Tujia Folk Beliefs and Culture: Nuo Deity Worship (Part 4)
The main repertoire of the 'Zhongdong' section is 'Gansheng Takes the Exam,' composed of linked episodes including 'Gansheng the Eighth Son,' 'The Ninth Son Who Slaughters Livestock,' 'The Fortune-Telling Young Lord,' 'The Monk of Jiuzhou,' 'Old Woman Wang Sells Wine,' 'The Vegetable-Picking Fairy,' and 'Niu Gao Sells Medicine.' This episodic format is highly flexible, adjustable in length, and suitable for all-night performances, with performers free to adapt according to...
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The main repertoire of the "Middle Cave" section is Gan Sheng Goes to the Examination, formed by linking together Gan Sheng the Eighth Son, Slaughtering the Sacrifice Ninth Son, The Fortune-Telling Young Lord, The Monk of the Nine Provinces, Old Woman Wang Sells Wine, The Vegetable-Picking Immortal Maiden, Niu Gao Sells Medicine, and so on. This kind of play made of linked episodes is very flexible, able to be long or short, suitable for performance through the whole night, and the performers can entirely cut or lengthen the plot according to time. The whole story tells of everything that happens on the way to the capital for the imperial examination to a scholar named Wang Gan, accompanied by his book-carrying servant Qin Tong. Qin Tong is an ugly clown with a bald head, crooked mouth, and hunched back; his odd-toned speech often makes people laugh. The scholar Wang Gan often strikes the clown Qin Tong's bald head with a pig's bladder, which is also funny. These performances are coarse and popular, almost farcical, but still not without a certain simplicity.
What is performed in the "Lower Cave" are all plays for driving out evil and beating ghosts, including General Opening the Mountain, Erlang Guards the House, Zhong Kui Teases the Judge, and so on.
Besides the three caves' main plays, there are also some Nuo hall plays often performed at the same time as the main plays, which also have the nature of main plays and possess even greater artistic charm. The Tujia call them the Later Twelve Plays, such as An An Delivers Rice, Liu Yi Delivers a Letter, Dong Yong Sells Himself, and Meng Jiangnu Sends Winter Clothes. The "Lady Pang," "Dragon Girl," "Seventh Fairy," and "Meng Jiangnu" in these four plays are called the "Four Women of the Nuo Altar." The four plays all tell love stories of joys and sorrows, partings and reunions.
The Nuo hall theater of Dejiang, Guizhou, divides the three caves' plays into full-hall plays and half-hall plays. A full-hall play has twenty-four scenes, and a half-hall play has twelve scenes. Some items inserted into the main plays are called inserted plays, and when inserted plays are placed after the main plays they are called later plays. The repertoire of the upper half-hall plays includes: Old Woman Tang, General Golden Horn, Emperor Guan Sheng, the Fierce General Zhou Cang, The Earth God Who Leads Troops, The First Master Who Escorts Troops, The Fierce General Who Opens the Mountain, The Monk of the Nine Provinces, The Daoist of the Ten Provinces, Liu Yi Delivers a Letter, The General Who Opens the Road, and Hooking the Vow at Immortal Peak. The repertoire of the lower half-hall plays includes: Qin Tong Carries the Load, Lady Wang Sees Him Off, Gan Sheng Goes to the Examination, General Yang Si, The Earth God of Liangshan, Li Long the Divine King, the City God Bodhisattva, the Lingguan Bodhisattva, The Diviner of King Wen, The Maid, General Cai Yang, and the Hooking Register Judge. In addition, there are inserted plays or later plays: Meeting at the Ancient City, The Hegemon Seizes the Vanguard, Yang Si Slays Ghosts, The Three Stars Rebel, The Eight Immortals Stir Up the Sea, Liu Hai Teases the Toad, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Cleaving the Mountain to Save the Mother, and Cursing at the Slope and Returning to the Kiln. In general, myths and legends, folk tales, and historical romances all became material for Nuo hall plays.
Whether a full-hall play or a half-hall play is performed is generally decided according to the specific circumstances and economic conditions of the household head. For a child's recovery from illness and fulfillment of a vow, or for a birthday vow for someone under sixty, generally only a half-hall play is performed, said to be for fear of shortening life. A half-hall play uses twelve masks. For an "auspicious vow," for fulfilling a Nuo vow at the year's end, and for a birthday vow for someone over sixty, a full-hall play must be performed, using twenty-four masks.
When the Nuo play ends, a ceremony thanking the gods and thanking the masters is held. Then the host family gives a lavish feast to the Tujia ritual masters and others who performed the Nuo rites. After eating and drinking, firecrackers are also set off to see them off. The Tujia masters cup their hands in farewell to express their thanks.
V. The Influence of Nuo Deity Worship on Tujia Culture
Nuo and Nuo deity worship spread into Tujia areas, absorbed factors from Tujia culture in many aspects, and transformed and developed into a cultural form suited to the needs of the Tujia people, thereby surviving and being transmitted. At the same time, Nuo also exerted influence on Tujia culture in many aspects.
