Guizhou Province still preserves a variety of cultural forms of Nuo. Nuo culture is essentially a farming society inherent in the "ghost worship culture". Guizhou Province so far is still a mainly agricultural province. In the customs of various ethnic groups and folk taboos, Nuo culture has a deep impact. The more intuitively reflect the unique face of Nuo culture is a wide variety of lifelike masks.
Mask as a form of makeup, since the Neolithic era, has been widely popular around the world, our country is no exception. Yin Shang era, head wearing gold four-purpose Fang Xiang's mask and the Song Dynasty Lu Fangweng recorded a pair of up to eight hundred masks, although it has long been a record of the history books. But in Guizhou, due to its unique geographical environment, history, economy, culture, national psychology and other factors, still preserved all kinds of Nuo Mask.
Guizhou in ancient times for the barbaric land, closed geographical environment, erratic climate, backward primitive farming techniques, lack of medicine caused by the plague, the life of the body of the thirst for survival, the fear of death, as well as the primitive thinking of human beings in the "spirit of everything" view for the nourishing, nurturing the epidemic exorcism, wishing to exorcise the Nuo Ji culture to provide a good environment for growth. The Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of Tunjun immigrants brought the Central Plains, Wu, Chu, Shu culture and local culture and fusion, precipitated into a fairly strong and stable Nuo cultural forms and customs, Nuo culture in rural Guizhou is still a fairly large market, which is also behind the times of Guizhou's pathetic place. But for the study of human cultural development provides rare first-hand information.
Guizhou masks are mostly wood carving false face, there are also a small number of paper rattan, bamboo shoot shells and other materials. Masks appear as witchcraft rituals and forms of theater, song and dance performances, which can be roughly divided into three major categories according to their use and substance:
I. Qiandongwei Ning Yi "handful of taiji" masks: "handful of taiji" is a sympathetic sorcery ritual, is the role of social and sorcery rituals of the ancestral masks. It is of high value in terms of its history of social development, social humanity and the study of the origin of theater.
II. Almost all over the province's "Nuo Nuo altar play" mask: the ceremony is the end of the public exorcism epidemic exorcism ghosts, wishing to Naoji altar spells, mixed with entertaining the gods and entertaining the people of the theater, is to exorcise and cure the disease class and theatrical performances of the type of masks, its religious, theatrical carving value is high.
Three. Qianzhong, Anshun around the "ground play" mask: although not yet completely free of "exorcism" cultural category, but its mask has been mainly as a theater performance mask. From the point of view of the entire history of mask development, for the late stage of mask development, has a high value of theater make-up research.
I. Northwest Guizhou Weining Yi "handful of Taiji" mask:
At present, only in northwest Guizhou Weining County Yi cottage naked Jiejie "handful of Taiji" (translation), some comrades according to the literal meaning of the Yi language interpretation of the "change of human drama", from the whole ceremony does not involve the origin of mankind. At the very beginning of the "Handful of Taiji", Jagabu (the old mountain god) asks the 1,700-year-old "Abu Mo" (wearing a male white-bearded mask): "Where do you handfuls of specialties come from?". In the Yi language, "Xiete" means ghosts, which means that souls are transformed into human beings, i.e., the idea that people become souls after death, which is common to all ethnic groups.
The Yi believe that there are three souls after death: one soul guards the graveyard; one soul goes to the underworld; and one soul goes to the shrine. The five black masks used in the "Handful of Taiji" represent the "ghosts" that the Yi ancestors have turned into, so can the "Handful of Taiji" be interpreted as a "game of ghosts". In the three legends of the Weining Yi explaining why they hold the "Sautaiji" activity, all of them are related to food, which is an important material condition for the survival of human beings. Two of the legends mention that the "God of Heaven" sent the "Handicap" down to help people affected by disasters to send seeds, and one legend mentions that the "God of Heaven" sent lions to help human beings to get a good harvest of grain, so the ceremony also includes a lion dance. The connection between the gods and human beings is made by the spirits of the ancestors.
In the early consciousness of mankind, there is the concept of "soul", that is, there is another "little me" that is "soul", people die or coma, the soul will be from the body's natural orifices, especially the nasal cavity and the mouth out of the body. Ancient emperors had to repair their underground palaces before they were born, i.e., letting their souls become emperors in the netherworld after their deaths. However, the soul only exists in people's dreams or hallucinations and cannot be manifested in the real world, so the ancients used masks to represent the souls of their ancestors. When the Yi held the "Summary Taiji", the souls of their ancestors were represented through masks - specific symbols.
The five masks of the "Siu Tai Ji", which are blackened with pot-smoke ink and marked with lines of lime, are the ancestral masks, which are used as mediums for praying to the gods or as offerings to the gods. These masks are used as a medium for praying to the gods or as offerings to the gods to beg the gods for a good harvest and for the removal of calamities. I believe that the tight wrapping of cloth around the body, limbs, and head of the wearer of the ancestor masks in the "Sangtaegi" is a precautionary measure taken by the wearer of the mask for fear that his or her spirit will be taken away by the spirits of the ancestors. The male-female coitus that occurs during the planting of buckwheat is a simulation of sorcery in which the union of the two sexes of human beings leads to the union of the two sexes of the grain, which leads to the reproduction of a good harvest of the grain.
