Tujia Folk Beliefs and Culture — Nuo Deity Worship (Part 2)
The Guangxu-era Longshan County Gazetteer records: "When performing the great Nuo rite, images of the male and female Nuo deities are enshrined in the hall, offerings of livestock, food, and sweet wine are presented, and the shaman wears a paper mask to perform ancient tales like an actor in a play, then dons armor and wields an axe, passing through every room as if driving out evil, beating drums and striking gongs, dancing and singing, continuing for days." The 1934 Yanhe County Gazetteer states: "A one-day performance is called 'jumping the gods'; a three-day one..."
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 Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated.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.
The Qing Dynasty Guangxu edition of the Longshan County Gazetteer says: "In the great Nuo sacrifice, two images of the Nuo deities, male and female, are enshrined in the hall, with offerings of livestock, food, and sweet wine. The shaman wears a paper mask and performs the ancient stories, like an actor in a play, and further puts on armor and holds an axe, going through the rooms as if to drive something out, beating drums and sounding gongs, dancing and singing, and only stopping after a day or more." The Republic of China year 23 edition of the Yanhe County Gazetteer says: "One day of dancing is called 'dancing the gods'; three days is called 'beating the Great Protector'; five to seven days is called the great Nuo. Both city and countryside are accustomed to this practice."
The Qing Dynasty Tongzhi year 8 edition of the Baojing Gazetteer Draft Summary says: "Whenever repaying vows or pursuing souls, regardless of the four seasons, a day is chosen to invite a shaman and sacrifice to the Nuo deities. At the time of sacrifice, two images of the Nuo King, male and female, must be set up in the courtyard, with a full hall of painted scroll divine images arranged beside them. For great vows, a stage is built to perform Nuo deity plays."
The Qing Dynasty Guangxu year 6 edition of the Badong County Gazetteer says: "Customs favor prayer and excessive sacrifices. Whenever someone is ill, a shaman is invited to the home, divine images are hung beside the hall, no taboo is observed regarding meat or wine, drums and gongs clamor, feet dance and hands wave, and it ends only after the whole night, and this is taken as ordinary practice."
Nuo, which continued in the Central Plains for thousands of years and finally declined, at last found soil for survival and remained in the areas inhabited by the Tujia people in Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, and other remote regions. The shamanic culture of the Tujia people, centered on the Tu master, was especially suited to Nuo's survival. Once Nuo was introduced, it became part of the Tu master's shamanic activities. Moreover, Nuo's form of singing and dancing also gave the Tu master's shamanic activities a brilliant color and made them more widely loved, so they could survive and be transmitted over the long term. Of course, after Nuo combined with Tujia shamanic culture, various changes also occurred.
II. The Nuo Deities of the Tujia People
In the Nuo rituals of the Central Plains, there were originally no Nuo deities. The spirits sacrificed to in Nuo rituals were very broad, and the later the period, the more so this was the case. Virtually all popular folk deities could be included among those sacrificed to. The Nuo deities were spirits derived from Nuo ritual activities. So how were the Nuo deities derived from Nuo rituals? The author speculates that because the Nuo deities did not originate from worship of a specific physical image, the Nuo deities were originally not specialized deities, but should have been a general term for the spirits sacrificed to in Nuo ritual activities; that is to say, all the spirits involved in Nuo ritual activities could be called Nuo deities. Later, this general term was mistaken through misrepresentation for the name of some specific deity. In this way, people specially created Nuo deities, not only making statues for them, but also pairing them as husband-and-wife deities, called Nuo Gong and Nuo Mu. Among the host of deities sacrificed to in Nuo rituals, a pair of husband-and-wife deities was added. The Nuo deities were not the highest honored deities among the host of deities sacrificed to in Nuo rituals, but because they were the specialized deities of Nuo rituals, they were enshrined in the center of the Nuo altar.
When the Nuo deities first appeared cannot be verified, but they had already appeared at least by the Tang Dynasty. Li Zhuo's Record of the Seasons in Qinzhong, in describing folk Nuo dancing, already mentions Nuo Gong and Nuo Po. Ye Jie of the Song Dynasty, in Hailu Suishi, records: "On the day of the year's end, Nuo is presented, with two old people inside as Nuo Weng and Nuo Mu." The earliest Nuo Gong and Nuo Mu were played by two old people, and only later developed into wooden carved idols enshrined in the center of the Nuo altar.
