3.1 Material form: symbolic analysis of Miao painting images in Xiangxi
In the article entitled “Encounter Miao Painting,” Mr. Feng Jicai described that “the black background was painted with flowers, birds, and insects...the gorgeous birds and birds were decorated in pairs on the left and right, and the four corners were arranged with flowers and butterflies” [7]. Butterflies are a common and confusing image in Xiangxi Miao paintings. People from Miao Village passed down a story as follows: a long time ago, only one maple tree survived in the world. This stubborn tree of life experienced considerable torture from the sky and underground and transformed into all things. The maple tree’s heart became Miao’s ancestor Butterfly Mother. The eggs laid by the Butterfly Mother hatched out people and all things [8]. The common images of butterflies, maple trees, ridged birds, and deformed people in Miao paintings in Xiangxi tell the origin of the Miao nationality. Miao paintings are concrete manifestations of totem worship, ancestor worship, and nature worship.
The external factors, such as images, techniques, colors, and patterns, of Miao paintings form a living display of folk culture on the surface of their material and narrate the national spirit contained therein. As handmade products, Miao paintings pay attention to the response of heart and hands, and their value comes from hands and heart. The primitive Hmong people often attribute themselves to natural phenomena and external forces due to the limitation of their cognitive ability. Through the depiction of objects and the use of colors, people instantly merge the wisdom of their souls, the aesthetics of their craftsmanship, and their moral ideals into the paintings. In terms of the basic appearance and spatial presentation of material forms, the interlacing of lines and surfaces and straightness and curvature is a direct transcendence of the fatalism over the human life and death cycle. However, Miao paintings that have been drawn, shaped, and painted are imaginative narratives and symbolic recreations, and they are the pursuit of happiness and longevity. Patterns and decorations are the concrete contents of Miao paintings. Trees, pomegranates, fish, and butterflies are the basic element shapes of nature, and they are the codes of real objects. The cosmology and life outlook of the traditional Miao nationality religion has inspired the patterns and decorations. The ancestors of the Miao nationality used all things in nature as their basic elements and their rich imagination to depict various geometric patterns. This process is a reproduction of people’s dreams of growth and fertility. The Miao people in the primitive period had low productivity, and the size of their population determined the prosperity of the tribe. Under the dominance of the concept of “all things have anims” objects such as trees, peaches, pomegranates, and gourds have naturally become objects of worship. The craftsmanship and the images of Miao paintings symbolize the social and aesthetic ideals of the primitive Miao people through the imitation of the growth symbolized by natural objects, expressing their prayers for children, joy and auspiciousness, longevity, and great dream.
3.2 Cultural form: symbolic analysis of Miao paintings in Xiangxi
The collective memory, values, local knowledge, and social identity inherited by each unique cultural group and its traditions are all expressed through the construction of a symbolic system and imagery. Under the dominance of the concept of “all things have anims,” the natural attributes contained in the graphic symbols of Miao paintings are endowed with spirituality and divine power. The activated hidden historical and moral content become the cultural mission of Miao paintings. Although the Miao nationality does not have its script, the ancient Miao paintings, which originated in ancient sacrificial gods and flags, were born out of Miao embroidery, are rooted in Miao cultural symbols, and have assumed the role of cultural heritage [9-11]. Miao paintings are drawn from nature’s flowers, birds, insects, fish, mountains and rivers, clouds, sun, moon and stars, plants, bamboos, and vines. Given the unique natural environment of the Miao nationality in Xiangxi and the single inheritance method of Miao painting, the symbols of Miao paintings contain ancient information and primitive artistic characteristics. The mysterious totem worship and nature worship in traditional Miao folklore are embodied in Miao paintings, reflecting the inner feelings and spiritual world of the Miao people. This tradition also has profound cultural symbolic significance.
The folk oral narrative texts indicated that people, gods, and beasts shared the ancestor of the Miao society. All the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the mountains and the grass and trees, and even the human body are all alive. In the cycle of life and death for people and all things from generation to generation, people, gods, and beasts are all born equal. Land → plants → seeds → corpse → land is a chain of the life and death cycle. All things return to the land after they die, and then a new life grows that transforms into all things, as shown in figure 1. This life-and-death cycle, along with magical power of good fortune, shows the deepest spiritual core of the original Miao people and contains their tenacious outlook on life and primitive ecological ethics. Maple trees and butterflies are the mother bodies of all things and become the turning point of rebirth and metaplasia. The maple tree in the folk story came back from the dead and transformed into all things, becoming a material intermediary for the pursuit of transcendence. The generations of Miao ancestors’ respect for nature and their high regard for the ecology of the habitat reflect an impulse to transcend the cycle of life and death and a desire for “immortality.” The ancient Miao people’s concept of “all things have anims” integrates natural phenomena and objects into their lives and is a unique matrix born of their corresponding value system. At the social or historical level, given the fear of the Miao ancestors in primitive society to natural phenomena that they could not explain, they believed that nature is closely related to people’s lives. Thus, they attributed life to these natural phenomena and objects. They also believed that these unexplained events bless them with safety and fertility and consolidate the stability of their ethnic group. At the individual life level, Miao people rely on the spirituality of natural objects in the process of several births, deaths, or rebirths. Through the turning point of the rebirth of maple trees and butterflies, they express their spiritual belief of endless birth to reach people with the purpose of reproduction of all things and the rebirth of ethnic groups. At the material level, people use trees to build houses to avoid the cold and rocks to build tools and weapons. These materials are worshiped as gods and gifts during the use process. Table 1. shows the patterns and their meanings of Miao paintings in western Hunan.
