Nuo is the only ancient Nuo opera in the Yellow River valley, and it is called "the living fossil of drama". It is a ritual in the ancient totem worship period, with the purpose of praying for the gods to drive away ghosts and plagues and bless the people to live a peaceful life. Nuo culture came into being in the late stage of witch culture development. At that time, mankind had entered the era of farming, and birds were an important helper in farming at this time. Therefore, Nuo is also a sacrificial activity, and the object of sacrifice is birds. The folks in Guichi, Anhui Province, are known as the proverb "No village can be built without Nuo". Almost all the families who lived here before the Qing Dynasty had Nuo activities. At present, it is popular in many villages in the east and south of Guichi, as well as Lingyang, du cun and other towns in Qingyang County. Its activities are limited to the social sacrificial circle established by families or different families because of geographical relationship or in-laws relationship. Reflect the characteristics of ancient farming culture. Nuo originated from the pursuit of epidemic diseases in primitive society. There is an Oracle in Oracle Bone Inscriptions to drive away epidemic ghosts indoors. "The Analects of Confucius and the Rural Party" recorded "villagers' Nuo". Every year, a ceremony of "Nuo" was held in front of the palace in the Han Dynasty. In addition to wearing masks to imitate twelve kinds of god beasts and dancing to exorcise ghosts, there are also children singing divine songs with drums. The anti-epidemic activities in Guichi, also known as Nuo, followed the ancient Nuo cultural tradition in the Central Plains. Advocating Guichi is located in the south of the Yangtze River, which was the land of Jingchu in wuyue in ancient times, and belongs to the rice producing area. Therefore, Guichi Nuo has its own distinctive regional cultural characteristics, which is the product of long-term blending of Central Plains culture and Yue Chu culture. The history of Nuo spread in Guichi is not recorded in the history books. The local chronicles of Jiajing Chizhou in the Ming Dynasty first briefly summarized the Nuo activities in Guichi area. Compared with today, the recorded activities are basically the same. A Qing Lang Sui's Records of Xinghua Village records the pilgrimage of Prince Xiao Tong of Liang Zhaoming (known as the "landlord" by Chi people) to the Nuo team in Chizhou on August 15th. It is proved that before Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, Guichi held a nationwide pilgrimage every autumn, which reflected the farming cultural tradition of praying for the land in spring and reporting in autumn. Studying Guichi Nuo from the existing ritual dance, drama, music and folk activities is the product of long-term cultural accumulation. It has both the original connotation of nature worship and the influence of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. In terms of art, the levels of ancient culture are also clearly displayed, such as Yan Dance and Tai Dance in Han Dynasty, Huteng Dance in Tang Dynasty and Xiliang Geisha. In the drama, we can also see the influence of Bianwen, Ci-Hua, puppet, village folk songs, zaju and Nanxi in the Song Dynasty on Nuo culture. Therefore, Guichi Nuo has multi-disciplinary research value. After Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty, because of the influence of many wars, the Nuo opera activities in Guichi gradually declined, and some families' Nuo operas were lost, and those that were not lost also showed the degradation of their skills because of the long drop-out time. At the end of 1960s, Nuo activities once disappeared. Since 1982, some villages have resumed performances. Nuo in Wu 'an, Hebei Province consists of two parts: sacrifice and performance. Sometimes these two parts are separate, and sometimes they cross. It will be held on the 14th, 15th and 16th of the first month. Sacrifice consists of four parts: inviting God, welcoming God, offering God and sending God away. According to the memory of the old man in Guyi Village, there were more than 60 divine cards in the old society. The performances mainly include team play (including mask play), competition play, float, dry boat, dragon dance, lion dance, overlord whip, martial arts and other folk art forms. More than 600 people directly participated in the performance, including more than 0/000 assistants/kloc. The highlight of Wuannao is to catch the yellow ghost. Catch the Yellow Ghost is a pantomime performed in the street, and its roles include Yan Luowang, the judge, GREAT GHOST, the second ghost, the jumping ghost and the caught yellow ghost. The yellow ghost is not only the personality image of floods, insect pests, epidemics and other disasters, but also the representative of evil forces such as disobedience and unfilial, bullying the weak and fearing the