After the replacement of native rule by centrally appointed officials, the Nuo deities were introduced along with Nuo rituals and Nuo plays into Tujia areas. After the Nuo deities were introduced into Tujia areas, they were further transformed and attached to various legends and stories. These legends explained the origin of the Nuo deities and demonstrated their efficacy. Some legends even merged Nuo Gong and Nuo Mu with the brother and sister Fuxi and Nüwa, and on this basis honored them as ancestor deities. Thus, among the Tujia people, because the Nuo deities were said to be deities with a long history, they became well-grounded orthodox deities and objects of reverent worship.
A Tujia legend from northeastern Guizhou says: Long ago, the mulberry tree grew as high as the sky. Sun Monkey climbed up the mulberry tree to the heavenly court and was discovered by the Jade Emperor. Afraid of punishment, Sun Monkey made up a lie, saying that the human world had suffered a great drought, the fields were cracked, plants and trees had withered, and the lives of people and livestock were in imminent danger. After hearing this, the Jade Emperor was very anxious and lifted up a golden basin and poured it down toward the lower world. With this pour, a great flood arose in the world. The floodwaters reached the sky, and just as they were about to submerge the Southern Heavenly Gate, the water was still rising. The Jade Emperor did not know why this was. Seeing a gourd in the rolling waves, he quickly ordered people to fish the gourd out. When it was opened, two people were crouching inside, namely the Nuo deity lord and the Nuo deity lady. They told the Jade Emperor about the flooding in the lower world. The Jade Emperor was both angry and hateful, and quickly sent Li Laogu down to the mortal world to control the waters. Li Laogu held the sea-stabilizing divine needle, and with one drill made a lake, with one drag made a river; in seven days and seven nights the waters receded.
The waters receded, but there were no people left on the earth. So the Jade Emperor again sent the Nuo deity lord and the Nuo deity lady back to the human world to multiply humankind. When they returned to the ground, they were unwilling to marry, saying, "How can brother and sister marry?" Grandpa Earth advised them for a long time, and finally Nuo Niang had no choice but to say, "Brother, if you light a stick of incense on each bank of the river, and the smoke can twist into one strand in the air above the middle of the river, then we will marry." The brother did as she said. The smoke indeed twisted into one strand above the river. But the sister again said, "That still does not count. If you plant willow branches on both banks of the river, and within two days the willow branches can reach the middle of the river and tie a knot, then we will talk again." The brother turned and went to plant the willow branches. The next day it happened just as the sister had said. Who would have thought the sister still did not agree, saying that the brother must go to the top of the eastern mountain, while she herself would go to the southern hilltop, and from both sides roll millstones down to the bottom of the ravine; if the millstones came together, then she would agree to marry. In the end, the two rolled the millstones, and when they went down to the bottom of the ravine to look, the two millstones had unexpectedly fit together perfectly. The brother and sister immediately blushed, lowered their heads shyly, and did not know what to do. Grandpa Earth laughed and said, "Congratulations, congratulations! You may marry." The brother and sister said, "We are ashamed before heaven." Grandpa Earth said, "Cover yourselves with a quilt." "We are ashamed before earth." "Spread a mat." "We are ashamed before our neighbors to left and right." "Hang a curtain." The Nuo lord said, "As the elder brother, I am ashamed." "Use a sieve to cover your face." Nuo Niang said, "As the younger sister, I am ashamed." "Put a head covering on your head." They had no words left, and so had no choice but to marry.
Ten months later, the Nuo Niang gave birth to a lump of flesh. Frightened and panicked, Nuo Niang looked on as Nuo Ye hastily chopped it into 120 pieces with a knife, mixed them with mud and sand, and threw them out. Before long, these pieces all turned into people. Some fell in the fields, and thus the surname Tian (field) came to be; some fell on peach trees, and thus the surname Tao (peach) came to be... and so there came to be human inhabitants. Nuo Ye and Nuo Niang were the ancestors of a thousand families and the parents of ten thousand people, and later generations honored them as Nuo Shen Ye and Nuo Shen Niangniang. In order to offer sacrifices to them and seek their blessings, people carved two wooden idols to be enshrined and worshipped during Nuo rituals. When descendants sought cures for illness, deliverance from disaster, the granting of children, or protection of peace and safety, they would pray to Nuo Shen Ye and Nuo Shen Niangniang. Each time they prayed to their ancestral Nuo Ye and Nuo Niang, they had to give thanks to them, and thus came the ritual activities of thanking the gods and entertaining the gods, which the Tujia people call "Chong Nuo Huan Yuan" (Exorcism and Vow-Fulfillment).
