Ritual, Legend, and Metaphor: Narratives of the Willow in Yuan Zaju

Narratives of willow trees in Yuan zaju 雜劇, or variety play, largely come in three types, namely, the ritual performance of shooting willows; the deliverance of willow spirits by Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals of Daoism; and the use of the word willow to refer to women. The willow shooting ritual depicted in Yuan zaju was highly reminiscent of the willow shooting ritual popular throughout the Song (960–1279), Liao (916–1125), Jin (1115–1234), and Yuan (1271–1368) dynasties, with its conceptual origins traceable to the ancient shamanic belief in the willow as a sacred tree prevalent among the Khitans and Jurchens who lived in what is now northeastern China. The legend of Lü Dongbin delivering a willow spirit to immortality is a recurring motif in Han Chinese folklore and Daoist hagiography, which also finds expression in the iconic image of Guanyin Pusa or Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara holding a willow branch with which they cure diseases for people and bring fulfillment to their wishes. The frequent use of “willow leaf-shaped eyebrows” (liumei 柳眉) and “willow-like waist” (liuyao 柳腰) in Yuan zaju as metaphorical references to women can be seen as a continuation of the great literary tradition of Shijing 詩經 (The Book of Songs) and also as a dramatic enactment of the fertility cult of the willow and women in Chinese folk religion. Evidence abounds that the narratives about the willow in Yuan zaju were not a new creation but an artistic manifestation of centuries-old folk belief and literary tradition.

PIE *peh2ur ’fire’. Two Slavic etymologies

The article adds two Proto-Slavic derivatives of the Proto-Indo-European word for ‘fire’ to a small number of other, already identified derivatives (§1). Detailed phonological and morphological analysis of the words for ‘bat; moth, butterfly’ establish PS *netopyŕĭ ‘bat’ and PS *netopyŕĭ, *netŭpyŕĭ ‘moth (> butterfly), which support a Pre-Proto- Slavic (PPS) *[nekt-i+pūr]-ja- ‘[night-time fire] one’. Semantic interpretation posits the social and ecological context for the divergent nominations ‘bat’ and ‘nocturnal moth’. The variant word shapes and meanings of these lexemes defined intersecting isoglosses at the time of the Slavic Expansion (§§2–3). Similar analysis of PS *ǫpyŕĭ ‘revenant, monster’ supports the reconstruction PPS *[un-pūr]-ja- ‘[without fire] one’. Its semantic interpretation is based on the Slavic folk belief that the untimely dead were in the power of evil forces and were tools of evil. In pre-Christian times they were denied the pyre, they were ‘without fire’. This belief long survived the introduction of Christianity and its abolition of cremation and obligatory burial (§§4–5). The conclusion (§6) comments on the remarkable archaisms in these ancient lexemes, which were coined thousands of years ago: PPS *nekt- ‘night’ (cf. Hittite), *un- ‘no, without’ (cf. Germanic), and *pūr- ‘fire’ (cf. West Baltic).

“ek hræðumz ekki þik” – The dvergar in translated riddarasǫgur

This article investigates the usage of Old Nordic supernatural concepts in the Old Norse translations of Old French and Anglo-Norman chivalric romances and courtly lais from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries. This paper focuses on the usage of the term dvergr as a translation for the Old French nain, reflecting not only the narrative purposes involved in the choice of this word as a translation, but also the possible consequences it could have had on Icelandic folk belief when these works were read out loud alongside other works that formed part of Icelandic literature and Icelandic oral tradition.

