Map adapted from Professor Osgood’s 1938 map of Kao Yao in Yunnan Province, China.

The items displayed in this exhibit were collected in 1938 from the village of Kao Yao, Yunnan Province, China, by Professor Cornelius Osgood, curator of anthropology at the Yale Peabody Museum from 1930 to 1973. Publications such as Osgood’s monograph Village Life in Old China, which describes many of the 215 objects in this collection, help us understand how artifacts in the Peabody’s collections were used in society.

Photograph of a young boy wearing a black satin hat. Taken by Professor Osgood in 1938. From Village Life in Old China, Cornelius Osgood, 1963.

Considered the most important family gathering of the year, the festival lasts for 15 days and includes many visits and ritual meals of rice and homemade dumplings that are shared with family and ancestors. Many ancient Chinese traditions are based on ancestor veneration. It is the duty of the eldest son (filial piety) to make sure that all these traditions are fulfilled, everything from proper burial to ceremonial offerings.