As soon as the winter break began in 2010, I rushed to Ceheng to conduct a field study on Buyi culture before the Spring Festival. Before coming, I had read in some articles about an ancient Buyi Nuo opera called "Yamian" performed during funeral rituals in Ceheng. Upon arriving in Ceheng and inquiring, I learned that it was popular in the Yata area. So, accompanied by cadres from the Ceheng County Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau, we set out early the next morning for Banwan Village.
Unfortunately, there were no funeral rituals in the area during those few days. The local village cadres and folk artists said they could only provide an introduction through oral descriptions. Since I had already encountered some written materials before and had a basic understanding of the general situation, I mainly wanted to see a performance and experience it firsthand. Hearing their explanation, I felt quite disappointed.
Seeing the situation, the accompanying colleagues from the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau and related departments discussed with the village cadres and folk artists to see if they could arrange a simulated performance.
Fortunately, the folk artists in the village agreed to this request. So, preparations for the performance began immediately, including finding props, making masks, applying makeup, setting up the venue, and so on.
The Buyi ritual Nuo opera "Yamian" is performed during the coffin-circling ritual in traditional Buyi funerals. The simulated performance absolutely could not be held in anyone's home, so the village cadres decided to choose a sloping open space behind the village office as the performance venue.
The performance lasted about twenty minutes, involving only four characters, and the plot was relatively simple. The story comes from a legend: In ancient times, a poor young man worked as a long-term laborer for a local rich family and fell in love with the rich family's daughter. Unable to get the girl's parents' consent, they eloped to live in a cave above the village, where they had children. Later, when the father-in-law died, due to poverty and fear of losing face in front of relatives and friends, they wore masks to pay respects at the in-laws' home. Because of their poverty and lack of sacrificial offerings, after circling the coffin, they ground grain and pounded rice for the in-laws' family. There are six performers in total, representing the parents (the freely loving couple), the young man (the couple's son), the girl (the couple's daughter), a beggar, and a guide (usually a Bumo priest). It is said that in the past, they had to go to the cave to perform some related rituals and apply makeup before departing for the bereaved family. Later, this was changed to setting up a hut next to the bereaved family's village to symbolize the cave, where they would apply makeup and perform rituals before departing for the bereaved family. On the way, the beggar performer joins the procession and constantly harasses the girl, only to be stopped by the young man (the girl's brother). The main plot of the drama depicts the group's journey to the bereaved family, circling the coffin, pounding rice, grinding grain, and how the beggar harasses the girl and makes her pregnant during this process. The entire performance has no dialogue, and the performers wear masks made of bamboo strips for the frame, covered with white paper to form the face, on which facial features are drawn.
Simulated performance of "Yamian"
The coffin-circling ritual is usually held on the night before the funeral procession, and the performance can begin as soon as it gets dark after dinner. During the entire performance, when the guide's cymbals stop, the three performers immediately bow to the coffin and make gestures of wiping tears and looking sad. However, the three do not wipe their tears horizontally like normal people, but vertically; and when bowing, they don't bow from up to down like normal people, but only stiffly bow vertically downwards. This coffin-circling ritual is usually performed in the main hall of the deceased's home. The family's relatives and villagers are the audience.
After the performance, the masks and other items are taken outside the village to be burned. All participants in the performance step over the fire, symbolizing that the ghosts have been burned to death and will no longer possess them.
The performers enacted all these processes exactly as they would in the actual ritual. The difference was that the venue was moved to an outdoor open space, the "cave" was set up on a slope behind the village committee office, and a wooden box was used to replace the coffin.
"Yamian" enacts a legendary story with a plot, but "Yamian" has no dialogue and can be considered a mime. Musically, there is only the guide striking a gong in his hand during the procession, with little rhythm variation, making it seem monotonous. Therefore, I believe that "Yamian" is still a ritual, just one that enacts a relatively simple story based on the ritual, belonging to a special kind of ceremony. Nevertheless, it has very important value for studying the origin of drama. This is undoubtedly true.
