The Coming-of-Age Celebration

Transcription

1 組別 : 英文組 類別 : 論文類 The Coming-of-Age Celebration

2 Abstract Our life styles have changed with times over the years. Technology has replaced tradition as the heart of human life. Because of this, we regret that many traditional cultures in Taiwan are disappearing. The Coming-of-Age Celebration, one of Tainan traditional cultures, is one of them which mainly symbolize a child growing up to an adult. The origin of the Coming-of-Age Celebration was from ancient time. Grandmothers or parents prepared sacrifices to show their appreciation to Goddess Seven Mother for her caring and blessing their children. It was not only symbolizes children s growing up but also indicated that these children could get the full salaries since they were adults. There are ten processes to complete this ceremony, such as wearing customs, going around by horse going across Magpie Bridge, etc. Many sacrifices are essential in this ceremony, such as taros glutinous oil rice, flowers, red yarn, lipstick, etc. Literature review, questionnaires, interview and observation are used in this study. Through these methods, we find that although most of people in Tainan consider this ceremony as a valuable culture, they still didn t participate in this ceremony. If our government can promote more effective policy to develop the Coming-of-Age Celebration, this valuable culture would exist forever. Therefore, we provide some suggestions: (1) In order to pass down the culture to the basis, our local educational institution should put this subject into school courses. (2) Try hard to use internet resources to spread this meaningful culture. (3) Stage more regular and interesting events to develop this culture. (4) TV or Video resources are also the good media to spread this culture. (5) Book edition is also useful. Keywords:The Coming-of-Age Celebration, Goddess Seven Mother, Traditional Culture, ii

3 Table of Contents Abstract ii Table of Contents iii I. Introduction I.1. Background and Motivation of the Study I.2. Purpose of the Study I.3. Methods and Research Questions of the Study II. Methods II.1. Literature Review II.1.1. The origin of the Coming-of-Age Celebration II.1.2. The meanings of the Coming-of-Age Celebration II.1.3. The process of the Coming-of-Age Celebration II.2. Questionnaire and Result Analysis II.2.1. The analysis of participating situation II.2.2 The opinion to the Coming-of-Age Celebration II.2.3 The suggestion for promoting the Coming-of-Age Celebration II.3. Interview and Observation III. Findings IV. Conclusion V. References iii

4 I. Introduction I.1. Background and Motivation of the Study Over the year, our life styles have changed with times. Technology has replaced tradition as the heart of human life. Because of this, we regret that many traditional cultures in Taiwan are disappearing. The Coming-of-Age Celebration, one of Tainan traditional cultures, is one of them which mainly symbolizes a child growing up to an adult. During Quing Dynasty, the Coming-of-Age Celebration was not allowable for everyone. Because of the sexual discrimination, only the eldest son could participate in this ceremony. Fortunately, the sexual discrimination is gradually declining with times. The Coming-of-Age Celebration is a ceremony for all the boys and girls nowadays. Owing to the new times, the new generation, the Coming-of-Age Celebration which is meaningful and respected by our elder is unvalued now. Fortunately, Tainan government learns this, and begins to redevelop this valuable culture recently. Many ceremonies are held to keep this culture from disappearing. It is new and strange for us, the new generation. We desire to know what the Coming-of-Age Celebration is. Therefore, we choose the Coming-of-Age Celebration as our subject to research. I.2. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to understand what the Coming-of-Age Celebration is and investigate how many people respect this culture. The most important of all is to find out the effective methods to develop and maintain our culture - the Coming-of-Age Celebration. I.3. Methods and Research Questions of the Study In order to understand the Coming-of-Age Celebration and its position in this new generation, literature review, questionnaires, interview and observation are used in this study to find out the following questions. (1) What is the origin of the Coming of Age Celebration? (2) What are the meanings of the Coming-of-Age Celebration? (3) What is the process of the Coming-of-Age Celebration? (4) How many people have participated in the Coming-of-Age Celebration? (5) Does Tainan government develop and promote the Coming-of-Age Celebration 1

