A Remodelled Childhood for the dead Shamanic Perceptions from Birth to Marriage in a Yi Funeral Manuscript (China)

Abstract

International audienceTe masters of psalmody, bimos, shamans from a Yi group of the Yunnan Province practice domestic and clan rituals in order to heal people, protect children, guarantee their community's fecundity and prosperity, or to ensure peace for their ancestors and to safeguard their posterity-every year they renew the alliance between villagers and their founding ancestors thanks to invocations and offerings. As exorcists and diviners, bimos organize rituals during which they travel through the cosmos and communicate with spirits. their cosmic odysseys are possible only through their chants based on books written in a particular writing, which is different from Chinese writing. this ritual and secret writing that they alone handle allows them to venture into the other world and to enter into contact with beings from 'beyond'. Although bimos are farmers like other inhabitants, they stand out clearly since they have a particular status. they are closer to the spirits and at the centre of the socialization process, intervening during the seasonal festivities of the villages where they live, and at each important event in life, especially at birth, marriage and death. the masters of psalmody have different kinds of books, reserved for the diverse rituals they may perform