Kaixian folk witch dance - dancing Duangong

One of the remains of the dancing witch dance is a folk ritual with song and dance as the main symbol. As early as the Shang Dynasty, bashu worshipped witchcraft and heavy sacrifices were spectacular. In the worship of the gods, the witches' dancing gods and doing things are commonly known as "jumping end gong". "Duan Gong", the name of the old witch. "Qianshu Shu Xiang, Hubei, Qian, Gui, etc. also have this name (see Religious Dictionary, p. 1115). Duangong's altar celebration activities are mainly based on witches dressing up gods, singing gods and dancing gods. They have no fixed venue for activities, no classic scriptures, only handwritten spells and singing books of Divine Songs that have been passed down from generation to generation. They do not do things for the dead, but only for the living to record prayers and exorcise evil spirits, so they are different from Buddhism and Taoism.

The dance movements of "Dancing Duangong" are primitive and simple, with more than a hundred kinds of hand tips, which retain the fertility worship, totem worship and ancestor worship of the ancient era, mostly in the hieroglyphic hand style. The ritual procedures of the Jumping Duan Gong," "Hanging the Elephant on the Altar", "Inviting the Sacred at the Opening of the Altar", "Welcoming the Hundred Gods", and "Sending the Gods to the Garden Altar", are very similar to the procedures of the Chu Ci "Nine Songs". Dancing Duangong's mask dances such as exorcism, exorcism, plague sweeping, soul summoning, and retreating from killing are very close to the dance. The "Old Eight Knives", "Fire Stick Firecrackers" and the "Dharma Staff Dance" in the Dongba Dancing Nerve Book of the Naxi ethnic group in Yunnan are basically the same, and the "Dapeng Golden-winged Bird" (Xi Dance) and the "Dapeng Golden-winged Bird" in their scriptures are exactly the same, and no one in "Dongba" can dance. The divination tool used by the Duangongs is the seven-star bamboo root, which is cut in two. Duan Gong recited the words in his mouth, threw them together and threw them on the ground, and divined them according to their pitch changes. This is a very primitive divination method, called 醮布, Kaixian is commonly known as Da gua, and it is said that it originated from the system of "Li Pi Dowry" in the Fuxi era.

One

Kai County is located in the southern foothills of Daba Mountain, in the northeast of Chongqing City, bordering Wanzhou, Yunyang, Wuxi, Chengkou and Xuanhan and Kaijiang in Sichuan Province. Historically, these places were once the places where the Ba people worked and lived, according to the "Huayang Guozhi Ba Zhi": "King Wu of Zhou, the master of Shide Bashu, the brave and sharp of the Bashi, the song and dance to Ling Yin people, the Yin people turned against each other." Therefore, the world is called, 'The King of Wu cuts the silk, before the song and after the dance' also. "The Ba people are invincible in battle. In our county, the group of Yujiaba people on the banks of the Pengxi River in Qukou Town is nearly 2. 50,000 square meters. It is one of the three most important groups of Ba people in the Three Gorges Reservoir area. The Ba people created an ancient civilization here. The witchcraft style of the Ba culture of "still witches, heavy obscenity" has been passed down from generation to generation and has become the traditional customs and beliefs of local residents.