If we say that "Yamian" has not yet departed from ritual and is at most a nascent form of "drama," then the Buyi fertility Nuo popular in the Libo area, although still closely associated with ritual, has a much stronger comprehensive nature and more obvious theatrical characteristics.
Among the Buyi people in southern Guizhou, the "bridge-building" (child-seeking) ritual for couples who have been childless for many years is very grand, with some even lasting 7 days and 7 nights. It is said that after the "bridge-building" ritual, a bridge is built for the mother goddess who sends children, and the mother goddess will send a "flower soul" (child's soul), allowing the woman seeking a child to conceive and give birth. "Doing Tiao" is a religious ritual aimed at seeking fertility and blessing children. In the ritual, one of the deities worshipped is the "Flower Forest Immortal Official" (also known as "Ya Wa Lin"). However, what distinguishes it from general child-seeking rituals is that in addition to the female deity "Flower Forest Immortal Official," there are also male deities in "Doing Tiao," each with different functions. For example, the Holy Mother of Ten Thousand Years, a female deity, is in charge of allocating fertility quotas; the Flower Forest Immortal Official, a female deity, is responsible for sending "flowers" (i.e., children) to the children's parents; the Father of the Temple of Birth Flower King, a male deity, is responsible for blessing and nurturing children to adulthood; the Three Yuan Ancestral Masters of This Temple, male deities, refer to the three brothers Tang, Ge, and Zhou, who have the same mother but different fathers, are the "matchmakers" for sending flowers, and also protect the altar master and his disciples (the Nuo opera troupe), and so on. There are also Mo Yi and Mo Er, responsible for capturing wild ghosts, and the Three Realm Lord who drives away disease ghosts and blesses relatives and friends with peace. Another difference between "Doing Tiao" and general child-seeking rituals is that the Nuo opera troupe wears masks to perform some stories with complete plots, entertaining both gods and people.
The Libo Buyi Nuo opera masks include wooden carved masks, leather mold masks, bamboo sheath masks, and bamboo-woven paper-pasted masks, with 36 masks per set, each mask representing a deity. Each deity has a scripture book describing its appearance, function, divine power, and origin. Each deity has names in both Buyi and Chinese languages, but the performance mainly uses the Buyi language.
The masks and altar images (i.e., the deity images hung and posted on the altar) are carved and painted according to the descriptions of each deity in the scripture books. Most are one deity per image, but there are also cases of multiple deities in one image, such as the Three Yuan deity image of Tang, Ge, and Zhou, three brothers with the same mother but different fathers, one literary, one martial, and one medical. Most are multiple deities in one image, but there are also cases where each of the literary, martial, and medical aspects is sculpted into a separate image. All masks and deity images are vivid and lifelike. The altar images center on the Ten Thousand Years Sovereign in the "fertility diagram" for seeking, sending, and protecting children, surrounded by over 120 subordinate deities, while deities like the Flower Forest Immortal Official have individual images hung or posted on both sides. From an artistic perspective, the colors and forms of the deity images are more diverse and vibrant than the masks, with more prominent individual characteristics and features. According to incomplete statistics, currently, over 20 deity images have been collected from the folk by units and individuals, and there are about a hundred in the hands of folk Mo masters and altar masters, most of which are works from the Ming and Qing dynasties, with a few reproductions from the Republic of China period and present day. The 36 masks represent the Holy Mother of Ten Thousand Years Sovereign, Flower Forest Immortal Official, Six Bridge Green Snake Judge, Father of the Temple of Birth Flower King, Three Yuan Marshals of This Temple (Three Yuan refers to the three brothers Tang, Ge, and Zhou with the same mother but different fathers), Six Palaces of the Prince, Double Dragon Tree King, Nine Ladies, Five Functionaries, Li Yingshe King, Ou Official, Meng Official, Lord Feng Ao, Lord Qin Jiu, Ta Di Xu, Le Liang, Thunder King, Writing Nuo (also called "Thanking Nuo"), Mo Yi, Mo Er, Wu Tong, Dragon Lord, White Horse, Three Realm Lord, Monkey King, Upper Lord Seven Lang, Cloud Scraper, Dye Wu, Lu Ban, and others.
