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(cont.)
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| The sour Baccaurea ramiflorais one of the Li's favourite wild fruits. |
Plants not only feed the Li people, but also safeguard
their health. In almost every village, there are at least one
or two herbalists to serve the community. They are not
professional medical practitioners and will provide medical
consultation only by appointment, carrying out farm work
with other villagers on normal days. There are no specified
charges for the consultation, but when the villager recovers,
the herbalist will usually be given a chicken and one or
two catties of wine as a token of gratitude. Herbalists
were once shamans who used to cure villagers with the
aid of divination by chicken bones and worship, or with
witchcraft. Herbalists nowadays have cast off this traditional
practice, but tend to make great use of plants as prevention
and cure against diseases. According to our surveys, 400
plant species are widely used by herbalists, and the healing
effects are even gender-specific; male patients should be
treated with "female" plants and vice versa. For instance,
Pithecellobium clypearia and Pithecellobium lucidum
are considered masculine and feminine respectively, and
they are supposed to have similar healing properties and
appearance to one another. In addition, the Li people
have faith in another therapy, which involves consuming
a certain part of a plant that resembles the wounded
part of your body morphologically, to healing effect.
Thus, fingernail-shaped pinnules of the Maidenhair ferns
Adiantum fiabellulatum, A. soboliferum, A. caudatum and A. philippense are used to cure people with split
fingernails4.
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| One distinctive feature among
the Li tattooed women is that their face tattoo extends from both ears down to the chin in several pairs of triangular lines. |
Herbalists believe that "every creature, including plants,
has its own spirit." They will cast a certain spell requesting
herbs to accept their apologies before collecting them
back home for healing the sick, and the herbs will become
potent only after the spell is cast. In this sense, plants are
endowed with universal life force (like the Japanese reiki),
and play significant roles in the spiritual world of Li people.
They are also called "cultural plants," being closely linked
to ideology and spirituality. When people in the village
pass away, branches or leaves of Pluchea indica, Maesa perlaria (Indian Camphorweed), Amaranthus spinosus
(Spiny Amaranth), Solanum coagulans, the rattan Porana decora, Euphoria longana, Dimocarpus longana (Longan) or Litchi chinensis (Lychee) will be tied with a red rope
on the front door of both their home and grain stores to
keep ghosts away and keep villagers and their families safe.
Li people also believe Wild Boar and other animals have
souls, which can be captured by certain plants. Whoever
plants them will be able to capture the Wild Boar, and the
availability of such plants can be beneficial for hunting.
Reverence towards the enigmatic function of these plants
has made Li people tend and plant them around their
courtyards5. A total of six plants of this extraordinary nature
were found in the surveys, of which four - Codiaeum variegatum (Croton), Cordyline terminalis (Ti tree),
Synogonium podophyllum (White Butterfly) and Coleus pumilus (Dwarf Coleus) - are exotic and cultivated, and the remaining two - Ardisia gigantifolia and Ludisia discolor (Jewel Orchid) - are wild-growing. Questions like
"how and when were these cultivars introduced to the Li
Minority?" and "how do they sense that the plants are of
supernatural power?" are worth exploring.
Tattooing is a cultural relic of the matriarchal clan
communes established by the Li Minority. Tattoos are
unique works of art for the worship of nature, ancestors
and totems; they are long-standing symbols of coherence
and vitality1, although today only a few women retain
these traditional markings on their faces. Tattooing
requires simple tools like a rattan tree thorn, a wooden
rod and dyes. The thorn is of either Porana decora or
Daemonorops margaritae: more often the former. A
needle brush is traditionally used to remove thorns, but
bamboo sticks, wooden sticks or even chopsticks can
serve the same purpose. The dyes are extracts of Jatropha curcas and Baphicacanthus cusia for drawing and painting different patterns on the face.
The Li Minority have a deep-rooted and vibrant ethnic
culture, to which ethnobotany is integral. To elucidate and
cherish this fading traditional culture will need further
effort from other researchers, as well as concern and
engagement from other sectors of the community.
Acknowledgements
Our gratitude is expressed for the sponsorship granted by KFBG Studentships and the assistance from Hainan Forestry Department and its subdivisions.
References
- 王学萍，2004. 中国黎族. 北京：民族出版社，24－42.
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Gan BC, Yang XQ, 2006. Indigenous traditional medicine and utilization of plant by Li Nationality. Journal of Medicine & Pharmacy of Chinese Minorities. 2: 24－26.
- Pei SJ, 2002. Chinese ethnobotany, retrospect and prospect. The Chinese Academic Medical Magazine of Organisms. (31): 1－6.
- Zheng XL, Chen HF, Li RT, Xing FW, 2008. Medical ethnobotany of the Run Dialect People of Li Minority in Hainan. Acta Botanica Yunnanica 30(2): 195－210.
- 李露露，2003. 熱林雨林的開拓者——海南黎寨紀实. 昆明：云南人民出版社，34－44.
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