In the old days, in Kaizhou, for twelve months a year, folk sacrifices were held one after another. On the first day of the first lunar month, the ancestors are worshipped, and the chicken paintings are pasted on the third day of the first month, and the interpolation is next to it, and a hundred ghosts are afraid of it. The five-charm official hat worn on Duan Gong's head is composed of five gods and a cockscomb and phoenix tail, and they say that this hat descends ghosts. Looking forward to the day, the god of the sacrificial door sends the poor, and the legend of Shangyuan is the birthday of the Jade Emperor, the lantern party. On the fifteenth day of the February Society, the 15th is the Laojun Society, and it is said that Li Tan was born in the spring of eighty-one in his mother's womb on the fifteenth of February, and every year on the fifteenth day of February, he had to concentrate on the sacrifice. February 19th Guanyin Festival, Guanyin in the folk three times a year, February 19 is the birthday, June 19 into the immortal, September 19 lotus platform. Then there is the cold food Qingming, the eighth day of April is the buddha's birthday, the folk have the method of marrying caterpillars, after paying homage to the Buddha in the morning, the self-painting paper is said "Buddha was born on April 8, the caterpillar married today, married to the mountains, never return home", each house posted a sheet, the legend that the caterpillar does not dare to enter. "Sending plague gods": Cucumbers are listed to send the plague god Lü Yue to Yangzhou, known as "he plague". May 5 is the Middle Heaven festival, and it is also the earth wax, and there are more sacrifices. The Ba people believe that after the death of Liu Jun, the soul turned into a white tiger, so they used "human sacrifice", and now when the jumping Duan gong in Kaixian county exorcised evil spirits, he also used a knife to cut through his own heavenly gate, cut his middle finger, and sprinkled blood everywhere, and during the Dragon Boat Festival, he cut a leaf into the shape of a tiger and wore it on his head, which is said to be able to avoid evil, and there are several kinds of tricks used by Duan Gong to drive away evil spirits and demons, "Yang Hungry Tiger" and "Yin Hungry Tiger", which show the worship of the tiger, which may all come from the historical origin of the original customs of the Ba people. The Zhongyuan Festival honors the ancestors to burn paper money bags, give orphans, and send some money to the lonely soul wild ghosts. Mid-Autumn Festival, September and ten days and nine emperors will be held, Chongyang drink chrysanthemum wine to prevent plague and eliminate disasters, comb your hair 1,200 times at night of the winter solstice to praise Yang Qi, called the Immortal Hair Washing Method. The Layue Festival of the Hundred Gods, from the third day of the first lunar month began to sacrifice activities, the Chronicle of the Prefecture of Chuzhou records: "The drums of Wax are sounding, the spring grass is born, the villagers tie thin waist drums, and wear bearded false Vajra Lux to drive away the epidemic." This is the scene of the "altar celebration" activity described. This time is the busiest time for Duangong, the folk altar, the garden altar, the altar, the wish, all during this time, combined with the slaughter of the pig, because the pig is an indispensable sacrifice, Chinese New Year's Eve to send the god, to receive the ancestors, with the town hall general two people to pretend to be the door god, but also to receive the stove god back. At dawn, when the incense candle is out of the house to offer sacrifices in the direction of the god of joy, it is said that the travel sacrifice is a good year. The prevalence of the above-mentioned witchcraft style promoted the development of Duangong dance. Dancing Duangong is based on the original sacrifices, witch dances and witchcraft of the Ba people, accompanied by myths, legends and folklore.

The Ba people have a particularly strong belief in primitive gods. According to legend, these gods manage the heavens, the earth, and the people, and sacrifice them in the hope that they can drive away and destroy the "epidemic ghosts" in heaven, on the earth, and on earth, hoping that the people of Guotai will be safe, the wind and rain will be smooth, and the harvest will be abundant every year. This shows that people love life and pursue the hope of peace and happiness.

When Duan Gong sang and played the gods he worshipped, and performed ancient myths and legends and heroic stories, he turned the altar field into a theater, and the worship of the gods played an entertaining role. For thousands of years, they have been passed down from generation to generation among the lower classes of the people, especially among the peasants, and have secretly played a dominant role in society and people's beliefs and philosophies. "Divine Song": "Forget that the sky does not rain, forget that the grass does not grow in the ground, forget that your parents were struck by lightning, and forget that the Master's Law is not working." Father and son are undefeated in harmony with the family, brothers are inseparable from the family, and the kingdom is righteous and the world is at peace. Don't be upset about people, open the door in the middle of the night without being alarmed, poor and worried to be rich, where there is a long-term poor and rich family. The plan of the year lies in the spring, the plan of the day lies in the morning, and the plan of life lies in the diligence..." The Duangong dance has a strong folk color and a primitive and primitive atmosphere, which has been passed down to this day, and the traces of this dancing dance can still be seen in the remote mountainous areas of Kaixian County.

Two

The "altar of celebration" is an extremely popular ritual in Kaixian county, and it has been handed down from generation to generation by Duangong. This kind of activity has one day and one night, three days and three nights, and seven days and seven nights. Qing Xianfeng's "Kaixian Chronicle" said: "Kaizhou customs are heavy field gods, spring is carved wood piety, winter is used to fight animals, evil witches beat drums, thinking that it is a floating ceremony, men and women sing "Bamboo Branch Song". This not only illustrates the prevalence of witchcraft at that time, but also vividly describes the time, place, form, content and lively scenes of the altar.