The central figure among these deities is the Holy Mother of Ten Thousand Years Sovereign in the "fertility diagram," which is the "Flower King Holy Mother" widely believed by the Buyi people, also called "Flower Grandmother" or "Grandmother King." She is the deity in charge of childbirth and also the protector of children's growth. Most of the others are mythical and powerful figures from the local area, this ethnic group, or other ethnic groups. For example, Mo Yi is the most revered heroic figure in the legends of the local Zhuang and Buyi people, known as the Great King Mo Yi of the Heavenly Holy Land; Ou Official, Meng Official, Feng Ao, Lord Qin Jiu, Dragon Lord, and others are representative figures in the mythologies of the Buyi, Shui, and Yao ethnic groups; while the Three Yuan and Three Realms are mythical figures created under the influence of Taoism and Buddhism after their introduction. Some of these characters have been briefly recorded by previous scholars and local chronicles. For instance, Liu Xifan's "Record of the Southern Barbarians" states that the Holy Mother is also named Flower Grandmother, "All births of sons and daughters are bestowed by Flower Grandmother." It also says, "If children are often ill, then shamans are invited to 'build bridges' and 'cut colorful flowers' to pray to Flower Grandmother." The "Sanjiang County Chronicles" states, "The Flower Forest Holy Mother and Great King Mo Yi are worshipped by the Zhuang people, who also know their origins," and so on.
The Libo Buyi fertility Nuo has scriptures, commonly known as "Nuo books." There are various folk sayings about their quantity. Some say there are 36 books, some say 24, some say only 12, and others say there are 72 or over 100. Which statement is correct cannot be determined based on currently available information and requires further excavation and investigation.
Each Buyi Nuo opera troupe has 15 performers, all disciples of the altar master. They are required to be familiar with the Nuo books, able to recite and read them fluently, perform rituals, understand some martial arts, be good at singing and dancing, and each person must be able to play at least two roles; there is no age limit, ranging from 10 years old to septuagenarians. Additionally, there are 2 people playing bronze drums, 2 playing waist drums, 2 playing bronze gongs, 3 playing cymbals, 2 playing suona horns, 2 playing large horns, 2 setting off firecrackers, totaling 21 musicians.
Props include one dragon-headed walking stick, one ox horn trumpet, one set of ox horn divination tools, one command tablet, one bell, two bamboo boxes for storing Nuo books, one black umbrella, one writing brush, one ink stick, one ink stone, one slingshot, one flagpole, one wooden spear, one machete, one wooden stick, one palm rope, one flower tube, one pumpkin, one treasure sword, one command sword, several weapons for catching ghosts and exorcising evil such as knives and forks, one axe, one saw, 4 firecrackers, etc., totaling over 60 items. Musical instruments include 2 bronze drums, 2 waist drums, one large and one small bronze gong each, one set each of large, medium, and small cymbals, 2 suona horns, 2 large horns, 2 erhu, one set of sister flutes, one bronze bell, one set of bamboo clappers, totaling over 20 items.
Costumes include over 20 sets from the Buyi, Yao, and Shui ethnic groups. Among them are 1 yellow robe for the altar master, 3 flowered robes (one each with red base and green flowers, white base and golden yellow flowers, purple base and white flowers), 1 pair of wooden high-heeled shoes; 10 sets of Buyi men's clothing, 2 sets of women's pleated skirt style, 2 Shui girl's dresses, 1 set each of White Pants Yao men's and women's festive clothing, plus 1 blue flowered skirt.
The Libo Buyi Nuo opera set design is very particular, divided into interior and exterior scenes. The interior scene is mainly for entertaining the gods, while the exterior scene is mainly for entertaining people.
