Ethnobotanical study on ritual plants used by Hani people in Yunnan, China

BACKGROUND

The Hani people, who reside in Yuanyang County, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, rely on rice terrace farming as their primary livelihood. They utilize plants in various traditional ritual practices. The Hani people have categorized the value of plants based on their natural attributes and have refined the ways of using different plants in specific rituals through practical observations and experiences derived from their agricultural culture. Although the plants used in these rituals hold significant cultural value, they have yet to be studied from the perspective of ethnobotany. This study aims to approach the ritual plants using ethnobotanical methods.

METHODS

Ethnobotanical fieldwork was conducted in 10 villages in Yuanyang County between 2021 and 2023. Data were collected from the local Hani people through semi-structured interviews and participatory observations and 41 informants were interviewed during the field investigations. The frequency of citation (FC) and relative frequency of citation (RFC) were utilized to evaluate the relative importance of ritual plants among the local communities.

RESULTS

A total of 36 plant species, belonging to 18 families and 34 genera, were recorded as being used in 11 ritual practices by the Hani people. Rosaceae, Poaceae, and Fabaceae were found to have the highest number of species. Most of the ritual plants used by the Hani people were collected from the wild. FC and RFC analysis showed that the preferred plants for Hani rituals were Rhus chinensis Mill, Oryza sativa L., Phyllostachys sulphurea (Carr.) A. et C. Riv. and Musa basjoo Siebold & Zucc. ex Iinuma. The 11 rituals are all centered around the performance of people, crops and livestock. The Hani people use plants in different rituals mainly based on their biological attributes.

CONCLUSIONS

Many rituals of the Hani people are closely related to their production and livelihood, and the plants used in these rituals are deeply rooted in Hani's traditional ecological knowledge and beliefs. The Hani people's reverence for nature, respect for life, gratitude towards ancestors, and seeking blessings and disaster prevention for their families, crops, and livestock are all reflected in these rituals and their utilization of ritual plants. The Hani people showcase their agricultural culture in the Honghe Hani Rice Terraces through plant-based ritual performances. Studying ritual plants in the core area of the Hani Rice Terraces is of great significance for protecting the Hani Terrace farming culture. In the future, it is essential to pay more attention to the role of traditional knowledge in biodiversity conservation.

What's in a name? Revisiting medicinal and religious plants at an Amazonian market

BACKGROUND

In spite of an increasing number of ethnobotanical market surveys in the past decades, few studies compare changes in plant species trade over time. The open-air market Ver-o-Peso (VOP) in Belém, located near the mouth of the Amazon River in the state of Pará, Brazil, is known for its wide variety of medicinal plants. A survey of VOP was published in 1984, but it remains unknown to what extent its botanical composition changed over 34 years. Furthermore, in northern Brazil, little attention has been given to the origins of the vernacular names of these plants. Our aim is to give an up-to-date overview of the VOP medicinal plant market, concentrating on changes in species composition and vernacular names over time.

METHODS

We collected medicinal plants and vernacular names at VOP in August 2018. We identified most plants at the Museo Paraense Emilio Goeldi Herbarium, where we also deposited vouchers and specimen labels. We compared our species composition data to the 1984 inventory by Van den Berg. Furthermore, we investigated the etymologies of the vernacular plant names.

RESULTS

We recorded 155 plant specimens and 165 corresponding vernacular names, and collected 146 specimens from the medicinal and ritual stalls of VOP reporting 86 species formerly not recorded at this market. Vernacular names had mostly Portuguese roots, followed by Tupi and African ones. We found 30 species also documented in 1984, and vernacular names that overlapped between both surveys were used for the same botanical species or genus, indicating that vernacular names have changed little in the past decades. Lastly, we found 26 more introduced species sold at VOP compared to 1984.

CONCLUSIONS

Forest degradation and deforestation, prevalence of diseases, and methodological factors may play a role in the differences we found in our survey compared to 1984. Of the plants that did overlap between the two surveys, vernacular names of these plants were hardly different. Lastly, the lingual origins of the vernacular names in our survey and the origins of the plant species reflect the history of the intricate syncretism of medicinal plant practices of indigenous, Afro-Brazilian and European origins in Belém.

