Sexual Culture in Maogusi
Section 3: Sexual Culture in Maogusi. Maogusi contains sexual expression—what we would today call sexual culture. Notably, in public the Maogusi costume includes a special prop: the male phallus, which is truly striking. Why include a phallus in the costume? Because man discovered his organ could serve a purpose.
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
Section 3: Sexual Culture in Maogusi
There are sexual expressions in Maogusi—that is, what is today called a certain sexual culture. Especially in public, the Maogusi costume is equipped with a special prop—the male organ—which is truly shocking.
Why is a male organ included in the Maogusi costume? Men discovered that their reproductive organ could actually be used as a weapon to create fear. This can truly be ranked alongside the use of fire and the invention of the rough stone axe as one of the most important discoveries of prehistoric times. To clarify this question, let us analyze this phallic culture. The author once conducted a survey on this issue among local people in Pojiao Township, where Maogusi is prevalent. Tian Zongtong, an 85-year-old man from Songlin Village, told the author: "Our ancestors long, long ago had no pants or clothes; they all went about stark naked (local dialect: completely nude). In performing Maogusi, the body is draped with thatch, which makes Maogusi look more like the original wild man. Adding a crude stick (i.e., the male organ) also makes the person look more lifelike." What Old Tian meant is that the Maogusi male organ is a more realistic reproduction of primitive humans, with no implication of worship in it (of course, objectively speaking, Tian Zongtong, like other Tujia elders, did not know what totem worship was).
What is totem worship? This is a question that ordinary people—even ordinary scholars—find difficult to answer clearly at once. It is an important term in cultural anthropology. Predecessors have conducted research on this question from many aspects and have also given it definitions. For example, the definition by the famous British anthropologist J. G. Frazer: "Totemism is a semi-social, semi-religious institution." Another British anthropologist, W. H. R. Rivers, defined totemism as: "The totem system is merely a form of social organization." π. E. Haytum, in his book "Totemism," gave a definition of totem worship: "We believe that totemism is the only form of primitive social religion; it is merely one of the component parts of primitive religion. Coexisting with totemism are the concepts of natural force personification, animism, fetishism, and witchcraft; relative to totemism, they occupy a secondary position and have been tinged with the color of totemism." π. E. Haytum's definition of totemism is relatively to the point. π. E. Haytum also explained some of the components of totemism in the same book. He said: "Many research results show that totemism includes the following aspects: 1. Belief that the group originated from the totem or from ancestors united with the totem; 2. Possession of a common group totem name; 3. Members of the totem group believe they have blood kinship with the totem, and therefore revere the totem, completely or partially prohibiting harm to the totem object; 4. Belief that members of the totem group can transform into the totem or that the totem can transform into humans; 5. Prohibition of marriage between members of the same totem group; 6. Members of the totem group must jointly hold important ceremonies related to the totem (fertility rites and initiation rites)."
From this, when we examine the Maogusi of the Tujia people—whether from the accounts of the Tujia elders who perform Maogusi, or from the definition and components of totem worship—the male organ of the Tujia Maogusi absolutely shows no sign of sexual worship. Because: the Maogusi male organ is not expressed as a primitive religious form, nor is it a component part of primitive social religion. Moreover, measured against the six components of totem worship, not a single one of them matches the standards of totem worship for the Maogusi male organ. Some people have casually defined the Maogusi "male organ" as sexual worship and have even painstakingly argued for it, and have even attached the sexual worship of other ethnic groups to the Tujia Maogusi. This is an extremely unserious manifestation. At most, as π. E. Haytum said, it is witchcraft coexisting with totem worship, and at most it has been tinged with a bit of totem worship color.
The public display of the male organ is likewise found among other ethnic groups in China. For example, among the Lhoba people at the foot of the Himalayas, every spring during the Molang Festival, led by shamans, festival participants parade through every village. When passing through fields, young people hold up huge bamboo-made male genitalia, singing and dancing fertility dances while celebrating the arrival of spring.
The same phenomenon also exists among other peoples in the world. In Nagoya, Japan, there is also a culture of displaying the male genitalia. Every spring on the birthday of Guanyin Bodhisattva, a grand parade is held. Before the parade, people make a very large and highly lifelike model of the male genitalia. Then during the parade, men carry the huge male genitalia, with dozens of men shouldering it or a cart pulling it, parading and displaying it on the main streets. Women hold thick phalluses, singing, dancing, and calling out as they take to the streets to pray for a bountiful year.
There are similar phenomena elsewhere. In the holy city of Benares, India, on the banks of the Ganges, when spring comes and flowers bloom, whenever the sun rises in the east, it is the time for purification rites. "There is nothing in the world more sacred than the water of the Ganges, more able to wash away filth. Men, women, and children vie to descend to the riverside, drawing sacred water to cleanse all impurities. They draw water with a copper vessel and pour it over their heads and chests, while women surround them, holding garlands of jasmine and carnations, sprinkling water on them, so that the Ganges is almost entirely covered with flowers." "The Brahmin priests stand high on the platform, offering to the crowd the sacred root of the lingam." After bathing, many naked youths carry the deity's image, and devout men and women, holding the deity's reproductive organ in one hand and a metal male genital in the other, walk around the temple. Dancing girls sway their waists and hips, dancing as they go. "The Brahmin priests keep raising the large silver phallus adorned with precious gems toward the worshippers; devout believers kiss it one after another and sprinkle it with the sacred water of the Ganges. Women, with hysterical twisting movements, embrace that great instrument, madly kiss it, and offer flowers."
But whether these phenomena are sexual worship, the author has not yet conducted in-depth research. One thing, however, is certain: these phenomena, like the Tujia Maogusi, are a kind of sexual culture, and people are also shaken by this sexual culture. But the sexual culture (male organ) of other ethnic groups and countries exists separately from the human body, whereas the male organ of the Tujia Maogusi is still attached to the man's body—this is an essential difference. Some Tujia Maogusi male organs are twisted from rice straw; the Maogusi of Shuangfeng Village in Yongshun County is of this type. The specific method is: use straw to twist a straw stick one chi and two cun long and less than one cun in diameter, with a thicker top shaped like a glans, and also dye it with red color (formerly using local red earth, now using red ink or other red pigment) to achieve a lifelike degree, then tie it with straw rope in front of the crotch. Maogusi elsewhere simply use fir sticks or yangfu wood (commonly known as beizi wood), because these two woods have low specific gravity, making them easy for the Maogusi performers to carry. The size and length are the same as the straw-made male organ, and the way and position of carrying are also the same. The Maogusi being equipped with a male organ is not merely ornamental; in actual Maogusi performances, it has certain performance content. Sometimes it is used to perform the action of "beating dew" (because the Tujia people mostly live in high mountains and dense forests, with rugged roads and weeds growing thick on both sides; when going out in the morning, beating dew is the first basic procedure); it also performs actions such as "thrusting the male" and "displaying the male" to express masculine virility. At the end of the performance, women in the audience are specially invited to come up and touch it. Women touched by the Maogusi male organ are also very willing to accept this "blessing," because any woman touched by the Maogusi male organ will in that year be favored by lucky stars and have blessings fill her household. Therefore, when Maogusi performs these actions, the women in the audience do not avoid them, but rather have the intention of actively accepting them.