Interior scene: Set up in the main hall of the host's home, with an eight-immortal table placed in the center of the hall, one side against the wall, and a long bench on each side of the table. A "memorial arch" made of bamboo surrounds the table and benches. The upper part of the arch is decorated with colorful paper cut-outs of various animals such as dragons, snakes, chickens, ducks, elephants, cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, and donkeys. In the center of the wall above the eight-immortal table hangs the image of the "Ten Thousand Years Sovereign Holy Mother," with other deity images hung on both sides in order of importance from large to small. Two bamboo poles are tied to the front edge of the eight-immortal table, forming the frame for a bridge made of bamboo strips. The upper half of the bridge is a semi-circular red paper about 1 meter wide, cut into four rows of lively boys and girls, surrounded by traditional Buyi geometric patterns and designs. At the top of the bamboo poles is a flower tube, commonly called the "bridge stick." The altar master refers to the interior scene as the "altar." On the table in front of the altar are several cups of wine, a bowl of rice, and other offerings, along with several sticks of incense and a vegetable oil lamp. Nuo books, props, masks, musical instruments, etc., are all placed in front of the altar. Couplets with content praising the gods are pasted on both sides of doors and windows. For example, on the main door, the left side reads "On an auspicious day, we offer thanks to the gods," the right side reads "On this joyous occasion, we fulfill our vows to Grandmother King," and the horizontal scroll reads "The grace of the land runs deep." Outside the door is a offering table with offerings and incense. Deity images are hung on the door panels, commonly called "door guardians" or "gate-keeping gods."
Exterior scene: On the 7th day of the Nuo opera performance, the altar master and his disciples choose a wide, flat area in the field in front of the village. Three eight-immortal tables are placed in the center, with all offerings and props displayed. Thirty-six pine trees, about 5 meters tall and of varying sizes, are planted in a line from large to small, about 1 meter apart. Offerings are tied to the base of each tree. A large fat pig is tied to the first tree, a duck each to the 12th to 16th trees, and a chicken each to the 17th to 36th trees. If there are not enough animals, a piece of pork weighing over 500 grams or symbolic bamboo-Here's the continuation of the translation:
woven paper-pasted animals can be used as substitutes.
Currently, the repertoire of Libo Buyi Nuo opera includes 12 plays: "Dragon Lord Sets Up the Altar," "Wild Boar Steals Sweet Potatoes," "Old Yao Goes Hunting," "Slaughtering Animals in the Wild," "Fighting for Raw Meat," "Teasing the In-laws," "Breaking the Melon to Get a Child," "Dragon Lord Sells a Horse," "Mistakenly Cutting the Camphor Tree," "Carrying a Chicken into the House," "Begging for Straw Sandals," and "Begging for Flowers to Seek a Child." These plays are all sourced from and created in folk traditions, focusing on reflecting Buyi society, culture, and love, and are authentic ethnic minority folk plays. Here are introductions to a few of these plays:
"Old Yao Goes Hunting" is performed by two young men. The taller one plays Old Yao, wearing White Pants Yao youth clothing, looking handsome and dashing, with a mask named "Dragon Lord"; the other, slightly shorter young man dresses as a woman, wearing a mask named "Le Liang," who is Old Yao's wife. Dragon Lord carries a gun on his shoulder and a crescent-shaped machete on his waist, taking his wife to the mountains for hunting. After entering the mountains, he discovers many animals and starts shooting left and right without even notifying his wife, getting more and more excited, forgetting that he brought his wife along to hunt. When he calms down and suddenly remembers his wife, he searches the mountains, only to find her among the hunted animals. It turns out that in his excitement, Dragon Lord had become dizzy and red-eyed, mistakenly shooting his own wife as prey. Dragon Lord abandons the prey, crying and seeking divination, repenting and confessing to heaven and earth, gaining the sympathy of the gods. With the help of the gods, his wife is resurrected, and the couple reunites. This play reflects the hardships and joys of primitive hunting life. It also reflects the story of losing a wife while hunting, created by the Buyi ancestors who, despite primarily engaging in agriculture, had a love for hunting.