5 fruitfully? (6) Is the Coming-of-Age Celebration in the present different from that in the past? II. Methods II.1. Literature Review II.1.1. The origin of the Coming-of-Age Celebration Before understanding the Coming-of-Age Celebration, we should know the goddess Seven Mother first. According to the legend from Wei Dynasty, the so called Seven Mother is the seventh daughter of god. Seven Mother who is also named the Girl Weaver is well-known in the famous story The Cowherd and The Girl Weaver. Since Seven Mother takes care of children in the story, people respect her as goddess of children who bless and protect children. It is said that 16 years old is the age that children turn into adults. In order to show gratitude toward goddess Seven Mother for the protection during former 16 years, the Coming-of-Age Celebration comes out. The Coming-of-Age Celebration is a rite of passage. The 16-year-old children should visit Goddess Seven Mothers on Seventh of July in the lunar month when is the birthday of Goddess Seven Mother. They burn golden paper, customs and pavilion to show that they have been adults since then. II.1.2. The meanings of the Coming-of-Age Celebration The Coming-of-Age Celebration plays an important role in Tainan history for a long time. Reverting to the period of Five Ports in Tainan history, commerce, business, and trade were prosperous, and of course there were many child labors. However, according to the rule, they can only get half of adult's salary. When the child is 16 years old, he is asked to join the rite of passage. After that, they will become adult and also indicate that he can get adult's salary. II.1.3. The process of the Coming-of-Age Celebration (1) The essentials of the Coming-of-Age Celebration When participating in the Coming-of-Age Celebration, don t forget to prepare the correct sacrifices listing below. 2

6 Green Tea Taros glutinous oil rice Steamed cake Flowers (circle flower cockscomb flower jasmine flower) Rouge Red yarn and lipstick Fragrant powder and perfume Mirror and ccomb Needle thread Pomade and fruit Among these sacrifices, taros glutinous oil rice is the oil rice with taros glutinous. Taros glutinous means having many children and also many grandchildren. Steamed Cake is also called sweet cake. It is much bigger than stuffed dumplings made of glutinous rice. Generally, people use their thumb to pinch a concave in the middle of steamed cake to carry Goddess Seven Mother s tears. Because the Cowherd and the Girl Weaver meet each other once a year, they might be sad and crying at the day they meet. Cockscomb flower pronounces ji guan in Chinese. Guan sounds like promoting and being the first in Chinese. (2) The process of the Coming-of-Age Celebration When you attend The Coming-of-Age Celebration, you should wear the customs go around in regular route by horse. After returning to the temple of Seven Mother, you should go across Magpie Bridge the Chu-Niao-Mu Hall, and go under Seven Mother Pavilion. After doing so, boys need to turn around from the left three times, or girls turn around from the right three times. Then we must burn the Seven Mother Pavilion. Therefore, Seven Mother Pavilion should be made by bamboo slice and paper glue which is refined and has two or three pavilions. The goddess tally must be put at the top of the pavilion. The gratitude certification is made to appreciate Goddess Seven Mother for her blessing. After all these processes are done, you would have an incense bag and the certification of the Coming-of-Age Celebration. The whole celebration is ended by your serving tea to your parents to show your appreciation. Table 1. The process of the Coming-of-Age Celebration 1 Wear customs. 2 Go around by horse. 3 Go across Magpie Bridge. 3

7 4 Go to Chu-Niao-Mu Hall. 5 Go under Seven Mother Pavilion. 6 Boys turn around from the left three times, or girls turn around from the right three times. 7 Burn the Seven Mother Pavilion. 8 Give gratitude certification 9 Incense bag and certification 10 Serve tea to parents II.2 Questionnaire and Result Analysis We design a questionnaire for totally 21 questions to investigate how many people have participated in the Coming-of-Age Celebration and what they think about this culture. Finally, we would figure out whether the Tainan government effectively promotes this culture.100 surveys have been conducted randomly with all of them being valid. The target interviewees of this survey are the people who live in Tainan and over 16 years old. We analyze the results in three parts showing as follow. II.2.1 The analysis of participating situation We could learn from figure 1 that only 38% Tainanese have participated in the Coming-of-Age Celebration. The percentage of Tainanese who has never participated in this celebration is up to 62%. Therefore, we can infer that Tainan government didn t find out the effective way to develop and promote this culture. It is urgently for us to value and keep this culture. 4