hard. Through a series of ceremonies, it shows the people's good wishes to overcome natural disasters and yearn for a happy life. Nuo Opera in Wu 'an presents distinctive cultural characteristics of the Yellow River Basin, and its scale, momentum, content, historical and cultural implications and enthusiasm for mass participation are rare in China. It is reported that Hebei Province has listed "Wu 'an Nuo" as one of the top ten national folk culture rescue projects in the province. According to expert research, Wu 'an Nuo has a history of at least 500 years. During the Cultural Revolution, activities regarded as superstitious stopped performing, and Lantern Festival 1987 resumed. Under normal circumstances, Nuo opera performances must be held for three consecutive years, and then closed for another three years. In case of major social changes or natural disasters, respond at any time. Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province is called the treasure house of Nuo culture in China by Nuo researchers, not only because it has a long history, but also because it has three treasures of Nuo temples, Nuo masks and Nuo dances that are not found in other regions. There are a large number of Nuo temples in these three treasures, which are the largest in China. The remains of ancient Nuo masks are the best in China. In Pingxiang, the reporter learned that Pingxiang Nuo has a huge lineup, with at most 126 masks. Then, Pingxiang Nuo, which has been passed down to this day, is it all jade tiles in the face of multiple historical and cultural shocks for thousands of years? Pingxiang has a legend about "bronze mask". It is said that the ancient Nuo masks were all made of copper. It was extinct more than a thousand years ago because of "blasphemy" and was carved with camphor wood. It is reasonable for folks to say that "Da 'anli emperors take turns to do it". One theory is that five Nuo teams compete for the last bronze mask, and finally the ancestors mediate, and the five Nuo teams offer bronze masks in turn every year. Pingxiang proverb "Five Miles and One General, Ten Miles and One God (Temple)" pushed Nuo to its peak. According to textual research, the reason is that Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the rule of the Yuan Dynasty and established the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, and immediately sent Dugu Town, an Anhui native, to take over Pingxiang. Because of the epidemic situation, Dugu town is a believer, so it used Nuo to drive the epidemic situation in Pingxiang. Xu Zeng, the magistrate of Pingxiang County in Qing Dynasty, once wrote a Nuo poem in Pingxiang dialect: "Fifty cents a year, I pretend to be the Spring Festival and am busy with people inside and outside the city; Fortunately, Taiping is not a big problem. I will go dancing with you. "It can be seen that Nuo opera has become one of the cultural activities in Pingxiang where officials and people have fun together. Wei said that in 1994, when Xue, vice president of China Academy of Art and consultant of China Nuo Research Association, inspected Pingxiang Nuo culture, he praised "Pingxiang Nuo culture has three treasures, which are rare in China". Not only that, Professor Liang Rensheng of the Central Academy of Fine Arts also said: "The Nuo culture in Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province is very wonderful, and some of them are more personal, that is, images created on the basis of local images. "Presumably, in addition to Nuo dancing, Nuo masks and Nuo temples, Professor Liang was also shocked by the weapons brought by Nuo God when he' came out of the hole' (traveled), the Nuo sedan chair used to place the masks of General Tang, Ge and Wednesday, and the quaint and gorgeous Nuo clothes. Pingxiang Nuo, a "living fossil", has finally won praises from all directions: 199 1 year. Pingxiang Nuo participated in the China folk culture art exhibition, a stone Nuo weapon more than 3,000 years ago and a batch of simple and unconstrained Nuo dance videos, which attracted the appreciation of the capital audience and scholars from all over the world. Hu Qiaomu, a former member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, lamented: "You have done a good job in excavating and rescuing ancient culture"; Gillam, director of the French National Arts Council, commented: "Seeing Nuo culture in Pingxiang is as novel as a child seeing the moon for the first time" ... Jiangxi Nuo culture is unique to Jiangxi. Jiangxi has many local forms, such as Youshi Nuo in Nanfeng, Liukeng Nuo in Le 'an, Changjing Nuo in Wuyuan, Shaqiao Nuo in Pingxiang, Zhangshu Nuo in De 'an and so on. There are also Nuo opera performances in other parts of China. But the remarkable feature of Jiangxi Nuo is that it is penniless and divided into martial arts. Literature Nuo mainly focuses on performing small dramas of life, while martial arts Nuo mainly focuses on suppressing and abolishing wars, loyalty between monarch and minister, and spreading love and affection, and mainly focuses on performing force and fighting skills. Wanzai Shaqiao Nuo takes all kinds of gods in heaven, underground and the underworld as Nuo, with a total of 24 * * *. 