The origin of the "altar god" is circulated in Duangong: in ancient times, there were two surnames of Zhao and Hou living by the wall. The Zhao family planted a nest of melons under the wall, and the melon vine climbed along the wall to the Hou family and formed a large melon in the Hou family courtyard. When the melon was ripe, the Zhao and Hou families started a lawsuit over the melon, and it was later decided that the melon would be cut in half. When the melon was cut, unexpectedly, the melon was a white and fat baby boy. The two families were very surprised, and they were willing to jointly carefully nurse this strangely born "Guawa", and named "Zhao Hou" after the surnames of Zhao and Hou. Little Zhao Hou is clever and clever, and his wisdom is extraordinary. After growing up, he went to Maoshan mountain to learn the law and martial arts under Lao Junmen, specializing in altar guns. He was very good at marksmanship and was deeply loved by Lao Jun, so he made him a marshal of the general army.

According to another wushu book collected by Duangong of Kaixian County, after Zhao Hou completed his studies at Lao Jun, he was instigated by his brother Luo Gong and Wu Tong, and rebelled, and even led a million troops to rebel, intending to seize the world in one fell swoop. The Heavenly Court was furious, and the Jade Emperor immediately sent Zhenjun and Erlang to surrender the rebels. A fierce battle ensued between the two sides in Liangzhou City, and the three Fazu were finally defeated because they could not defeat the magic power of the Heavenly Gods. In the midst of the escape, they hurriedly burrowed into the nest in the corner of a farmhouse, and the true king surrendered them on the spot. After enlightenment, Zhao Hou, Luo Gong, and Wu Tong stayed in the human world and became altar gods guarding the peasant family.

Duangong practitioners are individual laborers or peasants under the natural economic conditions of the countryside, as they sing in the song and dance of the gods, "They will plant fields and plant seedlings, and they will pick salt to sell pulp (wine)..." They usually walk alone in the countryside and alleys. When doing this kind of "ritual" for three days and seven days, they are freely combined, and they find people who can sing, drum, and dance together, almost all of them are brothers and sisters, and the master is in charge of the altar. The altar master commands everything, except for very important rituals, such as "opening the altar", "stepping on Kyushu", "stepping on the gang step", etc., and "sealing the altar", generally does not go to the altar, and only serves as a drum master.

When they carried all kinds of heads: magic instruments, masks, clothing boxes, gongs and drum instruments, before they reached the house of the sacrificial lord, they began to sound three horns (horns) nearby, which they said were praying to the land of the party, and they came. It is also an advertisement to tell people nearby that there is going to be a jump here! Come and see! Each of the duangong has a delicate horn, and some of the small horns also have a small dragon head or tiger head on this side. The horn does not have a finger hole to play the scale, can only emit a few natural sounds, in the long blowing of high-pitched and sharp pronunciation, can show the power of the might, is the Duangong sacrifice to séance the gods and exorcism of the indispensable magic weapon. The horn of the beast is a trumpet used in ancient armies, which was used to give orders and exalt the mighty in battle fronts, and as early as the time of Emperor Wu of Zhou, there was a description of "singing horn to collect troops". When Du Fu, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, lived in the Three Gorges, he wrote in the poem "Ge Ye": "The sound of the five drums and horns is tragic and majestic, and the shadow of the Three Gorges Galaxy is shaken." ”

After arriving at the main home of the "Qingtan", the first thing is to arrange the altar field, which is generally set up in the hall house, and the duangong hangs a colored door (a kind of silk or cloth tent separated by the middle); hangs the idol of the god (called "zheng case" and "xing case"),buys incense wax money paper and other supplies, writes texts, official notes, draws records, and makes sharp guns and divine flags. The sharpshooter is a small bamboo stick about three feet long, wrapped in red and white paper strips, and then cut into thin strips of paper with red and white paper and wrapped into three bunches of paper flowers on the stick, Duan Gong said that these three bunches of flowers represent the three cave kings, and these three gods manage the population, manage the farm, and manage the six animals. The divine flag is made of multicolored paper, with lingqi, shuaiqi and bagua flag (cut bagua), as well as a number of small pennant flags, representing the soldiers and horses of the gods and immortals in each cave.