This legend links the Nuo gods with the Fuxi siblings of the flood myth, making the Nuo gods the remote ancestral deities worshipped by the Tujia people, thereby granting them orthodox status. The legend also connects the Nuo gods with Tujia marriage customs, thus giving them more distinctive Tujia ethnic characteristics and leading people to believe that the Nuo gods are the indigenous deities of the Tujia people themselves.
The Tujia people of Dejiang County, Guizhou, call Nuo Ye "Dongshan Shenggong" (Holy Lord of the Eastern Mountain) and Nuo Niang "Nanshan Shengmu" (Holy Mother of the Southern Mountain). The local Tujia people also link the Nuo gods with the flood myth and have fabricated a story about the origin of the Nuo gods and the re-creation of humanity, but it differs greatly from the legend above. According to the legend, in the beginning, the sky was always murky and was not as high as it is now. One day, a small bird with golden feathers flew over and circled a Tujia girl who was doing embroidery, crying incessantly: "Better to plant gourds than to embroider! Better to plant gourds than to embroider!" The girl heard it but paid no attention, still bowing her head and embroidering her own dowry. But the bird kept circling her and crying without stopping. Feeling it strange, the girl raised her head and asked the bird: "Are your words true? Can you help me find a seed?" The bird nodded, spread its wings, and flew into the clouds. Before long, it came back carrying a golden seed in its beak, dropped it on the girl's apron, called out once more "Better to plant gourds than to embroider," flapped its wings, and flew away.
The girl felt this was very strange, so she planted the gourd seed in the back garden. When she looked the next morning, a gourd sprout had already grown. Two more days passed, and it began to put out vines and tendrils. On the fifth day, it bloomed. On the seventh day, it had formed a yellow gourd as big as a small granary. The girl was both delighted and amazed, and hurriedly called her brother over to see. Her brother dropped his work and came with his sister to the big gourd, and there was a door open in the middle of the gourd. Just then, the heavens suddenly sent down a torrential rainstorm, and the brother and sister hurried into the gourd to take shelter. The rain poured down without stopping. The next day, the flood submerged the houses. The gourd floated on the water, and the two siblings hid inside it, drifting with the great flood. On the seventh day, the rain stopped, and when the brother and sister looked outside, the whole world had been submerged by the flood, and the waves were almost touching the very top of the sky. The siblings were so anxious that they quickly cried out for help. Hearing their cries, the heavenly immortals hurriedly made the waters recede. When the brother and sister returned to the ground and saw that everything had drowned, they wept bitterly. That night, the brother and sister had the same dream, in which the heavenly immortals urged them to marry and continue the human race. When day broke, the brother spoke of the dream, and the sister secretly felt it strange, but she refused. After her brother spoke of it many times, the sister had no way out and said: "Even the gods would not approve of such a shameless thing. If you can light a stick of incense on each bank of the river, and the smoke twists into a single strand in the middle of the river, then we'll talk." The brother did as she said. The smoke indeed twisted into a single strand in the middle of the river. But the sister said again: "That still doesn't count. If you plant willow branches on both banks, and within two days the willow branches can reach into the river and tie themselves in a knot, then we'll talk." The brother turned and went to plant the willow branches, and the next day it happened just as the sister had said. But the sister still went back on her word, and said that the brother should go to the top of the eastern mountain while she went to the southern hilltop, and each roll a millstone down the mountain; if the millstones came together, she would agree to the marriage. Who would have thought that when the two rolled the millstones, they fit together perfectly. The sister blushed and married her brother. The following year, she gave birth to a lump of flesh. The brother was so angry that he chopped it into pieces and threw them into the wilderness. Who would have thought that on the third day, these pieces of flesh turned into all kinds of people in the world, and the world became even more bustling than before.
Time passed quickly, and the brother and sister grew old, but no one came to acknowledge them as father and mother. One day, the brother drank a few too many cups of wine and wandered about. A gust of wild wind swept him into the courtyard of a tall mansion. The brother was not yet fully sober and staggered about randomly. Who would have thought that he mistakenly entered the imperial palace inner quarters. In a rage, the emperor ordered him taken to the river to be beheaded, and his head thrown into the water.