Let's look at the "handful of Taiji" the whole process of the real meaning: first to pray to the ancestors, dancing bell dance (Yi funeral dance), narrating the history of migration of the Yi people with dialogues, then sweeping the plague, go to the disaster, to buy oxen, sowing, planting and harvesting buckwheat in the whole process, the middle of the intervening smoking, male and female coitus, breastfeeding the child, etc., and finally back buckwheat into the barn, buckwheat to the brothers and sisters into the wine, lion dance. From the whole process of this ceremony, we can clearly see that all the rituals are to ensure that the grain harvest simulation of witchcraft. Yi people live in a very difficult environment, is one of the worst living conditions in Guizhou minority ethnic groups. A good or bad grain harvest directly affects people's lives. It is extremely natural for the Yi to use the power of sorcery with the divine power of their ancestors' souls to express the wish for a good harvest.
In the witchcraft ceremonies of tribal peoples all over the world, ceremonies similar to the "Handful of Taiji" are very common. Tribal peoples believe that: the real or simulated fertility action in the roots of the grain of the crop field after the fall is a way for human beings to imbue exhausted nature with their own exuberant vitality, and that the old woman in the "Handful of Taiji" (Mother Ada, 1,200 years old, wearing a mask and carrying a baby on her back), who plays the role of mother of the grains here, the also known as the goddess of the grains. The child is obviously the daughter of the grains; the mother of the grains denotes the ripe grains, while the child denotes the grains of the coming year. Obviously, the grains of the coming year can be seen as growing from the seeds of this year's harvest. Feeding the child is also known as instilling nutrients into the coming year's crop. The nature of the witchcraft rituals is very clear when the Handful of Tej is viewed in the context of the deeper structure of witchcraft.
The five ancestor masks of the "Summary Taiji" are wooden masks of the larger size of Guizhou's masks, which can completely cover the entire face, and are made in a rough and simple manner. Five masks a plus white beard, a plus black beard, another for the hare lip, the rest does not have much difference, tone solemn, the mask only in the eyes, mouth digging three holes, in the painted pot smoke ink black color on the white lime coated with lines composed of different patterns, this pursuit of simple order of the modeling techniques in line with the principle of primitive consciousness, that is, primitive people trying to find order and classification of the consciousness of the psychological reflection. This kind of masks in Yunnan Chuxiong Yi also have similar people (Weining Yi relocated from Yunnan), Heilongjiang Oroqen people's wooden idol is also this kind of modeling, and with the Americas Eskimo in the sacrifice of the dead with the mask is very similar, and even with the Zaire, Africa, Benna - Mubasha people in the important occasions, such as villages in the plague, the army on the warpath or the king's death to wear the mask is also very similar. It is not that the people of these three continents have any blood relationship or information transfer relationship, the only explanation is that the culture and economic development of these peoples is more consistent, at the same level, so that the psychological activities are also more consistent results.
Such witchcraft masks representing the souls of their ancestors have a mysterious power. The Yi people revere black and choose the most readily available local colors of black and white for their paints. The white stripes against the black background create a visual effect of strong contrast, creating a sense of psychological tension that distinguishes them from the people of the Yang world. From the stylization of the elongated facial features of the masks, traces of certain animal totem worship can be seen to a greater or lesser extent. According to "Southwest Yi Zhi", the ancestors of the Yi people lived in the trees, and the beasts lived with the people, and the people and the beasts followed each other. The forest apes and monkeys, a class of mammals with long eyes, were often regarded as ancestors by the ancient ancestors and worshipped as totems, or as ghosts and monsters in the mountains. The dresser of the "Handful of Tailor-made Monkeys" makes ape-like cries from time to time, and the viewer is easily reminded of his or her own ancestors or totem objects of worship when facing this kind of mask and hearing this kind of cries. When wearing a "handful of Tet" mask, the identity of the wearer of the mask also changes from a human being to the ghost of an ancestor, so they speak with a drawl to show that they are different from the world of the living, creating the illusion of being there in person to make their sorcery more effective and to make their tribe more united under the call of the spirits of the dead of their ancestors.
To sum up, the WeiNing Yi of northwest Guizhou is a simulated witchcraft ceremony, which can be clearly reflected from the specific environment, date, special meaning of the ancestor masks, and the purpose of seeking for a good harvest of grain. At present, the comrades in the drama world define "Xiutaiji" as the original drama of Yi nationality from the perspective of drama art, or define it as a sound drama form containing dramatic beauty with the modern view of drama. Of course, the "handful of Taiji" no matter in the Weining county cultural evening performance, or in the United States, New York "Broadway" theater performance, it is certainly a drama, as if its ancestor masks in the National Art Museum of China in Beijing when the exhibition can be sure that the plastic arts in the wood carving works. If we leave the specific context of the ritual to define its form, it can be defined as various forms from various perspectives. However, once the "Szetaiji" is returned to the Yi villages at an altitude of 2,800 meters, where the natural conditions are harsh, when the fear of death covers the earth, people take out the masks of their ancestors, and with the thirst for life, gather on the lawn beside the cottage to pray to the gods to hold the "Szetaiji", it is undoubtedly a kind of sorcery ritual.
The definition of all primitive art remains a modern self-definition of the ancients in the museum. Through the ritual of praying to the gods for a good harvest through the masks of their ancestors, the Sautaiji serves as an important link between the past and the present of the people, thus strengthening their social ties and unity. The nature of the ceremony can be categorized as Nuo culture, has its cultural anthropological research value, its mask is the earliest form of Guizhou Nuo masks in a class.
