The Art of Rice: Spirit and Sustenance in Asia

by Hamilton, Roy W.

• ISBN13: 9780930741983
• ISBN10: 0930741986
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Univ of Washington Pr

Summary

The term Asia is a problematic and highly artificial construct, because hardly anything - not language, religion, politics, or even geography - unites this huge area. Within the context of this study, however - which focuses on parts of South, Southeast, and East Asia (home to the vast majority of the population) - there exists a unifying factor of paramount significance: rice. Not only is rice the staple food in these regions, it is the focal point of a pervasive set of interrelated beliefs and practices. For those who consume it, this foodstuff is considered divinely given and is felt to sustain them in a special way, one that may be understood as constitutional and even spiritual. This volume explores beliefs and practices relating to rice as they are made manifest in the unique arts and material cultures of the various peoples considered.Incorporating essays by twenty-seven authorities representing a wide variety of cultures and writing from diverse perspectives, the book is astounding in its polyphony. The thirty-five lavishly illustrated essays describe rice-related rituals and beliefs in parts of Thailand, Nepal, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, China, and Korea. Throughout, the juxtaposition of magnificent photographs of works of art - paintings, prints, ceramics, textiles, lacquerware, and sculpture - with objects of a more humble nature - agricultural implements, rice-straw ornaments, cooking utensils, baskets, puppets, votive plaques, and more - serves to indicate the striking pervasiveness of rice in all aspects and all walks of life. Wedding ceremonies, parades, festivals, celebrations of birth, rites held to honor the rice goddess, and those performed to ensure success at every step in the rice-growing cycle are vividly described and illustrated with striking field photographs. The whole gives the reader the rare opportunity to compare similarities and differences in how a rich array of Asian cultures views the food that nourishes them.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 7
Preface	p. 11
Acknowledgments	p. 13
Notes to the Reader	p. 15
Introduction	p. 21
Labor, Ritual, and the Cycle of Time
Labor, Ritual, and the Cycle of Time	p. 37
Box: The Balinese Tika	p. 38
Rice Festivals in Northeast Thailand	p. 63
Body Art and Cyclic Time: Rice Dancing among the Tharu of Nepal	p. 77
Rice Culture in Manipur, India	p. 89
The Purification of Rice Fields in Java with an Apotropaic Plank	p. 101
Rice Harvest Rituals in Two Highland Tai Communities in Vietnam	p. 119
The Granary: A Home for the Rice Spirits
The Granary: A Home for the Rice Spirits	p. 135
The Granary of the Tharu of Nepal	p. 143
Rice Festivals: Community and Celebration
Rice Festivals: Community and Celebration	p. 155
The Pahiyas Festival of Lucban, Philippines	p. 161
The Gods Walk on Rice in Selat, Bali	p. 169
Offering the New Rice to the Buddha in Mae Chaem, Northern Thailand	p. 179
The Ghost Festival of Dan Sai, Loei Province, Thailand	p. 185
The Ma'Bua' Pare Ceremony of the Sa'dan Toraja of Sulawesi, Indonesia	p. 201
Tro Tram Festival and the Veneration of Ngo Thi Thanh in a Vietnamese Village	p. 219
Of Mites and Men: The Shorei Festival at Mount Haguro, Japan	p. 241
The Goddess of Rice
The Goddess of Rice	p. 255
Box: Annapurna	p. 271
Ponniyamman, a Tamil Rice Goddess from South India	p. 273
Sri and Sedana at Pura Besakih, Bali	p. 277
Sacred Food
Sacred Food	p. 289
Lakshmi of the House: Rituals, Realities, and Representations of Womanhood in Modern Bengal	p. 309
The Art of Rice in Balinese Offerings	p. 321
Box: Sarad	p. 339
Sake in Japanese Art and Culture	p. 345
Photo-Essay: The Art of Sake	p. 352
Straw Matters
Straw Matters	p. 365
Rice, Self, and State
Rice, Self, and State	p. 375
Rice in the Human Life Cycle: Traditions from Tamil Nadu, India	p. 393
Wrapping the Body with Images of Rice: Kimono Patterns from the Edo Period	p. 409
Images of Rice in Imperial Chinese Culture	p. 421
The Future of Rice
The Future of Rice	p. 439
Let's Hope the Bile Is Good	p. 451
Mbok Sri Dethroned: Changing Rice Rituals in Rural East Java	p. 469
The Descent of Good Fortune and Material Wealth: A Contemporary Javanese Shadow Puppet Play	p. 489
Social and Agricultural Change in Korea's Rice Farming Communities	p. 497
Rice in South Korean Life: The Transformation of Agricultural Icons	p. 509
Notes to the Text	p. 526
References Cited	p. 531
Contributors	p. 539
Index	p. 541
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