A Study of the Names of Maogusi (Part Two)
Exploring the Origins of Differences in the Tujia-language Names of Maogusi. Why do the Tujia-language names of Maogusi show such diversity? On the one hand, the various Tujia mountain villages of western Hunan were separated by great mountains, making transport highly inconvenient. Gu Cai of the Qing dynasty, in his Rongmei Jiyou, gave a vivid and apt description of transport in the Tujia areas of western Hunan and Hubei: "Heading gradually southwest, one travels without..."
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Exploring the Origins of Differences in the Tujia-Language Appellations of Maogusi
Why do the Tujia-language appellations of Maogusi possess such diversity?
On the one hand, because the various Tujia mountain villages in Xiangxi are separated by great mountains and transportation is very inconvenient, Gu Cai of the Qing Dynasty gave a vivid and apt description of transportation in the Tujia areas of western Hunan and Hubei in his Rongmei Jiyou: "Gradually heading southwest, there is no great road for travel, only narrow mountain paths, overgrown with tangled weeds, with wind-swept peaks interlocking; the road bears many tiger tracks, households are sparse, and as one goes deeper into the mountains, the path becomes narrower still, with jagged rocks and cascading waterfalls rushing down, the water so cold it pierces the bones; ahead lie perilous cliffs rising steeply a hundred ren, where one must grasp vines and clutch creepers to climb up in succession." Gu Cai, courtesy name Tianshi, style name Jinzhai, alternate style name Menghe Jushi, was a native of Jinkui, Wuxi, Jiangsu. His father, Gu Chen, was a juren in the twelfth year of the Chongzhen reign. Gu Cai was clever in youth and possessed extraordinary talent. In the forty-third year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1704), at the warm invitation of Tian Shunnian, the Rongmei tusi, he made a journey to Rongmei. Gu Cai's passage describing the roads of the Wuling mountain area is no less vivid than Li Bai's "The Road to Shu Is Hard." Because of the difficulty of the roads, the Tujia areas were relatively closed off. Against the backdrop of the broader Tujia culture, it is understandable that some minor details would differ. The Tujia people of Xiangxi have a saying: "A li apart, a different sky; a li apart, different customs." This means that between Tujia mountain villages, as long as they are one li apart (not entirely literal; it means they are very close), there are different weather conditions and different customs. Even within the same village, customs may differ. For example, Laotian Village in Longtou Town, Longshan County, was called Laotian Creek before Liberation and was divided into Upper and Lower Villages. There was no obvious boundary between the Upper and Lower Villages of Laotian Creek; the residential areas of surnames served as the distinguishing markers. The Upper Village was mainly inhabited by the Tian and Xiang surnames, while the Lower Village was mainly inhabited by the Jia and Peng surnames. The Maogusi of the Tian and Xiang surnames in the Upper Village was called "Bapa" or "Bapagechi," while the Maogusi of the Peng and Jia surnames in the Lower Village was called "Kuqikabu." The Upper and Lower Villages each had their own Baishou Hall. The Upper Village's Baishou Hall was at Wangjia Xifu Fort, and the Lower Village's Baishou Hall was at Sakulie (a Tujia-language place name meaning "a very cold small hill fort"). During the first lunar month, neither the Upper nor Lower Village people would go to the other's Baishou Hall to dance the Baishou Dance or perform Maogusi. This is not to say there was any estrangement or grudge between the two villages; it was mainly due to differences in certain details of the Baishou Dance and Maogusi performance. As the elder Tian Xinyou of the Upper Village of Laotian Village said: "When the two villages play, some langchang (dialect: places, here meaning parts) are different in routine (different in routine means there are subtle differences in some places), and when done together they do not fit (do not keep time). So each can only play its own."