There are banners hanging on both sides of the color gate, and the banners are very long and generally dragged to the ground, which reads "Riding the Lan Snake Seat Dongchuan and Baojia Road Xinglong, stepping on the wheel to shake the Western Shu Diji people Jian Jun'an." The banner is also lined with dragon edges, phoenix edges, chicken crown edges, and lace. In front of the shrine of the "Heaven and Earth Emperor and Master" in the hall house, hang the "General True Picture" (the main case), on which are painted many gods such as Shakya, Confucius, Arctic Ziwei Emperor, Li Laojun, Zhongtian Star Lord, Nandou Six Stars, Big Dipper Seven Stars, Yuan Shi Tianzun, Saving Suffering Tianzun and Chuanchun Divine Beings. On the left side of the shrine (three o'clock in the afternoon), hang the "Xingshen Diagram" (Xingxing Case), on which there are Lei Gong, Electric Mother, Wind Bo, Rain Master, Heavenly Immortal, Earth Immortal, Narcissus, twelve palace gods (Twelve Lotus Sisters), land, etc. There are tables in front of both the "main case" and the "case", on which are placed various offerings, as well as wood-carved mages, gods, and masks (wear or hold the gods to jump when jumping). There are also various ritual instruments, horns, rows (this is the graduation certificate of duangong xueyi), master knives, tokens, swords, gua, water bowls, and a woodcut "altar turning bodhisattva", also known as the five rampant gods, who bless them with peace and security while doing "rituals". On both sides of the god's table were two buckets filled with rice, and the handsome flag and the bagua flag were planted inside. To the left of the Xingshen Diagram (according to the directions of the upper south, lower north, left east, and right west, that is, the southeast corner), An has an altar bowl, which is beaten with stone, which is the seat of Luo Gong, which is lower than the Xingshen Diagram. Zhengdong offered their master's tablets, and although there were dozens of them in one offering, although there were only thirty schools of worship in the hundred schools, there were only thirty schools, namely, "Tao, Xuan, Tong, Virtue, Jing, Zun, Chang, Shou, Tai, Qing, Yi, Yang, Lai, Buddha, Ben, He, Teaching, Yong, Yuan, Ming, Wisdom, Li, Loyalty, Sincerity, Faith, Redness, Height, Weight, Dharma, and Xing." Since the late Qing Dynasty, it has been a School of French characters for generations.

There was a mat in front of God's table, and this mat was the place where they danced. The princes said, "When you go up to the mat, you become a god, and when you get off the mat, you become a man." "Because the singing god and the dancing god are fixed on the mat, there is not much formation scheduling.

The whole altar is arranged in a joyful manner, with incense wax lit up at the end, and the altar is full of smoke and is full of mysterious sorcery atmosphere.

"Beat the drums, open the altar and ask the saint." Duan Gong sitting on the right side of the shrine (except for the people on the altar, the rest are all bands, real multi-specialty and multi-functional), with the drummer standing, all stand up, known as the standing altar to open the drum, using large loudspeakers, drums, gongs, bowls, plates, flutes, erhu, pipes, sighs and other instruments. After three strokes, the main altar master went to the altar (from the southeast corner to the mat), and he wore a robe (black bagua clothes, white edges, bagua diagrams and taiji diagrams on the front and back, and there were gua yao on the sleeves and collars, and the sleeves were quite large, somewhat similar to pre-Qin costumes. After liberation, such a robe was extinct, and it was replaced by a floral cloth shirt). The feet wear gossip boots, and the inside of the robe is yellow shorts. Law enforcement instruments, horns, nine palace bagua (division knife), seven-star sword, and divination gua, then walked (three and a half steps) to the god's table. Yun Bai "Thunder orders one voice to move the gods, thunder makes two sounds alarm the earth gods, and thunder makes three ancestors beat horses, and it is coming soon." (Ray Ling is the token, slap it). Singing: "Wearing the five Buddha Yang official hats, wearing five-colored violet robes, wearing a Kyushu jade belt tied around his waist, wearing Bagua shoes on his feet, his body is full of neatness, and the disciples open the altar for an hour." Then "beat the official", "beat the Shen Xingwen", "Yingshi dismounted" (yingduan gong's ancestor), and then went to the well to "sacrifice water" and "ask for water", through divination contract three trigrams, sprinkling water to suppress the filth, holding spells, holding spells, pulling tips and other witchcraft actions to formally "open the altar", the opening of the altar is not only to pray to the gods here in the Tiancao Difu, but more importantly, the homes of the general "altar", "garden altar", and "altar" are all offered to the altar god, that is, the altar bowl on the southeast of the left side of the shrine, which was originally sealed when the altar was originally "celebrated". If it is locked, this time it must be opened, re-installed and gossipy, soldier meat (if it is the Meishan sect is to sacrifice a chicken head, this chicken head is installed on the shrine, three years not rotten, not smelly). Duan Gong attaches great importance to the opening of the altar.