II. Almost all over the province, "Nuo altar theater" mask:
Widely prevalent throughout the province, to the north and northeast of Guizhou as the representative of the "Nuo altar play", "Nuo Tang play" (also known as the end of the public theater, Qingtan play, etc.), the folk title is "punch Nuo"." Nuo altar play" originated from ancient Nuo rituals, Nuo dance, although it contains sorcery, such as shouting thatched grass, kill ancestral halls, wishing, over, etc., but the entire Nuo altar legal process to join the entertainment of God and entertainment in the form of theater, the outer altar part of the pure form of theater, that is, the so-called "Yang Opera". So that "punch Nuo" by sorcery rituals gradually turned to the intermediate form of theater art. Originating from the ancient Nuo Yi, due to the continuous development of society, the connotation of the gradual extension, so that the deity system continues to expand, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and secular heroes to join, so that the Nuo altar has become the most varied multi-god worship system. Masks from the beginning of the Fang Xiang's to Nuo opera masks increased dramatically, and vivid modeling, bold ideas, become the heyday of mask art development. Previously, there is a mask for each play, even if the same deity, as Nuo altar exists in the folk, unlike formal religion has a unified pattern, each mask carver is not the same between the works, artists according to their own imaginations, hobbies, each shaping their own hearts of the world of ghosts and gods, which is sorcery and the art of the side of the same. Although the religious function of these masks is the main, but there is no lack of artistic aesthetic function, because the masks on behalf of the gods modeling the merits of the Nuo altar directly affect the reputation and survival.
From the current collection of Nuo opera masks, masks before the Ming Dynasty due to historical reasons has been rare, the Qing Dynasty should be the final peak of the mask development. At present, only in the remote mountain villages, the old masks have a larger amount of storage. Now found hundreds of various forms of ghosts and gods, legendary heroes, secular characters, only three of the main God and ancient Chinese mythology and witchcraft have a deeper relationship. The three main gods that Nuo altar Erlang Shen, open the mountain Mang generals, trailblazers, that is, the ancient myths of the water god, the mountain god, the pioneers of God. The history of these three gods are earlier than the Nuo altar currently worship the two puppet altar masters - East Mountain Sacred Public and South Mountain Sacred Mother. Although the legend of Nuo Nuo mother varies from place to place, but most of them are some far-fetched folklore, and in Nuo Nuo altar plays and Nuo altar clip plays are missing traces of their altar masters, neither life, and no genealogy. Some legends of Chinese mythology in Fu Xi, Nuwa, flooding, brother and sister into a marriage story moved to Nuo head to show that it comes from ancient times and legitimacy, but from the two puppets head can not see the breath of the ancestors of mankind, but has a more obvious dress dress and more mature Buddhist Bodhisattva carving modeling of the Song Dynasty. In addition, from the small size of the puppet head, most likely borrowed from the puppet puppet theater. Do not forget that Nuo altar itself is a hodgepodge. Tongren City, Guizhou Province, Sinan County about Nuo Nuo mother legend formation time in the Northern Song Dynasty, that is, Nuo altar to form the current pattern of the times, more credible. Nuo development to the Song Dynasty, the closest relationship with Nuo Taoism has matured, and sacrifices have been abusive, all the children of Qi Xian, cattle God and horse king, wood fine stone monster are regarded as handsome, the sacrifices and more and the four seas and five mountains, mountains and rivers, the sun, the moon and the stars, often sacrificed for the beginning of the Jade Clear, on the Qing Lingbao, Tai Qing moral three days, that is, the three Qing gods. In addition to this there are Taiyi God, Ziwei Da Di, Thunder Sound Puhua Tianzun, Jinque God, Zhengque God, Wenchang Star, Xuanwu soil hosts, three gods, etc., such gods in Nuo altar the same beliefs. These are visible on the Nuo altar Sanqing map. These many gods did not appear in the Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties. Li Yunxin monument only see "Tai Shang Laojun", and only one statue. It can be seen, before the Sui and Tang Dynasty Taoism only worship Chong Laozi, after the Song Dynasty appeared multi-god worship. Nuo Nuo mother appeared in the Song Dynasty is only Nuo altar in order to differentiate between other religions, as well as to promote the function of exorcism and cure the disease and the creation of the main God, and even a legend was killed by Emperor Renzong head of the two mortals and then ascended to God. Most of the legends mention the cowherd in connection with this, and seem to come from the folklore. This can be confirmed from the shape of the puppet head and legends around. It can be said that Nuo altar to form the current pattern of time will not be earlier than the Song Dynasty.
Figure out the Nuo altar roughly the formation of the current pattern of the age, and then look at the Nuo altar three main gods and ancient Chinese mythology and witchcraft relationship, first look at the water god.
Chinese ancient myths of the water god should be Xuanwu, Xuanwu original name of Xuanmei, is Yu's father, the water for the dedication. After a series of evolution, the god of XuanMei has become one of the seven northern lodges of Taoism and one of the gods of death, such as Hades, God of the Sea and ZhenWu Da Di. Due to the formation of Nuo altar late, the ancient myth of the water god in Nuo altar "three Qing figure" on the Taoist god spectrum of Zhenwu Da Di and Xuanwu seven lodges, and Nuo altar on the water god by the Sichuan-Shu culture of Erlang Shen played.
