Tujia Folk Beliefs and Culture — Wizard Worship (Part 3)
IV. Wizard Worship and Tujia Culture. Wizard worship — that is, worship of the Tulaoshi — was passed down from the Ba people to the later Tujia and endured for two thousand years. It undoubtedly had many negative effects, but as a religious phenomenon it is inextricably linked to Tujia culture. Especially in past eras, when the Tujia had no written records of their own...
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 Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated.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.
IV. Wizard Worship and Tujia Culture
Wizard worship, that is, worship of the tu laoshi (Tujia ritual masters), was passed down from the Ba people to the later Tujia and continued for two thousand years. It undoubtedly had many negative effects, but as a religious phenomenon it is inextricably linked with Tujia culture. Especially in past ages, when the Tujia had no written records of their own ethnic cultural achievements, and the wizards were often the people who possessed the most knowledge of their ethnic group (though much of it was distorted knowledge), the task of transmitting the achievements of ethnic culture fell to them. It should be said that historically the tu laoshi played a positive role in transmitting Tujia culture.
1. The tu laoshi played an important role in transmitting the ethnic history of the Ba people and the Tujia. For example, the "Hand-Waving Song" that the tu laoshi sang when leading everyone in the hand-waving dance was originally a creation song passed down orally from generation to generation by the tu laoshi in the Tujia language, and the song preserves the history of the migration of the Tujia ancestors, as already discussed above. Another example is the ancestor-sacrifice song sung by the tu laoshi when dancing to the gods, which also preserves historical facts consistent with the recorded history of the origins of the Ba tribe in such classics as the "Shiben" and the Book of the Later Han. For example, the "Sacrifice to the Ancestors: Song of the Gods" sings:
Lin Jun and the Ji maiden were the goddess,
The goddess was strong and could not be violated.
They shot together and all sang in accord,
Why fight and make display of valor?
Struck by the arrow she fell, a hero among ghosts,
Her soul flew up, a spirit in heaven.
The goddess has passed away, yet heaven and earth remain,
The shaman sings the sacrifice to soothe the spirit.
This song not only contains the legend, historically true, of Lin Jun meeting the Salt Goddess and living with her, and later shooting her dead, but also raises doubts about the reason Lin Jun shot the Salt Maiden. Indeed, because the historical records are vague, the matter of Lin Jun shooting the Salt Maiden leaves one puzzled, and although many scholars explain it as a struggle of the patrilineal clan against the matrilineal clan, in the end there is a lack of convincing evidence. Therefore the doubt undoubtedly contains sympathy for the Salt Water Goddess, and the sacrificial song thus became a requiem sung for the Salt Water Goddess. The "Sacrifice to the Ancestors: Song of the Gods" also sings:
Heaven gave birth to people, earth gave birth to people,
The mother of our clan was the Salt Goddess.
On Mount Wuluo there are five children,
Ba Wuxiang is titled Lin Jun.
The many spirit mountains have their coming veins,
Descendants flourish from a beginning ancestor.
Singing the shaman's offering, sacrificing to their ancestor,
From ancient times it has flowed down to the present.
This sacrificial song contains the historical traces of how the five clans of Wuluo Zhongli Mountain pushed Lin Jun forward as their chief, how he lived together with the Saltwater Goddess, and how they multiplied their descendants. Related to these shaman songs are a great many myths and legends about the origin of the Ba people, and these myths and legends were often passed down through the mouths of shamans—the Tu Laoshi. In order to make the shaman songs reflecting the ethnic history understandable to the masses, the Tu Laoshi often relied on myths and legends to explain them, so that the unclear parts of the shaman songs received detailed explanation. The ancient history of the Tujia people was passed down in this way.
2. The Tu Laoshi are the creators and transmitters of many Tujia folk songs and dances. The Tujia Hand-Waving Dance was originally a dance for sacrificing to the gods, created by the Tu Laoshi in the course of sacrifice. In its later development, the Hand-Waving Dance gradually added elements of mass entertainment, but the content of sacrificial ritual still occupied a considerable proportion. The Hand-Waving Dance was mainly led by the Tu Laoshi, and its transmission from generation to generation was also realized through the form of shaman-led dancing. The Tujia Funeral Dance was also mainly a ritual dance held under the auspices of the Tu Laoshi; from lyrics to dance form, it was basically compiled by the Tu Laoshi according to the needs of mourning the dead and in combination with the history of the Ba ancestors, and its transmission and development were inseparable from the Tu Laoshi's contribution. The Funeral Dance has now been adapted into the Bashan Dance, which is full of ethnic characteristics. Without the Funeral Dance, there would be no Bashan Dance; in this sense, the Bashan Dance also contains a share of the Tu Laoshi's creation.
In addition, the Tujia Eight-Treasure Bronze Bell Dance is also a shaman dance created and transmitted by the Tu Laoshi, and today it has evolved into a dance with very strong ethnic characteristics.