Mysterious folk customs

Author: Zhang Jun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Chinese culture is renowned not only for its longevity and richness but also for its profound mystique, attracting global attention. The term "mystique" encompasses wonder and secrecy. Any culture with mystical elements can be termed mystical culture. It includes the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns, imperial consorts and concubines, eunuchs and relatives, sorcerers and shamans, recluses and immortals, devout men and women, secret societies and factions, the common people, the Three Classics and Five Canons, secret texts and forbidden books, heretical doctrines, the Yin-Yang Five Elements, (heaven-man), (qi-men), divination and geomancy, face-reading and divination by calligraphy, alchemy and health preservation, astrology and fengshui, martial arts and qigong. All of these can be encompassed within it. Like other branches of the mystical culture system, Chinese festivals possess a mystical nature and quality for two reasons: first, their original interpretive systems derive from ancient Eastern mystical culture; second, over time, these original interpretive systems have gradually faded, leaving behind hollow rituals, practices, and taboos that we find difficult to explain, thus perceiving them as mystical. These two aspects can be summarized as: mystical culture phenomena are inherently related to mysticism, and parts that were originally unrelated to mysticism are also considered mystical due to interpretive confusion.