Nuo altar in the water god is called its irrigation mouth lock sin dragon Erlang Shen. Because of the mouth in Sichuan, also known as the Lord of Sichuan. Erlang Shen is also Nuo altar theater God - the Lord of Sichuan, the Lord of the earth, medicine king one of the three saints, (also known as the four saints, plus the emperor or Wenchang, and made with movable puppets). Check China's legends throughout the ages as Erlang God there are seven: (a) the Qin Dynasty Shu County governor Li Bing, (b) Li Bing's son Li Erlang, (c) Zhang Xian, (d) Sui Dynasty Zhao Yu, (e) Yang Erlang, (f) the Jin Dynasty people Deng Ya, (g) Erlang Dokken. Li Bing is a famous person in Sichuan history, unearthed in March 1974 under the Dujiangyan Suoqiao bridge in Sichuan irrigation county in the Eastern Han Dynasty Jianning first year (168) carved stone statue of Li Bing, governor of Qin Shu County, just like a pair of officials dressed up, and said it is the sky, earth, water, water in the God of the three gods of the Water God, also known as the "water officer". Li Bing's second son Li Erlang, early history books are not recorded. Records of Li Erlang began in the Five Dynasties, and the temple worship of Erlang Shen began in the Tang Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, the belief in the god Erlang was most prevalent, and it is difficult to say whether he was really the second son of Li Bing. And will be Zhang Xian worship as Erlang Shen, the Shu originally Zhang Xian's beliefs, his name Zhang Yuanxiao, Meishan people, traveled to Mount Qingcheng into the road, the image are painted with a bow and bullet-like. Because in ancient times, men had the custom of hanging arc vectors, later generations or with their intentions in the figure, as a prayer for the child's image of God. In the Song Dynasty, the image was spread throughout the Central Plains, and there were some people who used their god as Erlang, fearing that it had something to do with the cultivation of Mount Qingcheng. In recent times, the worship of Zhang Xian is still praying for the son, and the water god has little to do. Zhao Yu served as governor of Jiazhou, Song Zhenzong, named Qingyuan Miao Dao Zhenjun, is the Taoist held up the Erlang God, which has a river to cut the scaly water legend. From the Song to the Ming Dynasty, the novels, operas and folklore are often referred to as Erlang Shen. Zhao Yu's legend and the influence of Taoism, Nuo altar of Erlang God's image of the completion of an important impact. Yang Erlang Yang is a popular folk saying in recent times. Yang poke for Song Weizong dynasty favored eunuchs, due to the "Waking Times" recorded Yang poke can not catch the impersonation of the Qingyuan Mythical Road Erlang Shen (Zhao Yu) of the Taoist priests and then, Erlang Shen and Yang poke bonded. In the Journey to the West, Yang Erlang is referred to as Yang Erlang, and his title is a combination of the titles of Li Erlang and Zhao Yu. The story is taken from the legend of Zhao Yu. Deng Ya was a famous general in Jin Dynasty, and was honored as Erlang God by being tasted as Erlang General, which was attached by later people. The last Erlang Dokken was the second prince of the Indian god Vishamon King of Heaven, and the third prince was Nezha. Journey to the West" will be the famous Tang Dynasty general Li Jing called "Tota Heavenly King", "Feng Shen Yan Yi" will be the name of Erlang Duojian Yang poked as Li Jing's nephew, to a combination of Chinese and foreign. From this point of view, Nuo altar Erlang God when the Taoist belief in Zhao Yu as a prototype, a combination of Li Bing and Li Erlang, Erlang Dokken and Yang poke and other miracles and legends of the image and has nothing to do with ancient myths of the God of water.
I collected in Qianbei to a Qing Dynasty production of Erlang God mask, the mask is a mask of the mouth, that is, the eyes, the mouth can move, the mouth and set with two four inches Xu boar tusks, fierce. This kind of living mouth mask not only reminds us of the Tang Dynasty Chinese dance music mask (bugaku mask), which was also introduced to Japan from China by the Korean musician Aji Mozhi in the seventh year of Sui Daye (612). However, at that time, the mask covered the whole head, i.e., the head, and was similar to some of the masks used for the "Ten Days" festival in the Paro Valley in western Bhutan and the "Great God Dance" in Tibet. It is clear that the masks used in China before the Tang Dynasty were head coverings that covered the entire head. In the Tang Dynasty, wooden masks were used to cover only the face. Song Dynasty such masks developed into a number of varieties of Nuo altar masks. After the end of the Qing Dynasty, the mask gradually to decline. From this Erlang Shen's mask can be roughly seen on the early Chinese mask (not the head) style, at present such style has been rare.
Another peculiarity of this mask is the appearance of two boar tusks on the water god's mouth. According to Meitan more than 60 years old Duan Gong Li Dexing explanation: back then, Li Laojun over the red pig mountain, met a large boar, Li Laojun with a flying knife will kill the boar, pig head weighing one thousand two hundred pounds, and will be given to the boar fangs Chuan Lord pressure of the evil, and later Nuo altar wish, that is, we must kill the whole pig offerings, known as the "red pig wish," it is clearly an ancient sacrificial rituals of custom. But the boar tusks seem to be available to pressure evil, the end of the public in the performance, the general appearance of the general mouth contains two pig tusks, sometimes swallowed, sometimes spit out, sometimes up, sometimes down, and even hang upside down on the bridge of the nose, it is really a masterpiece. In general, the fierce god masks are carved with tusks, which seems to have a relationship with the ancient customs and hunting peoples of the boar totem worship.
