Press, 2000. Yao folk religion was described by a Chinese scholar of the half of the 20th century as an example of deep "Taoisation" ( ''Dàojiàohuà''). Yao core theology and cosmology is Taoist; they worship the deities of canonical Taoism (above all the

Three Pure Ones The Three Pure Ones (), also translated as the Three Pure Pellucid Ones, the Three Pristine Ones, the Three Divine Teachers, the Three Clarities, or the Three Purities, are the three highest gods in the Taoist pantheon. They are regarded as pure ...

) as the principal deities, while lesser gods are those who pertain to their own indigenous pre-Taoisation religion. The reason of this tight identification of Yao religion and identity with Taoism is that in Yao society every male adult is initiated as a Taoist, and Yao Taoism is therefore a communal religion; this is in sharp contrast to Chinese Taoism, which is an order of priests disembedded from the common Chinese folk religion. A shared sense of Yao identity is based additionally on tracing their descent from the mythical ancestor

Panhu Panhu ( hanzi: 盤瓠; pinyin ''Pánhù''; IPA: /pʰan³⁵-xu⁵¹/) is an important figure in Chinese and Yao mythologies. The Panhu mythological complex includes myths in Chinese and also other languages. This myth has a long history of being t ...

Social aspects

Yao Taoism has been seen as representing a conservative form of religious practice, exhibiting parallels with the communitarian Taoism that flourished with the earliest Taoist movements in China proper and the collective fasts of medieval China. Although the Yao are speakers of non-Sinitic Mienic languages, their Taoist liturgical tradition is in Chinese language and writing.Davis, 2005. p. 190 The strong identity of Yao society as a Taoist Church, and their high literacy, are seen as the factors of Southeast Asian Yaos' proud resistance to Christian missionary penetration of their communities in the 1960s and 1970s.

Priesthood

In Yao religion all adult males are initiated to some degree into the Taoist clergy. The '' tsow say ong'' are high priests who perform rites for the higher gods of the pantheon ("above the sky") and officiate funerals. The Yao folk religion otherwise retains a class of lesser priests or shamans, the ''sip mien'', who perform rituals for the lesser gods ("under the sky"). There are four levels of initiation into the Yao Taoist church, they are called: "hanging the lamps" (''kwa-tang''), "ordination of the master" (''tou-sai''), after which ordinates are given a sigil and a certificate to perform a variety of rites, and the two additional levels of "adding duties" (''chia-tse'') and "enfeoffing liturgies" (''pwang-ko''). The ''Sai nzung sou'' is the book of ceremonies for inviting the ', good spirits who protect the location. The ''mienv morh'' are instead angry spirits who cause sickness and tragedy.

House altar

The ''mienv baaih'' is the Yao household altar of the gods, in a place easily visible from the main door. Its aim is welcoming the spirits (''mienv''). The ''mienv kuv'' is a tablet with the names of the ancestors of the family placed upon the altar; another custom is the use of pictures of the ancestors instead of the tablets.

Rituals and psychology

After the death of a person, the priests perform the ', a ceremony to deliver the person's body from sin. Then the priest perform a water ritual, the ', for purifying the person's dead body from evil spirits. Subsequently, the priest performs the ''doh dangh caeqv jaiv'', a ceremony to purify the soul of the dead person from the influence of evil spirits. The ' is an ending ritual to give the spirit a peaceful after-life. Other practices involve spirit money and sacrifice.

References

Citations

Sources

* Edward L. Davis. ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture''. Routledge, 2005. * Eli Alberts.
A History of Daoism and the Yao People of South China
'. Cambria Press, 2006. * Litzinger, Ralph A. ''Other Chinas: The Yao and the Politics of National Belonging''. Duke University Press, 2000. {{religion in China Asian ethnic religion East Asian religions Religion in Laos Religion in Thailand Taoism in China