"Breaking the Melon to Get a Child" is a story reflecting human reproduction. The story is derived from the Chinese ancient legend of Fuxi and Nüwa, brother and sister who married to propagate humankind. This play follows the previous one, with Dragon Lord and Le Liang falling in love, marrying, dying, and reuniting. Le Liang holds a large pumpkin, pretending to be pregnant. The "Flower Forest Immortal Official" comes and takes the pumpkin, with the baby crying continuously. The audience cheers, "It's born! It's born!" Fan Xu appears, breaks open the pumpkin to take the seeds, scattering them in all directions while chanting: "Scattered to the north become the Mo family (identified as still belonging to the Buyi ethnicity), scattered to the east become the Buxui (the Shui ethnicity's self-appellation and the Buyi's name for the Shui), scattered to the south become the Buzhuang (Zhuang ethnicity), scattered to the west become the Budong (Dong ethnicity), scattered to the center become the Buyi ethnicity." This story not only reflects human mythology but also reveals the truth of the common origin of the Zhuang, Shui, Dong, and Buyi ethnicities, all descendants of the ancient Yue people.
"Teasing the In-laws" is the play with the strongest local flavor and the most theatrical color. It is the most exciting play performed by the Nuo opera troupe on the 7th day of "Doing Tiao" in the fields, with the largest audience, and can be considered the climax of the "Doing Tiao" ritual.
The scene of "Doing Tiao" in the fields is quite spectacular, with thousands of spectators. The altar master and his disciples all wear masks and, led by the altar master, freely tease the guests from the in-laws' side. Dragon Lord, holding a wooden gun, forcibly tries to sell his gun to the guests from the in-laws' side. When they refuse to buy, he sprinkles the ashes previously loaded in the gun barrel onto the heads of the in-laws' guests. The mischievous and lively Monkey King runs to ask the in-laws' guests for meat to eat. When they say they don't have any, the Monkey King reaches out to grab the crotch of the in-laws' guests. White Horse, holding a fork, tries to exchange his fork with the in-laws' girls. When the girls say they don't have forks to exchange, White Horse reaches out to touch the girls' breasts, and so on. The most interesting are a group of "ghost gods" wearing masks. Some hold up slaughtered animals with a tuft of hair intentionally left on the head, pointing at the tuft and saying, "Look everyone, this is the in-laws' braid!" (The meaning of this is yet to be determined). Some hold pig or dog intestines and shout loudly, "The in-laws have dropped their intestines, whose are they? Please come and claim them quickly!" and so on. At this time, the audience bursts into wild cheers, immersed in an ocean of joy.
Buyi opera curtain
The next day, when seeing off the guests, all the men, women, old and young in the village quietly carry buckets full of water and hide at various exits of the village. When the in-laws' guests start to leave the village to return home, people suddenly emerge from hiding places, holding basins and pouring water towards the guests. One side splashes, the other side dodges, with both sides cheering loudly. Women from the host village splash water on male guests from the in-laws' side, while men from the host village splash water on female guests from the in-laws' side. If any guest runs away, people from the host village pick up water buckets and chase after them, pouring bucket after bucket of water on the guests. If not all guests are soaked, it means the hosts haven't shown enough love, and if guests aren't wet, it means they have bad luck. Therefore, both sides play with great joy.
When performing these plays, except for a few plays that show some restraint due to religious influence, most plays are very free. The performers are not restricted by venue or time. Sometimes, in their excitement, audience members also spontaneously join in the performance. Lyrics and dialogues are improvised on the spot, not bound by form, fully demonstrating the characteristics of folk art, integrating performers and audience, turning the performance venue into a place for emotional release and exchange.
Libo Buyi Nuo opera, with its content of seeking and protecting children, is a 7-day and 7-night activity invited by individual households to perform at home, intertwined with folk customs from beginning to end.
