A few days ago, during my summer vacation, I visited a relative in my hometown and was surprised to discover that over the past two years, she had become a well-known new witch in the village.
This relative is a distant cousin of mine, and her father was a local government official. After growing up, she married into a prosperous family in a nearby village. Although her husband is involved in business, it hasn't been going well in recent years.
I don't know how she became a witch. This year, when I visited her during my vacation, I learned that she had become a renowned mystic in the region.
Because we're relatives, she provided us with a free service. My parents' primary concern was my younger brother's marriage, as he's now forty years old and still single. My cousin used her algorithms to determine the right time, direction, and age for a suitable match for my brother. She also analyzed the feng shui (a traditional Chinese practice) of our home, suggesting what needed to be changed or removed. These conversations were all too familiar to me from my childhood, as I had heard them from various fortune tellers.
During our casual conversation, I learned that the most common questions people come to her with are about marriage, health, and their future destinies, with marriage being the most prevalent.
Marriage has become the most pressing and stressful issue in rural areas. Nowadays, young people are scarce, as most of them move to the cities to work. Those who get married usually have homes in the county towns for their children's education, and they rarely return to the village. In the countryside, you hardly see any young people. Furthermore, there's a severe gender imbalance, leaving many unmarried men in rural areas. The cost of marriage is rising. They should prepare a house in the county town, a house in the village, a car, and the bride price, all of which can amount to around six to seven hundred thousand yuan.
Faced with this marriage pressure, parents who are at a loss and young men who bear the burden of this pressure have no choice but to place their hopes on mysterious forces. My eldest sister has been visiting mystics and fortune tellers since my son turned twenty-one, and every year, the witch’s answer is always "next year." The designated future partner's direction keeps changing, but my sister still believes in their mystical predictions. Even though she's a devout Christian and a member of the church's choir, she doesn't believe that consulting mystics contradicts her faith.
In recent years, the poor economic situation has affected the rural economy and income, particularly inpacting families burdened with debt due to marriage. The economic uncertainty intensifies their desire for certainty, contributing to the resurge of mysterious folk religions in rural areas.
In the current religious landscape, Christianity does not have a competitive advantage over folk religions. Christianity categorizes the mysticism of folk religions as evil spirits and rejects them. Christian doctrine also lacks content about predicting the future, so it cannot provide the certainty that people under pressure seek, as folk religions can. However, due to the less-than-ideal economic situation, the charismatic movement has started to gain some traction.
The revival of the Pentecostal movement often aligns with the prosperity of folk religions. In the 1980s, there was significant economic pressure in rural areas, with eldercare, education, and illness becoming the three major challenges for rural families. During this period, the witchcraft market in rural areas thrived. In my childhood, a village of seven hundred people had seven or eight practitioners of folk religions. At the same time, the Pentecostal and longevity sects within Christianity were popular.
However, this situation may pose a challenge to Christians, who need to figure out how to use the doctrine to comfort and guide those in distress in this environment and help them feel that God is caring for them.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
前几天暑假回老家，到一个亲戚家串门，竟然发现，两年不见，她已经成为村子里远近闻名的新晋巫师了。
这个亲戚是我的一位远房表姐，他的父亲是县里的一个干部。长大之后，嫁到不远村子的一户殷实之家。她的丈夫虽然做生意，但是这几年生意并不好做。
她是怎样成为“神妈妈”的，我并不知道。今年，刚好我假期回老家，到了她家才知道她已经是一个远近闻名神婆了。
我们因为亲戚，所以免费为我们服务了一次。父母最关心是弟弟的婚事，今年四十岁了，尚且单身。表姐的算法是什么时间，什么方向，什么年龄的女孩比较适合。还有就是家里的风水，哪里需要更改的，哪里需要拆掉。其实这些话语讨论，我小时候几乎在每个算命大师那里都听过
在和她闲聊的过程中，得知现在来找她的人所问的事，排个序的话就是婚姻、身体和未来命运。其中婚姻比较集中。
关于婚事，这几乎成为农村当下最迫切和压力最大的事项。现在的农村，年轻人很少，能出去打工的基本都在城市打工。那些出嫁的一般在县城也有房子，为了孩子的教育，他们一般在县城居住，很少回家。农村基本看不到年轻人的身影。此外性别比例严重失衡，农村大量未婚男性的剩余。加上结婚成本日益升高，县城一套房子，农村一套房子，一辆车子，再加上彩礼，这些基本需要六七十万左右。