Erlang Shen mask in the folk there is an important role in suppressing the house. Which house foundation feng shui is not good, such as the door in front of the dangerous mountains and bad water and so on, we must carve a Erlang Shen mask hanging in the house on the cornice, facing the evil mountains and bad water, the mask is commonly known as the "swallow", meaning that the Erlang Shen can be a mouthful of swallowed that evil to protect the owner of the home peace. It can be seen that the ancient myths of the "water god" in Nuo altar has evolved into "three clear chart" on the seven Xuanwu宿and Zhenwu Da Di, and the current "water god" by the Ba Shu culture in the "Erlang" God to replace, and with the need to evolve into Nuo altar, "play God" one of the "God of the town house" and so on.
Compared with the "water god", "mountain god" in Nuo altar seems more important. Mountain God" in Nuo altar, also known as "Mountain King" or "open the mountain Mang will be." Mountain King" mask in all Nuo altar more consistent. The main feature is a pair of horns on the head, angry eyes, mouth long thirty-six iron teeth, four fangs." Mountain King" body with seven inches long hair, leaves cover the body, left hand chisel, right hand axe, or axe, or chisel, engaged in the activity of opening up the mountain." Open Mountain God" seems to be the legendary "Pangu" God of heaven and earth. Qianbei Nuo opera "Mao chicken playing iron" in the "open mountain" God appeared on the scene, that is, self-reporting as "I am the incarnation of Pangu Mountain. Cen Yongwu's "History of Totemic Art" book with a Jiangxi Nuo dance mask "Pangu's" illustration, that is, now Guizhou Nuo opera masks with long horns on the head of the "Kaisan Mang will". It seems that this God and the Chinese Chinese people's totem worship "dragon" has a certain connection. The dragon has a pair of horns, and another great god in ancient Chinese mythology, "Candle Dragon", has the divine character of "Pangu", the god of creation. Candle Dragon" was the most influential god of Zhongshan Mountain, and the legend of "Pangu" appeared later than that of "Candle Dragon".
Whether it can be assumed that: Nuo altar mountain god has undergone such an evolutionary process: candle dragon - Pangu - mountain king. Then as the body of the mountain god Candlewick is what? Pangu god is how to replace the candle dragon? He Xin in "a group of classical myths of the deep structure" and "the interpretation of the myth of Pangu" two articles on the "Candle Dragon" and "Pangu" of the origin of a new revelation.
According to Gao's note: "The mountain is in the shade of the North Pole and does not see the sun". The Chu Rhetoric-Da Zhuo said: "The soul is not north, there are cold mountains in the north, Lianlong Yan only, the water can not be waded, the depth is unfathomable only, the sky is white, the cold condensation only, the soul is not to the North Pole, surplus only." The "Lianlong" in this poem is the Candle Dragon. The Candle Dragon is located in the northern cold mountains, i.e., the Feather Mountain, where the God of Candle Dragon is located in the geographic location of the North Pole of the earth. In the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, day and night are divided into winter and summer, with half a year of day after the summer solstice and half a year of night after the winter solstice. The so-called "not see the sun" is the high latitude areas of China's Northeast, as well as Siberia and the Arctic Circle near the winter half a year of normal phenomena, and the legend of the Candlewick Dragon is precisely active in such a region. It turns out that the Candle Dragon is not a biological being, but a natural phenomenon near the Arctic Circle - the Aurora Borealis.
The aurora is an electromagnetic optical phenomenon that occurs over the ionosphere and can only be seen at high latitudes near the north and south poles. The aurora often appears suddenly, its shape is ever-changing, color changes, bright and colorful, in general is yellowish-green, sometimes also appears greenish-white, red, grayish-purple, blue, or several colors at the same time. The shape of the common ones are banded, as if the lightning is often imagined as a "golden snake", this banded northern lights, is likely to be imagined as a snake or dragon, but lightning is often colorless, while the aurora borealis is colored. Therefore, the depictions of the green dragon, yellow dragon and red dragon in ancient books probably refer to the aurora borealis. Since there were also mountains in the north, the ancients thought that Aurora (Candle Dragon) resided in the mountains, and the Candle Dragon became the mountain god, and since the dragon's head had horns, the mountain god had two horns on his head.