After her brother left, the sister searched for him everywhere, but there was no news at all. One day, the sister gathered up her brother's old clothes and went down to the river to wash them. Before long, a skull drifted toward her. The sister felt it very strange and said: "If this is my husband's skull, I will bite my middle finger and drip a drop of blood on it, and the bone should turn red." She did so, and the bone indeed became stained with bright red blood. The sister immediately embraced it and wept bitterly. When it grew dark, the sister placed the skull in a cave. After that, she came to this place every day to make offerings to him and weep for him, and she kept saying: "Whoever harmed you, tell me, and I will surely avenge you!"
Many boat merchants traveled this river, and when people heard of this matter, they all found it very strange. One day, an official came ashore from a boat to look at the skull, originally out of curiosity, but who would have thought that upon closer inspection he was startled—it was precisely the skull of the man he had been ordered by the emperor to kill. He hurried back to the imperial palace to report to the emperor. The emperor, fearing that someone would come for revenge, ordered the official to kill the sister as well, and then throw both skulls together into the river. Strangely enough, the brother's skull, stained with the sister's fresh blood, grew rosy skin and flesh again. From then on, the two skulls were always rosy, and though they soaked in the water for years and generations, they never rotted, and no matter where the river carried them, they were never separated.
One day, a cowherd boy went down to the river to bathe and saw two miraculous skulls on the tips of bamboo branches trailing on the water's surface. He moved them to a cave and enshrined them there. Who would have thought that from then on, the cattle no longer ran off to eat the crops, but obediently ate only grass. The children could then graze the cattle freely every day, singing and dancing. When this matter spread, people all said it was extremely divine. One year, many people in the world fell ill, and no medicine could cure them, so people went to this cave to make vows and offer sacrifices, and the results were very efficacious—those who were ill recovered one after another. People came to this place to sing and dance in gratitude to the gods. Before long, this matter reached the emperor, who was worrying that the empress and princess's diarrhea could not be cured, so he summoned people to sing and dance in the imperial palace, and sure enough, with a dance and a song, the empress and princess were cured. The emperor was very happy and came in person to the altar to watch, and saw that enshrined before the altar were precisely the heads of the two people he had killed, and he felt very sad. So he bowed his head and worshipped, saying: "I wrongly killed two divine beings. From now on, I confer upon you one the title of Dongshan Shenggong and the other Nanshan Shengmu, to enjoy the offerings of the human world and bestow blessings upon all under heaven." As soon as the words were spoken, the two skulls turned into a streak of blue light and ascended to heaven. From then on, people carved two wooden heads and placed them respectfully in the center of the altar.
This legend, while explaining the origin of the Nuo gods, also explains the origin of Nuo rituals. Although these are all far-fetched explanations, they nonetheless express the Tujia people's identification with and understanding of the Nuo gods and Nuo rituals. At the same time, the legend also indirectly reflects the historical fact that Nuo moved from the folk level into the imperial court, and then from the imperial court back to the folk level.
Some other folk legends omit the part about the Nuo gods creating humanity and focus solely on the origin and miraculous efficacy of the Nuo gods, expressing the Tujia people's worship of the Nuo gods.