8 From Figure 2, we know that Kai Long Temple is the most famous place that most people go there for the Coming-of-Age Celebration. The percentage is 37%. The percentage of Tian Hou Temple is 24%, the second. Goddess Lin Shui Temple and Chong Fu Temple are both 12%, and Guan Di Temple is 10%. We suggest that Tainan government should develop these temples and promote them frequently. Furthermore, developing other places for the Coming-of-Age Celebration is also necessary. According to Figure 3, most people who took part in the Coming-of-Age Celebration were influenced by their families. The percentage is highly up to 98%. Only 2% of them were encouraged by their friends. II.2.2 The opinion to the Coming-of-Age Celebration From Figure 4, we understand that how people feel about the Coming-of-Age Celebration. 71% of people have the feeling of growing up. 8% of them think that it s new for them, and 6% feel it s interesting. Nobody think it s boring. Therefore, this culture is worth of developing. 5

9 It is regret to learn from Figure 5 that 58% of people didn t know the meaning of the Coming-of-Age Celebration. If we want to maintain this culture forever, it is essential for us develop it from education. According to Figure 6, 67% of people get the information of the Coming-of-Age Celebration from families and friends. 14% get it from books, and 8% get it from internet. We suggest that it is a good way to spread the idea of the culture through 6

10 internet. Teenagers should be the main people who could maintain and develop the culture forever. II.2.3 The suggestion for promoting the Coming-of-Age Celebration We know from Figure 7 that most people think that the Coming-of-Age Celebration is valuable. The percentage is up to 93%. Therefore, it should be easy to develop if the government could put the effective policy in practice. From Figure 8, we find out that 42% of people think that the Coming-of-Age Celebration should be integrated into school courses. 38% of people suggest that government stage regular event, and 12% of people think that government should advertise it. 7

11 We are glad to find the answer from figure 9 that up to 95% of people will encourage their children to take part in the celebration. It represents most of people agree with this culture and values it. II.3 Interview and Observation In order for public to know more about the Coming-of-Age Celebration, we went to Kai Long Temple, the only temple of Goddess Seven Mother in Tainan, to interview the temple attendant on December 18, What the temple attendant said was similar to what we found in the literature. However, there are still something different. The mainly difference is that the ceremony in the present is more fruitful than that in the past. For example, horse riding and Magpie Bridge had never appeared in the past on the Coming-of-Age Celebration. The ceremony is changing with time, and people would be much interested in it hopefully. Thus, we don t worry about the loss of our traditional cultures. III. Findings After doing some research by literature review, questionnaires, interview, and observation, we find that the Coming-of-Age Celebration is originally from Goddess Seven Mother. The purpose of holding this ceremony is to show our appreciation to her for caring and blessing our children under 16 years old. The process is changing with times. The ceremony now is plentiful. However, we learn from questionnaires that not every Tainanese knows what the Coming-of-Age Celebration really is, and the rate of participator is quite low. Although most of our interviewees consider this celebration as valuable culture, the 8

12 motion of taking part in this ceremony is quite low. The development and promotion from government isn t effective. Therefore, searching the way to spread this culture is the most important thing we have to do now. IV. Conclusion Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan. We have many historical resources. However, these resources not only need to be maintained but also need to be passed down. Otherwise, we would lose our treasured culture. The Coming-of Age is one of them. We must find out the effective methods to let this special culture exist forever. After researching the subject, we provide some suggestions for government to put into practice and for the public to think. (6) In order to pass down the culture to the basis, our local educational institution should put this subject into school courses. (7) Try hard to use internet resources to spread this meaningful culture. (8) Stage more regular and interesting events to develop this culture. (9) TV or Video resources are also the good media to spread this culture. (10) Book edition is also useful. We are Tainanese. We all have the responsibility to let the Coming-of-Age Celebration pass down. If you have friends or families reaching 16 years old, don t forget to encourage him to participate in this ceremony. V. References 鄉土民間 2 台灣年節習俗 世峰出版社 : Taipei 台灣民俗節慶 晨星出版社 : Taipei Wikipedia-The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 25, 2010, from Taiwan Panorama. Retrieved October 25, 2010, from Ministry of Taiwan, Retrieved October 30, 2010, The Official Website for Taiwan Provincial Government. Retrieved October 30, 2010, 9

13 府城成年禮 - 做十六歲專題計畫. Municipal Jinsyue Elementary School, Retrieved October 30, 2010, 10