On the other hand, some Tujia mountain villages had different understandings of Maogusi, which also led to differences in appellation. Baixing Village in Dianfang Town, Longshan County, calls it "Shijie." The elder Tian Jingyin of Baixing Village said: "The main content of performing the Hairy Man (that is, Maogusi) is 'Shijie (hunting).' People here all like 'Shijie' now." It seems the Tujia people here have a special fondness for "Shijie," so they have sufficient reason for calling Maogusi "Shijie." There are also Tujia-language appellations of Maogusi related to clan names (here clan name refers to family lineage). For example, Xiejia Village in Xihu Township, Longshan County, calls Maogusi "Saka," because the Tujia people of this place call their own family "Saka." On a Baishou stele from the fourth year of the Daoguang reign (1824 CE) preserved in the Longshan County Cultural Relics Management Office, there is clearly recorded the sentence "Our Saka three branches," which is strong proof. That is to say, Xiejia Village calls Maogusi "Saka," believing that the Maogusi performed represents family culture, so using one's own family appellation as the appellation for Maogusi is also reasonable. From another perspective, calling Maogusi "Saka" also highlights the family's own marker. In modern terms, "Saka" is a calling card of the Peng family of Xiejia Village.
Interpretation of the Tujia-Language Appellations of Maogusi
The cultural connotations of the Tujia-language appellations of Maogusi are rich. For convenience of research, we group the above 13 Tujia-language appellations of Maogusi into six major categories.
First category, female appellations: Bapa, Bapagechi, Bapani, Bapaha, Kuqikabu, Hecuoniga, etc. The meanings of this category are all related to women.
Second category, male appellations: Bapuka, Bapukari, etc. The meanings of this category are related to men.
Third category, phenomenon-type appellations: Chega, Songgachega, etc. The appellations of this category are related to Tujia-language phenomena.
Fourth category, clan-type appellations: this category has only one example, Saka. This type of appellation is related to the clan.
Fifth category, hunting-culture-type appellations: Shijie. This type of appellation is related to hunting culture.
Sixth category, entertainment-type appellations: Gushigechi. This type of appellation is related to entertainment.
Let us first interpret the first major category. In the Tujia language, "Bapa" is the general term for "woman." "Bapagechi" means in Chinese "women at play"; the Tujia word "gechi" means "play" in Chinese. "Bapani" means in Chinese "looking for women"; here the Tujia word "ni" means "to look for" in Chinese. "Hecuoniga": "hecuo" is the ancient Tujia term for "hunting wild beasts," and "niga" is Tujia, meaning female in Chinese. "Hecuoniga" means "the female who hunts wild beasts." This appellation is a specialized term, specifically referring to the Tujia Meichang deity. Because Meichang was originally a hunting hero among the Tujia ancestors, and later heroically sacrificed herself in hunting, she was revered by the Tujia people as the Meichang goddess. In "Kuqikabu," "kuqi" means "man-bear" in Chinese, and the Tujia word "kabu" means "maternal grandmother" in Chinese. The Tujia "Kuqikabu" means in Chinese "man-bear grandma (gapo, the Chinese dialect term for maternal grandmother in Tujia areas)." "Man-bear grandma" is very famous in Tujia-language areas; the story of "man-bear grandma" can be said to be known to every household. Why do the Tujia people call Maogusi "man-bear grandma" in the Tujia language? This is the Tujia ancestors' earliest and most simple understanding of humanity, and also a figurative appellation for Maogusi. Because Maogusi's attire is a kind of attire like a man-bear (one should say ape-man), at that time the Tujia ancestors had no profound understanding of ape-men and only knew the concept of the man-bear, so it is blameless for the Tujia people to call Maogusi "Kuqikabu." Therefore we can also call the first major category the female culture type of Maogusi.
Next let us interpret the second category. In the Tujia language, "Bapuka" means "elderly male" or "man." In Tujia, "Bapukari," one part "ri" means "to do" or "to play," and the whole means "to act the old grandpa" or "men's game." Here "do" and "play" are words with relatively similar meanings, carrying the sense of "dressing up" or "playing." We call the second category the male culture type of Maogusi.