Legend has it that long ago, on the sixth day of the sixth month, the Heavenly Lord sent down a great snow. The snow on the high mountains was over two zhang deep, and even on the flat ground it was one zhang deep. Many birds and beasts froze to death in the mountains, and even indoors many elderly people and children froze to death. The wind was still blowing, and the snow was still falling. Taibai Xianguan (the Immortal Official of the Great White Star) saw it and felt pain in his heart, and hurriedly went to find the Sun God. The Sun God came out and hung a bright red furnace in midair. Instantly, across the mountains and plains, snow avalanches and surging waters swept down; the snowmelt from the high mountains poured straight down to the flat ground, and the snowmelt from the flat ground rolled into the rivers. Along the way, many Erlang Temples and Earth God Shrines were washed away, and even the Earth Bodhisattva was swept away by the waves. The Earth Bodhisattva turned into a huge piece of sandalwood in the river. The sandalwood drifted with the waves, was washed into the great sea, and came to rest across the front of the Dragon Palace's treasure hall. The patrolling river yaksha came to the front of the hall, saw such a fine piece of sandalwood, and hastily ordered the fish soldiers and shrimp generals to carry it into the Dragon Palace. When everyone saw such a fine piece of wood, they all clicked their tongues in admiration. The Dragon King, leaning on his cane, swayed his way up, stroked his beard, and said they should use this piece of sandalwood to make the Dragon Gate. But the Dragon King's youngest daughter said she wanted to make a bed from it. Seeing that it was his beloved daughter's request, the Dragon King agreed. In no time at all, a single-legged dragon bed was made. The Dragon Girl slept on this bed that very night. When she got up the next morning, she felt dizzy and dim-sighted, weak and powerless all over, cold and shivering. This illness kept her bedridden for three years. The Dragon King sought doctors everywhere, but the Dragon Girl's condition showed no improvement. The Dragon King also sent people everywhere to consult the gods and divine by hexagram. One copper coin thrown to the ground determined that the Dragon Girl had a star of disaster; two copper coins thrown to the ground determined that the Dragon Girl had a star of calamity; three copper coins thrown to the ground determined that the Dragon Girl had encountered a demon: she had run into twenty-four ox-headed ghosts and twenty-four yaksha spirits. The Dragon Girl was very anxious, had no appetite for food or drink, and had nightmares as soon as she closed her eyes. That night, she had another nightmare: steep high mountains, swirling clouds and mist, ghosts weeping and wolves howling. She was tightly bound by the ox-headed ghosts and yaksha spirits and thrown toward a bottomless abyss. Just then, Nuo Shen Ye and Nuo Shen Niangniang came to her rescue. The Dragon Girl hastily knelt down on both knees and knocked three loud kowtows to the two great gods, making a great vow: to perform thirty-six grand Nuo rites and twelve minor Nuo rites, to offer four large banners and eight small banners, twenty-four long streamers, one white pig and one white sheep, and one white rooster and one white phoenix. After the Dragon Girl made her vow, in no time at all her illness was nine parts cured. So the Dragon King, in order to thank Nuo Shen Ye and Nuo Shen Niangniang, carved two divine statues based on the impression from his daughter's dream and enshrined them, burned several large sticks of incense, and invited the Tu teacher to beat gongs and drums, speaking and singing. From then on, Chong Nuo Huan Yuan spread throughout the Tujia region.
Some legends identify Nuo Shen Ye as Yang Yao, the leader of a peasant uprising in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Nuo Shen Niangniang as his wife. It is said that Yang Yao rebelled at Dongting Lake, intending to overthrow the emperor, but the news leaked out. The emperor sent Niu Gao to lead a great army to encircle and suppress them. Yang Yao's peasant army was defeated, and Yang Yao was captured. Niu Gao saw that Yang Yao was a fine hero and tried his utmost to persuade him to surrender, but Yang Yao refused. Niu Gao beheaded Yang Yao and threw his head into the lake. Yang Yao's wife, Su Yueying, was overcome with grief and also cut her own throat with a sword, falling into the lake to follow Yang Yao.
The next day, an old fisherman was fishing on the lake. He fished for most of the day without catching a single fish. When he pulled up his fishing net once more, he found two human heads inside. Looking closely, they turned out to be the heads of Yang and Su. The old man said: "From the water they came, to the water they return." So he threw the two heads back into the lake. The next day he went to retrieve his net, and again netted the two heads. He was depressed and had no choice but to move to another spot to cast his net. When he went to retrieve it the following day, it was still the same two heads. The old man thought: "Surely this husband and wife do not wish to sit in the Dragon Palace, but still want to return to the human world. Very well then." With that, he threw the two heads onto the lake shore.
Several cowherd boys discovered the two heads by the lake, found it very strange, and placed the heads in a cave on the mountain, making offerings to them. They also imitated the way adults conduct funerals and mourn the dead, beating and clapping and chanting. A farmer passing by could not help but knock three loud kowtows to the two heads, hoping the gods would bless his mother with a speedy recovery, and promising to make offerings with proper rites the following year. After the sacrifice, the man still went to fetch a doctor, but by the time he brought the doctor through the door, his mother was already completely well and was cooking in the kitchen.
The news that worshipping the heads could cure illness quickly spread. The cave where the heads were enshrined suddenly became lively. Everyone who wanted to cure illness, avert disaster, seek children, or preserve longevity came to the cave to kowtow to the heads and make vows. The results were all very efficacious. As time went on, the influence grew ever greater.