The art of rice : spirit and sustenance in Asia

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Bibliographic Information

The art of rice : spirit and sustenance in Asia

Roy W. Hamilton ; with contributions by Aurora Ammayao ... [et al.]

UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, c2003

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [531]-538) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

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 honour 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

  • Introduction Part 1 Labor, Ritual and the Cycle of Time Labor, Ritual and the Cycle of Time
  • Rice Festivals in Northeast Thailand
  • Body Art and Cyclic Time: Rice Dancing among the Tharu of Nepal
  • Rice Culture in Manipur, India
  • The Purification of Rice Fields in Java with an Apotropiac Plank
  • Rice Harvest Festivals in Vietnam Part 2 The Granary: A Home for the Rice Spirits The Granary: A Home for the Rice Spirits
  • The Granary of the Tharu of Nepal Part 3 Rice Festivals: Community and Celebrations Rice Festivals: Community and Celebrations
  • The Pahiyas of Lucban, Philippines
  • The Gods Walk on Rice in Selat, Bali
  • Offering the New Rice to the Buddha in Mae Chaem, Northern Thailand
  • The Ghost Festival of Dan Sai, Loei Province, Thailand
  • The Ma'Bua' Pare Ceremony of the Sa'dan Toraja of Sulawesi, Indonesia
  • Tho Tram Festival and the Veneration of Ngo Thi Thanh in a Vietnamese Village
  • Of Mites and Men: The Shorei Festival at Mount Haguro, Japan Nepal Part 4 The Goddess of Rice The Goddess of Rice
  • Ponniyamman, a Tamil Rice Goddess from South India
  • Sri and Sedana at Pura Besakih, Bali Part 5 Sacred Food Sacred Fod
  • Lakshmi of the House: Rituals, Realities and Representations of Womanhood in Modern Bengal
  • The Art of Rice in Balinese Offerings
  • Sake in Japanese Art and Culture Part 5 Straw Matters Straw Matters Part 6 Rice, Self and the State Rice, Self and the State
  • Rice in the Human Life Cycle: Traditions from Tamil Nadu, India
  • Wrapping the Body with Images of Rice: Kimono Patterns from Edo Period
  • Images of Rice in Imperial Chinese Culture Part 8 The Future of Rice The Future of Rice
  • Let's Hope the Bile is Good
  • Mbok Sri Dethroned: Changing Rice Rituals in Rural East Java
  • The Crescent of Good Fortune and Material Wealth: A Contemporary Javanese Shadow Puppet Play
  • Social and Agricultural Change in Korea's Rice Farming Communities
  • Rice in South Korean Life: The Transformation of Agricultural Icons

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