This activity was very common in the past. For Buyi males, it was not specified when in their lifetime, but they had to hold it once. Later, in some areas, it evolved into an event held only for those who had been married for a long time without children, while ordinary people could choose to do it or not. There are two forms: one is called "Doing Tiao," inviting a Nuo opera troupe for a 7-day and 7-night activity; the other is called "Building Bridges," only inviting a Bumo or altar master with a few disciples for a 3-day and 3-night activity. Which form the host chooses depends entirely on the host family's economic situation. Families with good economic conditions choose the former, while those with poorer economic conditions, even extremely poor ones, must also hold the ritual according to the latter, otherwise it would affect the next life.
If we say that "Yamian" and "Fertility Nuo" are mainly a form of drama to entertain gods, then the Buyi opera popular in Ceheng, Anlong, and Xingyi areas is a pure aesthetic, people-entertaining form of drama.
Buyi opera is one of the two minority ethnic operas (Buyi opera and Dong opera) in Guizhou. In terms of subject matter and content, Buyi opera plays fall into two categories: one is plays adapted from Han Chinese historical stories and folk legends, such as "The Python Story," "The Willow Shade Story," "Qin Xianglian," "Xue Rengui's Eastern Expedition," "Fan Lihua," and so on. The other is plays based on Buyi folk legends, stories, or real events. Their content includes reflections on class struggle and ethnic conflicts, praises of ethnic heroes, and depictions of Buyi love life. Plays include "Wang Yulian," "Poor Son-in-law," "Loss of Both People and Wealth," "The Third Day of the Third Month," and others.
Buyi opera troupes are formed by people from one village, named after the village. A troupe consists of more than a dozen people who can perform a complete story. The dialogue and lyrics in Buyi opera are all in the Buyi language, with Chinese used only in courtroom trials and self-introductions in plays adapted from Han Chinese. The roles are mainly based on two xiaos (clown and young female) or three xiaos (adding young male), but later, absorbing relevant roles from other operas and adapting to the needs of Buyi opera performances, roles such as officials, kings, generals, male leads, female leads, painted-face roles, and clowns appeared. When performing, different roles have corresponding patterns and characteristics. For example, when the clown enters the stage, he holds a fan, lifts his feet and jumps while walking, turns around every three steps, with humorous actions; when the young female enters the stage, she moves slowly and steadily, with every step matching the rhythm, appearing graceful. When performing plays transplanted from Han Chinese, generally, military generals wear battle robes, civil officials and scholars wear long robes with water sleeves and square hats, and facial makeup is applied lightly according to the different roles. The melodies of Buyi opera are similar to Buyi folk songs, lingering and melodious, with lyrics often adapted from Buyi folk songs.
Buyi colorful tune opera was introduced to Ceheng from Baile Township in Guangxi in 1948. Colorful tune opera was formed under the influence of Guangxi Southern Zhuang opera. When it was first introduced to Ceheng, all singing and dialogue were in Chinese. The programs performed were all Han Chinese legends and stories, such as "Yutang Spring." Later, local artists adapted and recreated them according to their own ethnic literary and artistic traditions, composing plays based on real events from their own ethnic social life and bringing them to the stage, with performances mostly in the Buyi language.
Buyi opera and Buyi colorful tune opera are popular art forms among the Buyi people, constantly absorbing beneficial elements from Han Chinese and other ethnic minority theatrical arts, creating and developing them according to their own aesthetic views, appreciation tastes, ideals, and pursuits, with a broad mass base. The Buyi colorful tune opera "Luo Xixing" won the "Peacock Cup" award at the National Ethnic Minority Opera Video Performance in Kunming in November 1984.
Ceheng has more than 20 Buyi opera troupes performing year-round. In March 1994, the Guizhou Provincial Department of Culture named Naiyan Township (now Badu Town) in Ceheng County as the "Hometown of Buyi Opera Art." In November 1995, the Ministry of Culture of China named Naiyan Township as "China's Hometown of Folk Art." In 2006, with the approval of the State Council, Buyi opera was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage.
In addition to the above-mentioned opera styles, influenced by Han culture, there are also lantern operas and ground operas among the Buyi people.