面对这种婚姻的压力，毫无头绪的父母以及承载婚姻压力的单身男青年，不得不把这种不确定的预期寄希望在神秘力量之上。我大姐从儿子二十一岁开始，每年都会去找神婆巫汉去算命，而每年的答案都是“明年”。所指定的未来对象的方位，也不断变换，但是大姐每年仍然会相信他们的神秘预言。尽管大姐是一位热心的基督徒，是教会秧歌队的一员。但是她并不认为自己去找神婆巫汉违背了自己的信仰。
近几年经济形式不好，对农村的经济和收入也有影响。尤其那些为了结婚而债台高筑的家庭，更是对未来没有确定感。这也加剧了他们对确定性的渴望。这种背景下，也许可以说明农村神秘的民间宗教回归现象。
在整个宗教市场的现状之下，基督教显然并没有优势与民间宗教竞争。因为基督教将民间宗教的神秘主义列为邪灵加以排斥。教义中又没有预言未来的内容。因此不能像民间宗教那样，为压力之下的人，提供确定的未来。但是经济形势的差强人意，却让基督教的灵恩派开始小范围的升起。
灵恩派的复兴与民间宗教的繁荣往往有极高的重合度。在八十年代前后，农村的经济压力很大，养老、教育和疾病成为农村家庭的三座大山，这个时候农村巫术市场很繁荣。在笔者小时候，七百人的村庄有着七八个民间宗教的从业人员。而与之相伴的则是基督教的灵恩派、长寿派的流行。
然而这种状态对于基督教来说，可能是一种挑战，他怎样在这种环境下，以自己的教义来安慰和带领那些困境中的人走出来，让他们感受到上帝对他们当下困境的回应。
对未来的不确定性使乡村神秘宗教复兴
A few days ago, during my summer vacation, I visited a relative in my hometown and was surprised to discover that over the past two years, she had become a well-known new witch in the village.
This relative is a distant cousin of mine, and her father was a local government official. After growing up, she married into a prosperous family in a nearby village. Although her husband is involved in business, it hasn't been going well in recent years.
I don't know how she became a witch. This year, when I visited her during my vacation, I learned that she had become a renowned mystic in the region.
Because we're relatives, she provided us with a free service. My parents' primary concern was my younger brother's marriage, as he's now forty years old and still single. My cousin used her algorithms to determine the right time, direction, and age for a suitable match for my brother. She also analyzed the feng shui (a traditional Chinese practice) of our home, suggesting what needed to be changed or removed. These conversations were all too familiar to me from my childhood, as I had heard them from various fortune tellers.
During our casual conversation, I learned that the most common questions people come to her with are about marriage, health, and their future destinies, with marriage being the most prevalent.
Marriage has become the most pressing and stressful issue in rural areas. Nowadays, young people are scarce, as most of them move to the cities to work. Those who get married usually have homes in the county towns for their children's education, and they rarely return to the village. In the countryside, you hardly see any young people. Furthermore, there's a severe gender imbalance, leaving many unmarried men in rural areas. The cost of marriage is rising. They should prepare a house in the county town, a house in the village, a car, and the bride price, all of which can amount to around six to seven hundred thousand yuan.
Faced with this marriage pressure, parents who are at a loss and young men who bear the burden of this pressure have no choice but to place their hopes on mysterious forces. My eldest sister has been visiting mystics and fortune tellers since my son turned twenty-one, and every year, the witch’s answer is always "next year." The designated future partner's direction keeps changing, but my sister still believes in their mystical predictions. Even though she's a devout Christian and a member of the church's choir, she doesn't believe that consulting mystics contradicts her faith.
In recent years, the poor economic situation has affected the rural economy and income, particularly inpacting families burdened with debt due to marriage. The economic uncertainty intensifies their desire for certainty, contributing to the resurge of mysterious folk religions in rural areas.
In the current religious landscape, Christianity does not have a competitive advantage over folk religions. Christianity categorizes the mysticism of folk religions as evil spirits and rejects them. Christian doctrine also lacks content about predicting the future, so it cannot provide the certainty that people under pressure seek, as folk religions can. However, due to the less-than-ideal economic situation, the charismatic movement has started to gain some traction.
The revival of the Pentecostal movement often aligns with the prosperity of folk religions. In the 1980s, there was significant economic pressure in rural areas, with eldercare, education, and illness becoming the three major challenges for rural families. During this period, the witchcraft market in rural areas thrived. In my childhood, a village of seven hundred people had seven or eight practitioners of folk religions. At the same time, the Pentecostal and longevity sects within Christianity were popular.
However, this situation may pose a challenge to Christians, who need to figure out how to use the doctrine to comfort and guide those in distress in this environment and help them feel that God is caring for them.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Uncertainty About Future Leads People to Rural Mystery Religions
