<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The <italic>Book of Origins</italic> (<italic>hnewo tepyy</italic>) is a major ritual text of the Nuosu, a subgroup of the official Yi (Yizu) ethnic group of southwest China. The narrative, existing in both written and oral variants, is part of a living tradition, especially among priests (<italic>bimo</italic>) and folk singers, in the Liangshan Yi autonomous region in Sichuan province and nearby Yunnan province. The epic narrates the creation of the sky, earth, and living creatures through the frame of genealogies. After an age of scorching heat, life is re-seeded on earth and a descendant of the snow tribes of flora and fauna finds a bride. Many generations later this union results in the marriage between an earthling and the Sky God’s daughter. The tropes of genealogy and migration intertwine in the storyworld as clans descended from the couple seek out an “ideal place” to settle and prosper in the local environment in a pattern that resonates with other epics from the southwest and the Southeast Asian Massif.</p>
</abstract>

The Book of Origins (hnewo tepyy) is a major ritual text of the Nuosu, a subgroup of the official Yi (Yizu) ethnic group of southwest China. The narrative, existing in both written and oral variants, is part of a living tradition, especially among priests (bimo) and folk singers, in the Liangshan Yi autonomous region in Sichuan province and nearby Yunnan province. The epic narrates the creation of the sky, earth, and living creatures through the frame of genealogies. After an age of scorching heat, life is re-seeded on earth and a descendant of the snow tribes of flora and fauna finds a bride. Many generations later this union results in the marriage between an earthling and the Sky God’s daughter. The tropes of genealogy and migration intertwine in the storyworld as clans descended from the couple seek out an “ideal place” to settle and prosper in the local environment in a pattern that resonates with other epics from the southwest and the Southeast Asian Massif.

Seeking an ‘Ideal Place’ in a Nuosu Origin Epic

Professor of Chinese Literature and Folklore, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Seeking an \u2018Ideal Place\u2019 in a Nuosu Origin Epic"}

The Book of Origins (hnewo tepyy) is a major ritual text of the Nuosu, a subgroup of the official Yi (Yizu) ethnic group of southwest China. The narrative,...

Seeking an ‘Ideal Place’ in a Nuosu Origin Epic

Publié en ligne: 14 juin 2023

Pages: 83 - 100

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0007

Mots clés
Nuosu, genealogy, migration, epic, Tibeto-Burman

© 2023 Mark Bender, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Seeking an ‘Ideal Place’ in a Nuosu Origin Epic

Publié en ligne: 14 juin 2023

Pages: 83 - 100

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2023-0007

Mots clésNuosu, genealogy, migration, epic, Tibeto-Burman

© 2023 Mark Bender, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Mots clés
Nuosu, genealogy, migration, epic, Tibeto-Burman