Pangu, the other god of creation, is a great god in Chinese mythology. What is strange is that the name and deeds of this god Pangu, but not in all the canonical writings of the pre-Qin Dynasty, nor in the Qin Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty to the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty all the writings, and not even in the Classic of the Mountain and the Sea, the biography of the Mu Tien Zi, Tianwen, the Emperor's Century, such as the collection of "the ancient and modern up and down the very strange things," such a special collection of mythological books. The only explanation for this is that in ancient Chinese mythology, there was no such character or name as "Pangu". According to the evidence of Mr. Yiu Tsung-I, a Hong Kong history scholar, the name of Pangu only appeared at the end of the Han Dynasty, and formed a mural. In the Three Kingdoms period, Wu Xu Shing also wrote "Three Five Calendar", there are Pangu records. It can be seen that the emergence of the Pangu myth in China was not earlier than the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was precisely during this period that a major event took place in Chinese cultural history, which was the beginning of the large-scale spread of Buddhism and culture from India into China. The prototype of Pangu comes from the story of the creation of the universe by Lord Brahma in the ancient Indian creation myth, and Pangu is a translation of the original pronunciation of Brahma, the Great Brahma. In Indian and Chinese legends, both Brahma and Pangu were born from eggs. If the Indian "Brahma" God and the Chinese "Pangu" God for a comparison can be found, these two gods open up the sky and the earth, the creation of all the elements of the story, almost no point does not coincide. Visible, the emergence of Pangu God is the result of the infiltration of Indian Buddhist culture in China, rather than the ancient Chinese myths of the opening of the sky and the earth. It is inferred that Nuo altar on the mountain god has undergone such an evolutionary process:
Aurora (nature worship) - Candle Dragon (Zhongshan mountain god) - Pangu God (the introduction of Indian Buddhism to open up the God) - Nuo dance of Pangu's (God of the open sky and earth) -- Nuo Nuo opera of the opening of the mountain Mang will (cut the five sides of the essence of the monster, recovering the soul of the God).
Due to the differences between foreign myths and Chinese ancient myths, Pangu God has not been able to fully enter the Chinese mythological system, and only stays in the folk oral tradition or the beginning of folk songs, "Pangu open heaven and earth," and so on, and the mountain god of the folk epithet "Kaisan" has the meaning of "open heaven and earth". The word "Kaisan" in the north of Guizhou is the "axe" title, that is, the mountain god holding things. As Guizhou on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the door to the mountains, the worship of the mountain gods naturally take the brunt. People's lives are closely related to the mountains, the culture can not be separated from the mountain nurturing cultivation. In Nuo altar, the mountain king is to drive away demons, can trace the lost soul of the positive God, so in Nuo altar rituals, such as the host family is sick, the sorcerer that the patient's soul was stolen by the demons, must ask the mountain king to try to retrieve the patient's soul, the patient can be cured, the king of the mountain of the importance of the visible.
Guizhou Nuo altar in the shape of the mountain king mask, mostly taken from the Buddhist King Kong statue of the five-figure modeling, coupled with the head of the two horns, as some mask carvers that is the temple of the Buddhist carving craftsmen, so some of the masks of the modeling by the influence of Buddhist art. Daozhen County, there is a "mountain king" mask is more typical, is a two sides of the ear side molded with two "hold the ear god" of the three head of the mountain king mask, and is a live mask, the mask is obviously affected by the Buddhist "vajra medicine fork" three heads and six arms of the modeling influence.
Nuo altar in another important god - trailblazer, the prototype is the ancient left down the pilot God, is the ancient Nuo instrument in the body of God Fang Xiang's. The ancient Fang Xiang's gold four-eyed, and is a living mouth mask, the mask is obviously influenced by the Buddhist "vajra medicine fork" three-headed and six-armed modeling. Ancient Fang Xiang's gold four eyes, cloaked in bearskin, to the four corners, to the four sides of the strike, sweep away the four evil, to scare the ghost of epidemic. Fang Xiang's four eyes of gold mask is suspected to be similar to Taotie decorative patterns, bearskin is an ancient totem worship, and Fang Xiang rate of beasts of exorcism dance is a kind of totem worship dance. The Three Teachings of the Book of Searching for God" Volume VII records: "open the way God is the "Rites of Zhou" of the Fang Xiang's is also. Commonly known as the dangerous road God, a Pathway General, an open road God Jun, the God's body length of more than ten feet, the head is three feet wide, whiskers long three feet five inches, bearded red face blue, head with a bundle of hair and gold crowns, dressed in red robes, wearing soapy boots, the left hand holds a jade seal, the right hand holds the halberd, out of the pivot to the first line of work, can inhibit the vicious evil spirits, hide the shape of the pivot of the auspicious God also, to remain in the future generations carry on." The so-called dangerous road God, that is, the first guide God, the first guide, that is, the ancient Fang Xiang's "funeral make way (guide)" meaning. According to the "cloud book seven paper" volume 10000 series of Tang Wang Cui "Regulus book": "the emperor Zhou procession, the first concubine screw ancestor died in the road, the emperor sacrificed for the ancestor of the god. The emperor sacrificed his second concubine, Auntie, as the guardian of the road, and he took her as the Fangxiang Clan." According to the "jade laughs collection" volume 14 "ugly people chapter": "touch mother, the yellow emperor when the extremely ugly female also. Hammer forehead Gu forehead, shape coarse color black, today's drought head is its remains." This shows that Auntie was extremely ugly. Auntie was the first recorded witch who acted as the Fang Xiang Clan. The ancient custom of using extremely ugly people as funeral leaders to expel ghosts and epidemics is still prevalent in the northern part of Guizhou Province. This area of the funeral procession pilot, is to find a special image of ugly beggars, holding a burning bamboo (firecrackers), to drive the dead ghosts to open the way. This shows that the "trailblazer" is "Nuo" of the body of God. At present, the "open road" God is still in the altar of the implementation of Nuo Fang Xiang's task, for Nuo Tang to remove the five parties (East, South, West, North, Central) evil. Some Nuo altar also use historical legends heroes, Qing officials such as Guan, Bao Gong to serve in this capacity.
"Pathfinder" mask, the face of the entire blue outlined with the ancient tattoo for the remains of ancient totems. Ancient China also have torn face tattoo custom, to totem like attached to the body, rely on this occurs witchcraft protection, such as into the water to avoid mosquitoes and dragons of the harm, the invulnerability of swords and spears and so on.