Let us interpret the third category in Maogusi. First, what does "Chega" mean? In the Tujia language, "che" means "water" in Chinese, and the Tujia "ga" means the Chinese verb "to eat." Tujia grammar places the verb after the object; that is, what is a "verb-object" structure in Chinese becomes an "object-verb" structure in Tujia. So the Tujia "Chega," literally translated into Chinese, becomes "eat water." In the Chinese dialect of Tujia areas, in actual expression, "eat" and "drink" are often not distinguished. Today the Chinese dialect in Tujia areas calls "drinking water" "eating water." What does it mean to name Maogusi "eating water"? This is the Tujia ancestors taking the onomatopoeic sound "jijigugu" made when "eating water." This extends to the scene of primitive people speaking inarticulately at that time, which from a modern perspective is stuttering. The language expressed by Maogusi during performance is very inarticulate. This is not to say that the Tujia ancestors were stutterers from the beginning, but rather that all humanity in its infancy shared this common characteristic. At that time language had just emerged, and speaking was certainly not very fluent. The British anthropologist Tylor said: "For the early rude condition of man, a smaller and simpler set of sentences was sufficient, but later it became necessary to add more and more new terms to express new concepts, tools, occupations, tasks, and the relations acquired in a more organized society." The Tujia-language appellation "Chega" for Maogusi precisely accords with the linguistic characteristics of humanity in its infancy, and also accords with the image characteristics of Maogusi in primitive society. Now let us explain "Songgachega," which is a Tujia-language phrase. "Chega" has already been explained above, so what does the Tujia "Songga" mean in Chinese? The Tujia "Songga" means "pestle" in Chinese, here extended to mean "pounding with a pestle." How can pounding with a pestle be connected with Maogusi? This must be understood in connection with Maogusi's performance movements. When Maogusi performs, the performers appear with thatch grass bound to their bodies, knees bent and backs hunched, shoulders shaking and buttocks sinking, walking with a faltering gait, twisting their rough bodies. People in Tujia-language areas often use the Tujia word "Songga" (that is, in Chinese "like pounding with a pestle") to describe cripples and improper walking postures. The Chinese meaning of "Songgachega" is "pounding with a pestle and eating water." That is to say, "Songga" replicates Maogusi's walking posture, while "Chega" replicates Maogusi's linguistic state. The combination of the two depicts Maogusi's image very vividly. We call this type the language-phenomenon type.
Explanation of the fourth category, "Saka." The Chinese meaning of "Saka" is fir tree; this is only the appellation for Maogusi in Xiejia Village, Xihu Township, Longshan County. Because Xiejia Village in Xihu Township was then situated in a fir forest, where the fir trees were not only numerous but also very large—large enough to have a diameter of one meter. The Peng surname Tujia of Xiejia Village took pride in this and called their own family "Saka," and accordingly the Maogusi they performed was also called "Saka." We call this type the clan culture type.
Interpretation of the fifth category, "Shijie." The Chinese meaning of "Shijie" is "hunting." Strictly speaking, "Shijie" is only one scene in the entire Maogusi performance and cannot fully represent the name of Maogusi. However, "Shijie" is also the most important scene in Maogusi—in modern terms, the highlight. It also best represents the primitive economic and cultural type of the Tujia ancestors—fishing and hunting culture. It is also reasonable that some places use "Shijie" as the appellation for Maogusi. We call this type the hunting culture type.
Finally, an explanation of the sixth category, "Gushigechi." The Tujia word "gushi" cannot be equated with the Chinese word "gushi (story)." The Tujia "gushi," translated into Chinese, means "many and varied." "Gushigechi" means "playing many and varied games." This category can be called the entertainment culture type of the Tujia-language appellations of Maogusi.
From the above interpretations of the Tujia-language appellations of Maogusi, we have also come to understand from another angle the richness of the cultural connotations of Tujia Maogusi and the diversity of its cultural forms.