Lantern Opera
Lantern opera is a Han folk art. In some Buyi areas such as Dushan, Libo, and Ceheng, Buyi artists learned and mastered it, introducing it to the Buyi people. Among these, Dushan in southern Guizhou is the most prominent.
There are different opinions in academia about the origin of Buyi lantern opera. For Dushan lantern opera, the current tendency is to believe it originated from Jiangxi tea-picking tunes and Yiyang tunes, and absorbed musical elements from Guangxi Zhuang colorful tunes. It can be said to be a product of the fusion of Han folk art and ethnic minority folk art. The lantern operas in Libo and Ceheng, on the other hand, mainly originate from Guangxi Zhuang colorful tunes.
Dushan lantern opera initially focused on singing and dancing, with programs such as "A San Teases the Old Man," "The Spiritual Officer Sweeps the Stage," "Stepping on the New Stage," "Hitting the Head Stage," and so on. With the development of transportation and prosperity of commerce, dramas from other places constantly entered, and artists also continuously went to neighboring provinces for observation and exchange. As a result, dramatic programs gradually appeared, such as "The Red Lantern," "The Huaiyin Story," "The Return of the Soul," "Five Mice Disturb Eastern Capital," and others.
From the perspective of performance form, the original lantern operas were all performed in squares or courtyards, called ground lanterns. After the introduction of dramatic elements, they moved onto stages and were called stage lanterns.
Folk lantern operas in Dushan mainly have two functions: entertainment and accompanying vow-fulfilling ritual activities. After Buyi artists introduced lantern operas, to enhance the performance effect, they used the Buyi language for singing. In the first half of the 20th century, among the four famous dan (female role) performers in Dushan, three were Buyi: Chen Ziming, Shi Yucheng, and Lu Shuqi. This shows the popularity of lantern opera among the Buyi people in Dushan.
Ground Opera
Ground opera is mainly popular among the Han people in the Anshun and Pingba areas of central Guizhou. It was brought to Guizhou by the Ming dynasty army during the "Northern Expedition to the South" in the early Ming dynasty. It was a training activity of "combining soldiers with farmers" to prevent resistance from ethnic minorities. Academic circles call it "military Nuo." Later, it gradually spread to the Buyi people. It is popular among the Buyi people in Anshun, Pingba, Ziyun, Changshun, Puding, Zhenning, Huishui, as well as Huaxi and Baiyun in Guiyang. Here we focus on introducing Huaxi ground opera and Penglai ground opera to give a glimpse of the whole picture.
Huaxi ground opera originated from ancient "disguise Nuo." "Disguise Nuo" was a sacrificial ritual held to expel plague ghosts, welcome gods, and ensure peace. Ground opera is one of the earliest opera types introduced to Huaxi and other areas in Guiyang. According to the "Guiyang Prefecture Chronicles" compiled by He Changling in the 26th year of Daoguang (1846) in the Qing dynasty: "The local people, Guizhu, Guangshun, and Guiding all have it. At the beginning of the year, they welcome mountain spirits, perform Nuo in villages and camps, beat drums and sing divine songs. Wherever they go, they are given food and drink." The ground opera in the Huaxi area still retains these customs today. For example, the performance time is always at the beginning of the first month, and before the performance, incense is lit, candles are lit, and sacrificial activities and wealth-opening ceremonies are held.
Like the ground opera in the garrison, the content of the plays in Dazhai Buyi ground opera mostly comes from historical romances and folk legends about heroic stories of iron and blood. Compared with the garrison ground opera, the performers in Dazhai Buyi ground opera no longer wear the armor and battle robes full of martial spirit in the garrison ground opera, but instead wear blue shirts and long gowns with peach blossom decorations, showing beauty in simplicity. The female roles in the play are all men dressed as women, and in the rough and heroic exciting fights, there are occasional gentle performance elements. The entire performance has dance within fight and uses singing instead of speaking. The singing parts are short and powerful, with more theatrical viewing effects compared to the garrison ground opera.
Requesting "faces" (masks) is a very particular opening ceremony when performing ground opera. The face-requesting ceremony in garrison ground opera usually requires the participation of the entire opera troupe.
