A Funeral as a Festival: Celebrations of Life in the Mosuo Tribe in China

This article attempts to provoke a discussion concerning the definition and nature of festivals by considering the process of Mosuo funerals in Southwest China as a festival event. The role of women and men in daily life and within the funeral ceremony is discussed – the Mosuo is a matriarchal society – as are the vernacular architectural settings which have evolved for both ritual and everyday activities. The article looks at the religious perception of death in Mosuo culture, which considers funerals as celebrations of a life cycle including birth, growing up and death; through onsite observations, it documents the process of a Mosuo funeral in relation to its physical space. Even though, unlike most other festivals, funerals occur at unpredictable times, it is argued that for the Mosuo the funeral event is also a festival

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife: Volumes 1-4

More than just Cinderella and other fairy tales, folklore encompasses the whole realm of traditional beliefs and activities that define a culture. The most comprehensive work of its kind, this massive encyclopedia engagingly and authoritatively surveys folklife and traditions from around the world. Through its vast scope and lengthy entries, it transcends other references on particular national or regional folklores and is the most ambitious undertaking of its type. Organized in four volumes, the encyclopedia provides convenient access to information about folklore generally and to the traditions of particular regions. Along with the expertise of the contributors, of Volume Editor William M. Clements, and of Advisory Editor Thomas A. Green, the encyclopedia draws upon a distinguished board of internationally recognized scholars, including: Roger D. Abrahams, Cristina Bacchilega, Gillian Bennett, Mary Ellen Brown, James R. Dow, Alessandro Falassi, Barbro Klein, Peter Knecht, Natalie Kononenko, Frances M. Malpezzi, Margaret Mills, M. D. Muthukumaraswamy, Gerald Pocius, and John S. Ryan