Post 5: Thoughts on a Chinese Traditional Custom: Kowtowing
As I grew older, I had some new thoughts about the traditional Chinese custom of kowtow; these were things that I could hardly feel and understand when I was young.
Generally speaking, kowtows appear on two occasions: Spring Festival and ancestor worship. First of all, during the Spring Festival, young people who have not yet worked will kowtow to their grandparents to receive New Year’s red packets. After they have independent income, this annual ceremony will end. The kowtow here represents the young people’s respect for the elder and recognition of the most authoritative status in the family, and also expresses their gratitude for receiving the New Year’s money. Secondly, on Sacrifice Day and Tomb-sweeping Festival, people will also kneel down in front of the graves of their deceased ancestors to express their memory, respect, and recognition of their family status.
In the past, I did not pay too much attention to this kind of ritual, but simply followed it. However, after talking to my dad, he inspired me to think. He told me that behind this ritual is about maintaining traditional Chinese family bonds and ethical relationships. With the growing age, a person will become more and more respected in the family, and the worship of younger generations is an identification of his status. This recognition brings together all family members who bow to him and ensures that they will meet regularly throughout the year, thereby building hierarchical relationships and stickiness in the family. Without this habit, with the disappearance of authority, family members will lack a fixed stickiness, which will make the distance between each other farther.
This reminds me of Durkheim and Goffman, who both focus on how to make sense of rituals and construct modern society. Chronologically, Durkheim first put forward the idea of “cult of the individual” which suggests that in modern society people hold civil religiosity. This theory conveys each individual is unique and irreplaceable in the capitalist society, therefore they out to hold individual morality to achieve social coherence. Based on this framework, Erving Goffman expands that individuals are born with sacredness from society, hence every person should respect one another (through daily rituals) to show solidarity and form communities. For example, when people say “What’s up”, “Hi”, or even “Thank you”, on a utilitarian aspect they mean nothing, but people follow these rituals to maintain coherence.
Combining with my own case, each person has sacredness that grows more authoritative as they become older, and kowtowing is one of the most crucial elements of the daily rituals to demonstrate the hierarchical family status, thereby maintaining such relations and social coherence.
