A Study on the Relationship Between Dongba "Sacrifice to Heaven" Scriptures and the Traditional Descent System of Naxi Society
This article examines how the "Sacrifice to Heaven Scriptures" (祭天经书), a core text of Naxi Dongba religious culture, functioned to sustain and reinforce the strict patrilineal descent system of traditional Naxi society. Employing a gender-sociology framework, the author analyzes how deeply held notions of male-female distinction and male superiority shaped social division of labor and were institutionalized as unspoken cultural codes. Drawing on the translated "Complete Collection of Naxi Dongba Ancient Texts" (1999–2000), particularly the first volume's five sections on the heaven-sacrifice narrative (ancestral return, libations, offerings, and vows using cattle and chickens), the study shows how the scriptures invoke the sacred concepts of "Heaven" and "Earth" as a paired, heterosexual cosmological model—Heaven-deities as husband and wife, ancestors as couples—to naturalize gender complementarity while simultaneously encoding hierarchical roles. The paper argues these narrative and ritual regulations concerning gender relations served as ideological mechanisms legitimizing and perpetuating patrilineal succession in Naxi social and family life.
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