Folk Belief on Pancur Gading Site in Deli Tua Village, Sumatera Utara Province, Indonesia

Folk belief through magical practices is an integral part of the discussion about the Pancur Gading Site, located in Deli Tua Village, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Through this folk belief, people come with their own goals and purposes. The remains of this site can be seen by the rushing water of the two showers, namely ‘pancuran putri’ (princess shower) and ‘pancuran panglima’ (the commander's shower). People believe by using this water, all the problems in their life can be resolved immediately. Various magical practices are also held to fulfill human desires for the problems they face. The religious behavior of the people who believe in the properties of Pancur Gading is based on the folk belief in the worshiped figures. The legend of Putri Hijau provides a conception of revered supernatural figures, including the princess known as Putri Hijau or Nini Biring, her first brother (kakek naga), the second (kakek meriam), her commanders, and the ancestors who were worshiped according to cultural background of their respective communities. This belief is strengthened by the existence of media from supernatural experts who connect to patients. This paper is an effort to make an inventory of the various folk beliefs and traditions related to the Pancur Gading Site as an intangible cultural heritage.

Writings, Emotions, and Oblations: The Religious-Ritual Origin of the Classical Confucian Conception of Cheng (Sincerity)

Cheng 誠 (sincerity) is one of the primary concepts in the Confucian tradition as well as Chinese intellectual history. Its rich implications involve dimensions of religion, ritual, folk belief, ethics, psychology, cosmology, metaphysics, aesthetics, and literature. In the Confucian classics, cheng is described as the “Dao of heaven”; humans through cultivation can reach the mysterious state of “the utmost sincerity functioning as spirits” and thus can “assist the transforming and generating power of heaven and earth.” Because of cheng’s rich, sacred, and mysterious implications, it has been regarded as the most difficult and perplexing of Chinese concepts. Scholars have long studied cheng mainly from the perspective of philosophy to analyze its ideological conceptions in the Confucian classics, resulting in fruitful and inspiring interpretations. However, because they have not traced the origin of cheng to its rich religious, ritual, and literary sources, their interpretations have been unable to answer the question: why is cheng covered with such a mysterious veil? In recent decades, some scholars have started exploring cheng’s relationship with ancient religious beliefs and rituals, but so far a comprehensive examination of the religious-ritual origin of this significant concept remains lacking. To discover cheng’s mysterious origins, we must apply a synthetic approach of etymological, religious, philosophical, and literary studies. Drawing upon both transmitted and excavated texts, this essay first analyzes the graphic-phonetic structure and semantic implications of the character cheng 成 (completion), which was the character cheng’s 誠 early form. It then examines the rich meanings implied in both characters related to sacrificial-divinatory rituals, including invoking the spirits with sincere writings, emotions, and oblations, in order to seduce them to descend and enjoy the offerings, as well as perfectively completing the human-spirit communication. Finally, the essay discusses how those religious beliefs and ritual ceremonies evolved into Confucian ethical values and aesthetic concepts, thus lifting the mysterious veil from cheng.

Radium traffic: radiation, science and spiritualism in early twentieth-century Japan

The emergence of modern health-related commodities and tourism in the late Meiji and Taishō eras (1900s–1920s) was accompanied by a revival of spiritualist religions, many of which had their origins in folk belief. What helped this was the people’s interpretation of radiation. This article underscores the linkages between radiation, science and spiritualism in Japan at the time of modernisation and imperialism. In the early twentieth century, the general public came to know about radiation because it was deemed to have special efficacy in healing the human body. In Japan, the concept of radiation harmonised with both Western culture and Japanese traditional culture. One can see the fusion of Western and traditional culture both in people’s lives and commercial culture through the popularity and availability of radium hot springs and radioactive commodities. Radium hot springs became fashionable in Japan in the 1910s. As scholars reported that radium provided the real potency of hot springs, local hot springs villages seized on the scientific explanation and connected their developments with national policies and industries. This paper illustrates how the discourse about radium, which came from the field of radiation medicine, connected science and spiritualism in modern Japan.

May You Have My Luck

This chapter offers a treatment of why good luck seems to many people, and as an ancient widespread folk belief has it, to be the very manufactory of bad luck. It takes a look at the apotropaic rituals people undertake not to have their good luck count against them. It also examines why it seems people’s merest wishes and desires provoke the gods to thwart them. The chapter provides an excursus on the negative causal powers people attribute to themselves, what the author calls the narcissism of negativity. The chapter features an extended discussion of hope as opposed to feeling lucky.