At present, the number of masks owned by the Nuo altar is uneven, there are on, in, under three holes in a total of thirty-six faces for a hall, there are also twenty-four gods (each god has a play) for a hall, twelve gods for half of the hall, there is also a hall of twelve gods, as a result of the gradual reduction of masks, there are also to "open face" to replace the. Nuo altar troupe also have to specialize in singing entertaining plays and gradually get rid of Nuo legal affairs "Yang play", that is, sung to the people in the sun to listen to the play, but still retains more or less witchcraft content, such as to the master of the home after the opera, to be the Lingguan (Taoist protector of the gods) of the face of the face of the actors from the face of the top down the master to keep to avoid evil spirits.
Nuo opera masks are exorcism and cure class masks. These masks as a variety of gods and spirits as a medium of dialogue, in order to pray for their blessings, to help people resist the plague, drive away the wish, engaged in the production of such masks for most of the folk professional artists or sorcerers themselves, because the masks in the sorcery rituals play an important role, and therefore the artists are believed to have the creation of some kind of spiritual power of the image of the inspiration of the sorcerers, the sorcerers insisted that the masks themselves have the power of God, many masks such as the "Erlang Shen" that is being used by the "Sorcerer". Erlang Shen" that is, people use a knife to cut down the essence of the mask, burned into ash swallowed to cure diseases, sorcerers masks more as life, this pious religious mentality should be understandable.
Nuo opera masks are painted wooden, easy to carve the local abundance of poplar, alder-based, also known as "blood wood" red Tsubaki production. Color simple, with local mineral pigments easily accessible color, warm tones, rarely appear cold tones, Qiannan Nuo opera masks due to the environment, climate and geomorphology, bright hues, red and green, with the north of Guizhou, Guizhou Northeast region to form a sharp geographical contrast.
Most of the mask-making artists master and apprentice, orally taught. In the Nuo altar ceremony, the mask carver's name and division of the law to read once, to show respect. Mask making artists believe that the gods themselves exist in the body of the tree, they only carve it out, so the mask has the power of mana, this idea is completely consistent with the views of African mask carvers. As folk artists, coupled with Wicca is a loose folk sect, the gods look like no unified model, so Nuo opera masks in various forms, a variety of shapes, each carver's works are not the same. In delineating the land of loyalty, monk humor, Qin Qiong's funny, Bao Gong's just, Mei Xiang's beautiful, fierce mountain king, Erlang's majestic and other gods on the character, the carvers play their own imagination, and with a very pious religious mentality to shape. These masks are the most spiritual and have high artistic and aesthetic value.
III. Qianzhong, Anshun area "ground theater" masks:
Opera popular in Anshun, Qianzhong area, the local name is "jumping god". It is more free from the boundaries of Nuo altar rituals, but still have the content of the epidemic Naji. It is different from Nuo opera, Nuo opera Nuo altar sorcery legal affairs, and entertaining the gods and entertaining the play combined with a tighter, and the proportion of ritual plays accounted for less. Although the performance time and performance process is still ancient witchcraft ingredients, such as the Spring Festival each year, playing the play called "play the new spring", the old calendar in mid-July to play the play called "jumping rice flowers God". "Playing Xinchun" when it is related to Naji, epidemic activities, "jumping rice flower God" is related to the ancient witchcraft rituals held for a good harvest. The format of the play, such as "open the door of wealth", "sweep the opening" and "sweep the closing" and so on, and the northern part of Qian Lantern Opera, a kind of evolution from Nuo Nuo in the form of song and dance theater is quite similar. As the main part of the "Jumping God" (i.e., play), is mainly the Ming Dynasty Hongwu Zhu Yuanzhang during the transfer of the North and the South brought the military Nuo activities, popular theater cottage, are the year the village of the Tuen Mun army, the villagers' clothing is still maintained when the Ming costume attire, and Guizhou people out of place. Theater repertoire no secular drama, no public drama, almost all. There are no secular plays and no public case plays, but almost all of them are martial arts plays depicting jingo and iron horses in the Tang and Song dynasties, and even individual villages use . Iron "real swords", indicating that the military had used real swords to perform the historical fact of the theater.
Earth theater performance is in the open "dam" on the circle into a round field. Nuo Tang opera in the master's house or dam performance. Opera masks are small, worn on the top of the head, in order to facilitate the audience around the hill to watch, but also for the actors to sing and perform. Nuo opera performances in the smaller hall space, so Nuo opera mask will completely cover the entire face. More important differences in the mask shape, color. Nuo altar play due to witchcraft ingredients more, the performance time to the night mainly, lighting dim, the function is mainly to cure disease, the gods are not mortal, so the carving is hideous, full of ghosts, imaginative, but the color is simple and simple. Earth play masks have gone through the development process from simple to complex, the Qing Dynasty works of helmet ear wings are more simple and heavy, the color is also more simple. The style of modern Jiyu opera masks is more realistic and fancy, especially the masks of young generals and female generals, which put a lot of energy on helmets and ear fins, which is a major feature of Jiyu opera masks and the essence of the part. Traditional patterns include "Two Dragons Gun Bao", "Double Phoenix Sunrise", "Dragon Flying and Phoenix Dancing", etc. In the helmet full of delicate details, there are also small glass mirrors embedded in the helmet, together with the flora and fauna of the face, making the pattern complex. Patterned graphics, become a pattern of elaborate carving fine theater masks. The ground theater masks have the role classification of generals, military generals, young generals, old generals, and female generals, so the tendency of programming is more obvious. Focus on carving helmets, ears and wings and other secondary parts, while ignoring the character's face carving, so that the main event. Earth opera masks characters, each play as few as sixty or seventy faces, more than a hundred, the * color used almost all the color spectrum, taking into account the visual effect of the performance in the field under the sun, with color warm, rich and beautiful. Opera masks compared to the "handful of children", Nuo Tang opera, from the history of mask development seems to be a later stage, experienced an evolutionary process from simple to complex.
