8 - Dangerous rituals

Summary

Mothers in Angang request divine protection at the altars of tang ki, ‘child diviners’. This activity, well known to children, and something in which they routinely participate, is part of the ongoing relationship between mother and child, one way of defending the cycle of yang, and perhaps a way of underlining its importance. As part of a potentially matrifocal sphere within popular religion, it might thus be seen, by extension, as opposed to other spheres of commitment in a child's life. At school, children are exhorted to ‘give up their body-persons’ for the nation, whilst in the village mothers are helped by tang ki to ‘protect the body-persons’ of these same children. But this formulation is misleading, based on a narrow understanding of how people in Angang conceive of religious protection, and on a restricted view of the range of identifications which children make. For in Angang to be protected by the gods is to make sacrifices, including physical sacrifices, and to be protected is to express identification with a community beyond the family.

In order to understand this, one must return to the question of divine power. As noted, this is sometimes seen to be produced by forms of collective worship. Deities, in turn, are explicit reflections of the various communities in which they reside. Accumulated incense, the residue of the ritual efforts of these communities, is of great potency. It is redistributed to symbolise the relationships between temples and homes in a region, and dispersed in charms which protect individuals. Gods have strength, but without human productive effort, they may diminish in power and literally end up on the scrap heap.