"It may also have prevented churchgoers from falling asleep": southernwood, Artemisia abrotanum L. (fam. Asteraceae), in the church bouquet, and its contemporary presence as a heritage plant in Sweden

INTRODUCTION

Southernwood, Artemisia abrotanum L., is a plant that has been cultivated for centuries. Most probable is that it has its origin in the eastern Mediterranean area. It has been kept for its fragrance and has a history of being a medicinal and insect-repellent plant. In earlier centuries, the plant was commonly found in peasants' gardens in Sweden and utilised especially as a component in the bouquets brought to church by women. The aim of this article is to bring together data about Artemisia abrotanum and to summarise its cultural history and folk botanical importance. In Sweden, it is still grown in some gardens in the countryside and is esteemed for its fragrance.

METHODS

In the early twentieth century, various folklore archives in Sweden (Lund, Uppsala) distributed questionnaires about the use of church bouquets. These records provided interesting information about the importance of southernwood and other species. We have also used data found in ethnographic records and local historical reports. Between 2007 and 2017, a nationwide inventory organised by the Programme for Diversity of Cultivated Plants (POM) documented and gathered several heirloom varieties of southernwood.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Together with a few other domestic plants of foreign origin (e.g. Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Tanacetum balsamita L., and Tanacetum vulgare L.), Artemisia abrotanum has been cultivated throughout Sweden in peasants' gardens as a medicinal plant and for its fragrance. According to the sources, Artemisia abrotanum was one of the most common species cultivated by the Swedish peasantry. Although used in folk medicine and to some extent as a repellent, it was most esteemed for its fragrance. Peasant women would carry a twig of the plant in the obligatory church bouquet or in the hymnal when attending the services in the Lutheran church on Sundays. In Sweden, this custom with the church bouquet has been known since the time of the Reformation in the sixteenth century and survived until the late nineteenth century, when major changes took place in connection with industrialisation, modernisation, secularisation and urbanisation. Although the custom with the church bouquet disappeared, nationwide inventories conducted by the Programme for Diversity of Cultivated Plants in 2007-2015 revealed that the plant still exists in many gardens on the countryside throughout Sweden as a cultural relict and reminiscence plants. People care for the plant, have sentiments for it and it is spread from person-to-person. Several heirloom varieties have been discovered, which will be preserved ex situ for the future.

CONCLUSIONS

Southernwood was probably the most commonly used herb in the peasant women's church bouquet until the end of the nineteenth century. It had a satisfying fragrance and was easy to grow. Although the custom has disappeared, the plant has survived until the present day in many gardens as a reminiscence of the custom of former times.

The implications of ritual practices and ritual plant uses on nature conservation: a case study among the Naxi in Yunnan Province, Southwest China

BACKGROUND

Conservation of biodiversity is primary important of today's critically vulnerable environment. Efficient conservation can be possible only with the long-term participation and understanding of the communities. Ritual beliefs of the indigenous people are one of the important tools to understand the local communities and aid the nature conservation. In this paper, we documented contemporary ritual practices and ritual plant uses among the Naxi people and discussed the importance of traditional knowledge on ritual practice in the conservation of plants in the mountains presenting a case study of the Dongba culture.

METHODS

This study was carried out from July in 2013 to July in 2014. To document and analyze the present state of the ritual plant used by the Naxi people we conducted an ethnobotanical survey. We interviewed local people including Dongba priests using the semi-structured questionnaire. During the field study, we participated in the local religious activities to witness the use of different plants in ritual activities of the Naxi people. We interviewed twenty-two key informants and eleven of them were male. All the specimens of documented species were collected and deposited at the herbarium of Kunming Institute of Botany.

RESULTS

The survey results revealed the Naxi people possessed sound knowledge of the traditional ritual plants and great diversity of plants used in many of Naxi rituals and festivals. From the survey, we documented 32 ritual plant species belonging to 24 genera of 17 families used in various ritual activities. The ritual plants were grouped into two categories, namely those burned as incense, and those used for decoration. The incense plants like Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata and Pistacia weinmanniifolia were probably promising natural aromatic resource. Plants of genus Quercus were the most frequently used species. The places for ritual activities were diverse, such as the incense burners inside and outside the house and sacred trees at the Baishuitai. Local people except the young generation had an abundant of traditional knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows the live ritual activities and the beliefs of the residents are keeping the plant diversity and the entire forest preserved as sacred mountains. Our study emphasizes traditional belief and an alternative view of conservation that is not led mainly by governmental policies, as local practices and ritual plants uses play as constant reminders to the Naxi on nature conservation. However, further research is recommended for in-depth understanding the role of traditional belief in biodiversity conservation.