First, it had a relatively great influence on Tujia craft culture, adding to the Tujia a new craft variety — the Nuo mask. Nuo masks were originally worn for performing Nuo plays, but the simple, ancient, wondrous, strange, and colorful Nuo masks are themselves also handicrafts of great appreciation value, containing rich cultural connotations and aesthetic taste.
Nuo masks are generally carved by the presiding Tujia master, so the Tujia master not only had to be able to sing and dance, but also had to possess considerable artistic ability. The Nuo masks carved by many Tujia masters are often extremely vivid. The number of masks is an important marker for measuring the status of a Tujia master in Nuo activities. Because many Nuo masks not only mean that the Tujia master's craftsmanship is high, but also indicate that the Tujia master has invited many gods and can perform many Nuo plays. In this way, the prestige of the Tujia master and the Nuo altar (Nuo troupe) he leads is high.
Each mask in Nuo hall theater represents a role and contains a legendary story, rich in mythological color and imagination. For example, the two Nuo masks representing Miss Pioneer and the Fierce General Who Opens the Mountain contain a tortuous story. Miss Pioneer is a young woman surnamed Cui, named Liangyu. The Fierce General Who Opens the Mountain is named Cui Hong. The two are brother and sister, separated in childhood. After the brother grew up, he went to Erlong Mountain and became a bandit king. After the sister grew up, she went to Taoyuan to study the Dao and passed by Erlong Mountain. The Earth Grandfather and Earth Grandmother told her: "Before Erlong Mountain the bandits are wild; young lady, be especially careful." And they gave her a demon-slaying sword and an immortal-binding rope. Holding the two ritual tools, the young lady came to Erlong Mountain and indeed met Cui Hong and the other bandits. After several fierce battles, the young lady finally captured Cui Hong, and after questioning him learned that he was originally her own brother. Brother and sister, separated for many years, were finally reunited. Nuo masks are mostly carved from white poplar and willow wood, with a small number made of bound bamboo. The forms of the masks are painted and carved according to clues provided by the chant-and-recitation texts and descriptions in relevant character legends. Different colors respectively indicate such traits as loyalty, uprightness, fierceness, martial valor, arrogance, and beauty, and the deformation of facial features is used to highlight their character traits. For example, thickening the eyebrows and making them rise, deepening the eye sockets, protruding the eyeballs, and adding horns on the head are used to display a mighty and strange character. This exaggerated, deformed, romantic, colorful, and terrifying imagery makes one feel a mysterious power and a fierce beauty, as well as a primitive, innocent, and simple beauty. These rough and vigorous carvings embody a fearless, primitive religious feeling, concept, and ideal that is difficult to express in conceptual language.
Second, Nuo deity worship also had a certain influence on Tujia festival culture. In its long course of development, Central Plains Nuo activities gradually permeated festival customs and at one time became an important part of certain festivals. For example, the Spring Festival incorporated Nuo activities. The Lülan Commentary says: "On the day of the year's end, beating drums to drive away pestilence ghosts is called expelling, also called wooden Nuo." The Wulin Jiu Shi also says: "In the palace, the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month is Lesser Festival Eve, and the thirtieth day is Great Festival Eve; girl children are presented to drive out Nuo, dressed as the Six Ding, Six Jia, Six Spirits, and the like..." This custom of performing Nuo activities during the Spring Festival also spread into Tujia areas. Among the Tujia, there is also the custom of performing Nuo activities at the year's end. The Daoguang fourth year (1824) Fenghuang Ting Zhi records: "As for seasonal prayers and sacrifices, their names are not uniform. Slaughtering animals and inviting shamans, performing all kinds of plays and dances, is called 'fulfilling the Nuo vow.' Sacrificing to the Three Marquises is called 'fulfilling the great vow.'" The Guangxu twentieth year (1894) Qianjiang Xian Zhi records: "In the year, sometimes an altar is set up. At the Jade Emperor Pavilion there are several days of fasting and sacrifice; the civil and military officials go to the altar to offer incense and pray for the people's blessing. Common households then use male shamans, with flowered crowns and red skirts, swaying and leaping, with cymbal songs all night without rest. Sometimes two or three people, sometimes ten or more. Their teachings are divided into upper altar, lower altar, and dry dragon boat. Their vows have such names as shan tai, shang dao, and da tai bao, collectively called 'dancing the gods,' also called 'bringing down the gods.'" The Guangxu thirty-third year (1907) Guzhang Ping Ting Zhi records: "In winter in Guzhang Ping Ting city and market towns, people fulfill Nuo vows, inviting shamans to repay the gods; this is also the meaning of thanksgiving sacrifice." The 1965 mimeographed edition of Sinan Fu Xu Zhi from the Guizhou Provincial Library says: "Winter Nuo is also sometimes held; all are the lingering meaning of the ancient Fangxiangshi's driving out of pestilence."
Third, Nuo deity worship also had a certain influence on Tujia shamanic culture, marriage and funeral customs, and folk literature and art. These are all obvious facts, and some chapters of this book also discuss them slightly, so they will not be repeated here.