Here's the continuation of the translation:
During the performance, the carefully stored "faces" must be solemnly requested from the box for them to possess the spirit of the gods. However, in the Dazhai Buyi ground opera we saw, while maintaining tradition, they also retain their own characteristics. Usually, the requesting of "faces" is completed by a local elder alone, with everything being very simple. The prayers during the ceremony are all in the local Buyi language, adding a unique flavor to the performance.
In Huaxi, Guiyang, there are 18 troupes (opera groups) in total: Huaxi Dazhai, Sirang in Yanlou, Huaizhou, Yanlou Village (which has two troupes), Gumeng, Dangyang in Dangwu, Kuilin Village, Xinzhai, Xiaba, Xinmin in Huchao, Yangmei, Yingong, Chetian, Luguan, Wangguan, Yuanfang, and Shanmu Second Village in Maiping. The plays performed by these ground opera troupes are all historical stories such as "Xue Rengui's Eastern Expedition," "Yang Family Generals," "Luo Tong Sweeps the North," "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," "The Story of Yue Fei," etc. The performance venues are convenient for people to watch. All performers wear masks, the costumes are simple, and they sing to the rhythm of drums. One person leads the singing, and others join in, without the accompaniment of other musical instruments.
In the past, Penglai ground opera was only performed for one day during the Spring Festival each year, or when some wealthy families held ceremonies. The entire performance activity had to go through procedures and stages such as opening the box, inviting the gods, dispatching troops, inspecting troops, worshiping the mountain king, worshiping the earth god, opening the wealth door, setting up the stage for performance, sweeping the stage, withdrawing troops, inspecting troops, closing the box, eating the performance meal, and so on. Many techniques in ground opera come from imitating warfare. The dance movements have a small range of extension, close to stepping and moving, not like the free-flowing body movements in regular dances, fully demonstrating that the dance movements in ground opera have strong characteristics of freehand brushwork.
Penglai ground opera has a feature different from ground operas in other areas, that is, singing and dancing are separate, the so-called "singers do not dance, dancers do not sing." The ground opera troupe is divided into singing team, dancing team, and music team, with clear division of responsibilities. In ground operas in places like Anshun, they sing and dance at the same time. In Penglai ground opera, after it begins, some people sing, and after the singing is finished, others dance, "singing first, dancing later," alternating in this way. The singing in Penglai ground opera has neither chorus nor accompaniment, the tunes are basically the same, completely a cappella singing. The entire opera text uses seven-syllable sentences, with drumming and dancing after every two lines of singing.
The third part of "Opening the Wealth Door" in the play "Yang Family Generals" of Penglai ground opera is the most wonderful part. The "Opening the Wealth Door Song and Dance" in it involves the singing team facing away from the host's main door singing the "Opening the Wealth Door Song," mainly wishing the host family "May your wealth door be wide open in all four seasons, with gold and silver treasures rolling in." Meanwhile, the dance team lines up in a row, facing the host family's main door to dance. "Opening the Wealth Door" satisfies the folk psychological desire for good fortune, which is why this opera style has been preserved among the Buyi people.
It is also of the people, growing quietly among the folk and being revered by people.
During important festivals, especially from the Beginning of Spring to the first month of the lunar year, "bamboo horse, big Nuo, harmony, lion dances, wearing colorful clothes and masks to dance," with gongs and drums everywhere, every household "jumping Nuo," hundreds of villagers bringing out lanterns and joining the Nuo troupes and drama troupes to tour villages and fortresses - these scenes are the best testament.
It represents people's awe for nature and deities, and more importantly, it represents people's good wishes for blessings and auspiciousness.
As times evolve, Nuo culture is also being preserved, continued, and inherited.
In today's increasingly prosperous modern technological civilization, the rustic Nuo Masks and primitive dances that record the ancient genes of Chinese civilization exude a unique charm.
Similarly, this is also a unique flavor of the New Year and nostalgia on the Ganpo land.