The hundred gods were invited from heaven, underground, mountains, and the sea, and the altar was also opened, and then they began to sing and dance gods, and the gods were dressed as gods by Duan Gong, some wearing masks, some not wearing, in addition to singing the skills of various gods (what they were in charge of), it was generally the skills of each god singing his own. It is also necessary to clearly introduce one's "origins," "marriage and family situation," whether they have children, and what kind of gods they are, brothers and sisters. These gods and goddesses are based on single, double, and triple songs and dances. For example, "The Dance of the God who Opens the Way" (Old Eight Knives), "Stepping on the Cloth Trick" (Xinggang Budou), "Making Gun Weaving Mats" (Dapeng Golden-winged Bird), "Stepping on Kyushu" (Stepping on the Bagua) are all solo dances, "Sacrifice five rampant" (double stepping on the Gang), "Divine Gun Dance" (Dancing three cave kings) is a double song and dance, "Garden Full Sending Saint" (three people Hua Gang) is a three-person dance, only "Running City Wearing Flowers" is a collective dance, and even the people watching can participate in the team to run together. Handing over the gun, Za will calm the gods and send the gods perfectly. After three days of sacrifice, a total of thirty-nine "rituals" (songs and dances) were performed, and the altar was "moved" again and it was locked (spells), and the nine states of the world were also stepped on. Three days ago, the gods were brought to the human world, sacrificed to the gods, celebrated the gods, and entertained the gods, and now they are going to send the gods back to their immortal world, the gods and people are clinging to each other, the gods are dancing, they have stepped on the flower gang "Sending the Gods perfectly", people are also dancing, gods and gods are also separated, and people and gods are also separated. Finally, the God of Peace (Witchcraft Ritual). The three-day altar ceremony was over.

Three

"Jumping Duangong" originated from a distant primitive era, with strong traces of "Ba culture" and "Chu wu culture", has been passed down from generation to generation in the folk, worshiping gods and entertaining people. It is basically not mixed with local opera, and the singing, percussion, dance movements, and performance levels are different from local opera. Nor is it the same as the foreign dance due to the longevity of the years. Its dance moves are much the same, such as "Stepping on gang". The structure method is basically the same, every god must do the punching, kneeling, confessing four doors, kan four doors, building four doors, playing four doors, a set of actions east, south, west, north, and middle must be jumped once, the opening god is like this, the five gods are like this, the five rampant gods are also like this, and the land gods are still like this. An action can be used arbitrarily. Because it is fixed on the altar field to jump on the altar seat, in addition to walking in a circle according to the heavenly circle, changing the direction, A and B exchange positions, the scene scheduling is simple, almost all of them are singing and dancing in the same place. There is no organic connection between dance movements and lyrics, and it is still in the simulation stage of naturalism. For example, "Recipes (Gestures) We have sorted out nearly a hundred kinds, it seems that the moves have a basis for life, almost all of them are directly simulated birds and animals and various natural phenomena, some of the tricks are even directly simulated some parts of the human body, such as "Ancestral Tips", "A Pair of Prodigy Tips", "Hungry Tiger Tips", "Bundle Ghost Tips", "Nine Heavenly Genius Tricks", "Upper Cave Niangniang Tips", "Middle Cave Niangniang Tips", "Lower Cave Niangniang Tips", "Harmony Tips", "Hehuan Tips", etc. are the most hidden parts of the simulated human body, and Duan Gong has passed these down from generation to generation The "true recipes" have boundless "mana", and some of them must be passed on to the disciples only when the master is dying, which cannot but make us contact that the age of these "tips" is quite distant, and it can only be the product of the worship of female and male reproduction in the matrilineal clan society and the patrilineal clan society in human childhood. Different from Indian sign language and Buddhist mudra, Duangong's hand tips are also different from The Buddhist mudras, which are indigenous gestures of the Ba people, such as "Taiyin Tips", "Sun Tips", "Sun and Moon Two Light Tips", "Yin Hungry Tigers", "Yang Hungry Tigers", "Yin Nine Cows", "Yang Nine Cows", "Yin Five Thunders", "Yang Five Thunders", etc., full of traces of worship and totem worship of natural gods, which are interdependent with the earliest philosophical ideas of the mainland and the myths and customs of Bachu.

