SYMBOLIC INTERPRETATION OF RITUAL ELEMENTS IN THE YIFAN FESTIVAL

บทคัดย่อ

The Yifan Festival is the most representative traditional ritual of the Mulao ethnic group, with a history tracing back to the Ming Dynasty over 500 years ago. As a nationally recognized intangible cultural heritage in China, the festival not only serves the functions of prayer, gratitude, and social cohesion but also plays a crucial role in the cultural inheritance and identity formation of the Mulao people. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of symbolic anthropology and symbolic interactionism, this study adopts a multi-method approach combining observr, and interviews with 24 participants including ritual masters and villagers, and participant observation during three full festival cycles.This research was conducted in Dawu and Sibazhen in Luocheng County, involving 3 ritual masters, 6 community elders, and 15 local participants.It focuses on the symbolic meanings embedded in core ritual elements such as the role of the shigong (ritual master), Nuo masks, deity paintings, ritual scriptures, and offerings. The findings reveal that the Yifan Festival establishes a spiritual connection between humans and ancestors, nature, and society through these richly symbolic material and immaterial elements. This process reflects and transmits the Mulao people's cosmology, belief systems, and cultural values. This paper aims to decode the symbolic cultural system embedded in the Yifan ritual and demonstrate its unique role in sustaining ethnic identity and safeguarding intangible heritage.