Table 1 The implication of symbols in Miao paintings
Symbols in Miao paintings
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Implication
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Chi You
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The Miao people devoutly worship Chi You as their ancestor god and distant ancestor hero.
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butterfly
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Butterflies have many children, admonish the descendants of the Miao people to reproduce.
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maple
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Maple is the ancestral tree, and the sweetgum tree multiplied the first ancestor of mankind, and then there are descendants of the Miao people.
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ridge bird
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The ridged bird is slightly changed from the maple tree. After the mother butterfly lays twelve eggs, it is hardly hatched by the ridged bird for 12 years. There are many bird patterns in Miao's paintings, all of which are grateful and nostalgic for the birds.
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dragon
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The Miao people regard the dragon as a symbol of wealth and auspiciousness, and worship it as the god of fighting epidemics and reducing blessings.
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Sending a child map
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Generally, butterflies, phoenixes, horses, elephants, etc. are surrounded by patterns, and a child is held by a god or Buddha in the middle. It represents the Miao people’s emphasis on people and nature, close and harmonious coexistence, great unity and vitality, and also represents the Miao people. I hope to expand the development of the people and have many children and grandchildren.
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3.3 Social Form: Symbolic Analysis of the Function of Miao Paintings in Xiangxi
Miao paintings were originally used as a draft for Miao female members’ embroidery. The pattern was cut out and hinged and then pasted on the fabric to be embroidered for artistic creation. Finally, the “form” and “content” were all presented through superb skills. Miao painting is a kind of exquisite handicraft created by penetrating and embroidering on a black fabric, using ink as thread and pen instead of needle to draw the “real” world and amazing handicraft symbols. As far as the production is concerned, Miao paintings transform the initial actions of smearing, portraying, and stitching into proportions, symmetry, and colorful patterns and other aesthetic forms, which point to the aesthetic experience through the grasp of the initial human modeling ability. At present, it is a skill for humans to use their own body and a coordinated fusion of physical sensations and spiritual appreciation. It is also a process of aesthetic sublimation. It is a pursuit of the satisfaction of the senses and the poetic enjoyment of the soul. Subsequently, it becomes the achievement of the detachment of the present and the transcendence of the individual life, thereby attaining spiritual freedom. The beauty of craftsmanship is connected with daily life without being stuck in things. It rises from life to “life itself” and obtains the liberation of the soul [12-14].
The handicraft of Miao paintings shows their function from two aspects. Daily necessities, gifts, and collectibles are “obvious” categories, which reflect the “hidden” category of the Miao culture. Function may be a metaphysical thing, but it reflects the essence of the relationship between people and things. It reflects the most primitive form of convenience to people and the most advanced reflection of their lifestyle. Pure aesthetic consciousness cannot replace the following issues [15,16]. The first issue is the daily function of Miao paintings. They were originally drawn as items for daily use, and their function is to serve embroidery. Over time, their parasitic relationship with Miao embroidery has brought additional functions, such as distinguishing clans and branches and determining marriage groups. In the marriage customs of the Miao nationality, the principle of “not marrying in different attires” is followed. The compatriots of the Miao nationality can identify their own branches in accordance with the patterns, colors, and customary embroidery methods on the clothing and then determine their respective marriage groups in accordance with the branches. The embroidery attached to the clothes has become an important basis for them to identify marriage groups and open marriage. The aesthetic functions, gift functions, and collection functions are also explored. The aesthetic functions include factors that are external to daily use functions, such as whether the shape is beautiful, whether the pattern is delicate, and whether the color matching is harmonious and elegant. With the passage of time, the daily functions of Miao paintings in Xiangxi have been marginalized, and the additional functions have become increasingly prominent. As mentioned earlier, the current Miao paintings are often used as gifts and exhibitions for the Miao people in Xiangxi. Malinowski argued that “all cultural elements, if our views are correct, must be active, functioning, and effective” [17, 18]. Liu Zongyue also pointed out that “the beauty of craftsmanship that is most closely integrated with the use of appliances is the most complete. If the beauty overcomes the practicality, it means giving up the people”. The daily function of Miao paintings is the highest morality of objects. It cannot be separated from human practice activities. As a unique handicraft of the Miao people, its use value is in a “frozen” state. It is a kind of handicraft that condenses the ancient wisdom and the spiritual connotation of the nation. Thus, it has become a museum collection or a personal collection. In the repeated sales, the higher the value of Miao paintings, the farther away they are from the symbolic value endowed by their history and the contexts of daily life and aesthetics.