Theater masks and the relationship between the face is mutual influence. Since ancient times, masks and face painting have always existed at the same time, but the superiority of theatrical makeup over masks. At present, on the world stage, theater masks are mostly replaced by face makeup. The development of society has subjected the theater to the impact of cultural communication media such as books, newspapers, television and movies, and it has been difficult for the geomancy to be further developed. Due to their own limitations, the masks of the local opera are finely carved but lack of spirit and are heavy with craftsmanship, and have a tendency to develop into tourist commodities.
Throughout Guizhou representative of the three types of Nuo masks, you can see the rise and fall of Guizhou stall mask development history. First of all, the primitive era, the mask as a means of discipline, symbolizing the ancestral moral norms and authority to wear masks held witchcraft rituals as an important link between the past and the present, as a way to strengthen the ties of the nation, and as a spiritual pillar. These masks have a primitive form. The Yi "Shou Te'er" belongs to this category.
"Nuo Tang opera" mask in witchcraft religious activities based on the development of exorcism function. Such masks just appeared in agricultural society was used to pray for rain, harvest, driving away ghosts and epidemics and other activities, a variety of masks, that is, on behalf of various types of gods, symbolizing the human ghosts view, such masks is the peak of the development of the mask art, especially vivid and full of ghosts and spirit, its religious, theatrical, artistic aesthetic value is the highest, is the mask of the art of the boutique.
The mask of the ground opera is the later stage of the development of mask art. Due to the gradual departure of the opera from witchcraft to the theater, the programmed influence of the opera face makes it lack of life, focusing on the details of the decoration and the mask loses the sense of wholeness and vitality.
Nuo culture in a broad sense, almost deep into the spiritual world of each person, touching the soul of each person. Since the beginning of mankind, ghosts and gods culture has been in a variety of faces around the world. For people in the agricultural society, Nuo is also a way to survive, but also people try to master the understanding of nature a pursuit and exploration. Peasants Nuo devout psychology and living in an industrialized society, people believe in modern science without coagulation is consistent with the psychology. Witches, the end of the public will be divided into the world of heaven, the earth, the classification of the underworld represents the past people's knowledge and understanding of nature. The use of ghosts and gods to explain the incomprehensible birth, old age, illness, death, and various natural disasters and a series of problems that people still can not completely solve, thus pacifying the spiritual world of the people. With the continuous development of society, people's exploration of the natural world will continue, and this exploration will take on a new face and gradually be accepted by the people.
In a sense Nuo is also the basis of modern science. As human history only accounted for the entire history of life on earth for an extremely short moment, whether it is the ancient half-slope people, or into the moon's modern man; whether it is the great philosophers, or not yet enlightened African natives; are the same with an ancient proposition feel infinite confusion, that is: "Where do we come from? Where are we? Where are we going?" In the face of the boundless universe, human beings feel small, in the face of the sudden change of nature, human beings lack of self-confidence, so much so that when the ancients hunted, they needed to wear totem masks to seek the assistance of the gods; and "Apollo" to the moon at the same time, also need to be priests praying for God's blessing. Ancient people were afraid that others would know their names and use witchcraft to harm themselves;
Thousands of years later, civilized people also burned simulacra or pictures of their enemies to vent their hatred and to curse them. There is a misconception that the more economically and culturally backward one is, the heavier the superstitious thinking is. In fact, human beings pull their feet out of this muddy pit, and unfortunately fall into another new muddy pit in front of them, and this swamp is so long and boundless. Guizhou is certainly backward, closed, the province can be seen everywhere in the small peasant economic society Nuo cultural influence, but in economically developed Hong Kong, fortune-telling divination line is exceptionally prosperous, doing business, signing contracts are inseparable from the gossip to choose the lucky day; Japan's temples are the most prosperous; and economically developed Italy, the country to the "Star" as a profession more than 40,000 people; the middle ages! The Goethean churches in Europe were replaced by modernist churches. The consistency of this human psychological state, i.e., the lack of self-confidence in the nature of war, is due to the inability to grasp the objective world, but only through the self-regulation of the subjective world to achieve psychological equilibrium.
This psychological phenomenon can be explained by two principles discussed by Boas of the American historical school of anthropology in his book Primitive Art:
(i) The psychological processes are essentially the same in all races and in all forms of culture today.
(ii) Consideration of each cultural phenomenon as a result of historical events.
The fact is that the behavior of each individual, whatever culture he belongs to, is determined by the traditional material at his disposal, and that the material which people throughout the world have at their disposal has been inherited from them in the same way.
This conclusion, to our understanding of Guizhou's various ethnic groups, various forms of cultural phenomena and their various masks is extremely enlightening!