Dancing fire in the dancing end of the gong is another major feature, driving away evil spirits and warding off ghosts requires fire, breaking the array also needs fire, celebrating the gods and entertaining the gods wants fire, and sealing the altar also needs fire. Fire has brought happiness to mankind, fire has accelerated the process of civilized society, fire is a symbol of light and auspiciousness, and the ancestors worshiped fire. They danced with fire sticks, stepped on Kyushu with fire bowls, stepped on the red-hot wedges, and the fire balls at both ends of the fire sticks danced on the body, down, left and right, and the bamboo ping-ponged and exploded in the fire balls. Fu Zhi said: "Mountain fish prisoners are sick, the sound of firecrackers alone", which is also a reason for the fire dance.

Due to the different genres of Duangong, there are Meishan School, Fairy Sect, Laojun Sect, and different masters, so they also have their own advantages in dance styles.

The basic footwork of "Jumping Duan Gong" are "Yu Step", "Gang Step", "Convenient Step", and "One-Foot Jump". Techniques include car, spin, jump, turn, tendon bucket and various dance guns, dance bands, dance flags, dance mats, and dance bench movements. Their style is characterized by stability, sinking, straightness and circle. Stability is the action required to be steady, not fluttering, strong and powerful. Shen refers to the deep and simple feelings, rough and generous movements. It is directly emphasized that the upper body of the human body should be straight, not collapsing the waist and chest, no matter how low the upper body is, the chest should hold a straight posture, giving people a masculine beauty. The circle refers to the direction of the movement, the movement of the human body, and the change of the formation, all of which are trajectored by tai chi diagrams and "∞" characters. Dance music consists of two parts: percussion and singing. No dance when singing, no singing when dancing, sometimes combined with dance and singing. Accompaniment with percussion. These two parts of music are called "Duangong Gong and Drum" and "Divine Song" in Kaixian County, and in some places they are also called "Divine Gong and Drum" and "Divine Cavity". They are all traditional music of Duangong, although these different genres of music have their own characteristics, but in general, they are relatively primitive, simple and simple, and there is no strict standard for the level of tone, all depending on the mood of Duangong's method. Musical instruments include gongs, drums, horse gongs, bells, cymbals, cymbals, Sichuan drums and so on.

The Ba people believe in witches and ghosts, and the heavy ritual is the so-called "Fish Country Bayong Road, Night Drum Sacrifice God", "Drill turtles to get rain, go up the mountain to burn lying wood", "Shine out of the old jiao, firecrackers to scare the mountain ghosts". The scenes of worship in the Three Gorges area described by Tang and Song poets can still be seen in the remote mountainous areas and folk activities in our county. As the famous historian Mr. Zhai Bozan said in the "History of the Qin and Han Dynasties": "Culture is the ghost of history and the soul of society, it exists in the classics and in the lives of the people; he has his materiality and his spirituality... As for the spirit of culture, it cannot be destroyed by any violence in the world. "The ancient primitive art of Duangong Worship Song and Dance can be passed down from ancient times in Kaixian to the present, and its extremely rich cultural connotation and aesthetic value are worthy of our serious protection and study."

May 2006

Note: In May 2007, kaixian wu dance was approved by the Chongqing Municipal People's Government as the first batch of intangible cultural heritage in Chongqing.