Religion of the Jingpo

For the Jingpo every person splits into body and soul, which they join forming the man. When a person dreams it is because the soul has left the body, if it does not find anything outstanding during his trip, he will not remember the sleep, but if it meets any interesting experience, he remembers it to the awakening. It is for it that between the Jingpo big importance happens to the dreamed, and to his character auspicioso or perniciously. What has done that a few interpretive keys of the sleep develop between them. For example, if a person dreams of a knife or a shotgun, it is a sign of that will have a son male; if he dreams of many cucumbers or pumpkins, it is a sign of sufferings, and bad prediction. Then it will be necessary to ask a wizard to pray to the spirits, or to run the risk that someone dies.

After the death of a person, his spirit separates of the body, and goes to the kingdom of the shades, where it must go to meet the ancestors. According to his tradition the Jingpo they come from the North therefore after the death, the spirit must travel to the North. Since it is a very negative circumstance that the soul of the dead person remains between the alive ones, different rites are realized to show him the way to the soul.

In every housing of the Jingpo there is a house of the spirits which the strangers cannot enter. They think that the man is one more being of the nature, and that every thing has his spirit. More than 100 deities exist therefore in his pantheon, which split between the deities of the nature and the deities of the society. In general it is considered that there are three types of deities. The gods of the sky, as that of the Sky, of the Wind, of the Sun, of the Moon or of the Thunder; those of the ground, as those of the Water, of the Fire, of the Grain; and those of the hearth. Of between them the most important is the God of the Sun. To manage to assure the charitable influence of so many deities, they observe definitely numerous taboos. Between the deities there are feminine someone. As the Creative Mother, copartner in the creation of the world, and those of the Kitchen, of the Textile, the Intelligence, the Music, the Memory and the Maternity.

Between the Jingpo there are some persons specializing in the dealings with the world of the spirits, to which his name is Dongsha. Of between them there is called Zhaiwa that are the most important. Familiar with the history, myths, rites and culture of the Jingpo, there were, in the ancient times, a real center of power along with the Shangong. In every village there was a Dongsha. Of between the Dongsha also there is three types, Dongsha Grandes, the Dongsha and Dongsha Pequeños. The first specializing one in the rites of the sky, others are going down in importance, and in fact the children Dongsha can sacrifice neither cows nor pigs, but only they do it with chickens, dry fish and rats. Also the Dongsha have a species of assistants called Qiangzhong, who devote themselves to prepare the objects of the gifts. And others of minor importance called Mitui, which realize minor rites.

In every village there is a species of temples called Nengdang, which are usually straw constructions, without walls placed in the outskirts of the village, by which there hang skulls of cow or pig.

His religious activities were much developed, in some ceremony of the first of the XXth century it went so far as to take into account the sacrifice of 27 cows.

His beliefs have been much affected by the establishment of the communist diet.
His religion was he was considering superstition, and his rites, a waste of resources.

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