17 kinds of Nuo operas are mostly martial arts Nuo operas, which are not limited to simple Nuo ceremonies, but also perform Nuo operas with plots, of which Guan Yu Opera is the key. " "Gu Chenghui" is unique among the Eighteen Books of Jiangxi Opera, which is mostly because Jiangxi Nuo Opera prefers the drama with Guan Yu as its theme. Liukeng Nuo in Le 'an has changed from sacrifice to entertainment, showing more themes such as Journey to the West, worship of gods and Three Kingdoms, and Wushu Nuo has gradually gained practical value. In the 19th year of Liu Tong Tunnel Light in Le 'an (1839), the book "A Brief Introduction to the Ming God in the East Yin of Liuxi in Le Yi" said: The ancients died of old age, and it is still the way of the ancients to serve as this god in my hometown. My ancestors built the north wall of the temple and an enemy tower on the gate of Chen Gong. Sacrifice Yan Chu Guan Di and accept the faces of the gods. Origin, my family lives in Gukou, which is actually a road through Guangshan, Fujian. When you quarrel, you are repeatedly killed. I tried to repair my military equipment in my last life. I used drama and dance as training to calm its inner atmosphere and resist its external insults. However, although things are close to the scene and Zhou Li's department has been abolished, he seems to dare not be rude and kill two birds with one stone. People have done things in ancient times. Why can't I be alone? Because of discipline. At the end of each year, disciples will practice boxing club cards. At the beginning of the Spring Festival, combining acting skills, pretending to be an ancient biography, it became a department that taught and performed the art of war. (A village lasts forever, Zhou Luanshu, p. 40 1 page) During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, Fujian, Guangxi and Jiangxi were often invaded by bandits, and the main purpose of Liukeng Nuo was to "practice boxing and stick the cards" and "teach and perform the art of war" to resist bandits, so "witchcraft Nuo" became the first choice. The long-standing Nuo Opera activities and the performing tradition of Mulian Opera in Jiangxi have had an important influence on the traditional drama code and performance style of Gan Opera, forming a broad stage for heroic romance dramas here. However, with the development of other southern operas, Yiyang Opera in Ming Dynasty transplanted some dramas from southern operas and legends, such as Pearl, Selling Water, Great Wall, Eight Meanings, Sanyuan, Parrot, White Snake, Eleven Meanings, Luoyang Bridge and Qingfeng Pavilion. Although the combination of these early dramas and Yiyang Opera influenced the high-pitched dramas often performed by the people and became the "Eighteen Plays", their invasion will not reduce the status of Miaolian Taiwanese Opera. For example, all kinds of performances in Jiangxi Gaoqiang are mainly historical dramas. Historical plays account for a large proportion in various performances every year. For example, there are strict regulations on the performance of the temple fair stage: "three-legged class" is not allowed to perform in the temple; Invite large classes to perform temple fairs every year; Sing "Five Sages Drama" in the first month, "Duanyang Drama" in May and "Guanye Drama" in June. (History of China Opera (Jiangxi Volume), 645 pages, China ISBN Center, 1998) [Edit this paragraph] Viewpoint: The most mysterious characters in Chinese characters are the oldest and most mysterious characters in a huge Chinese character library (more than 80,000 words in total, usually about 3,500 words). I think it should be Nuo (traditional Nuo). What is the original meaning of "promise"? From the records of the Analects of Confucius, The Book of Rites and other ancient books to the explanations of dictionaries such as Ci Yuan and Ci Hai, Nuo is regarded as a ceremony to drive away epidemic ghosts, but the explanation of the word itself is almost vague. Most Chinese characters are composed of pictographs, meanings and notes. Judging from the shape of Nuo characters, "people", "friends" and "foreigners" are the three major elements that constitute Nuo characters. If we can understand the relationship between the three, we may understand the original meaning of the word "Nuo". The word Nuo, which comes from "human", is naturally an important activity directly related to the daily life of ancient human beings. The word "Nuo" begins with "Tian Zhong" (overlapping with "Tian Zhong" under the prefix "Mi"). Although "Nuo" is a note, it also has the meaning of the season itself. Shuowen means: "It's time. ".It can be seen that Nuo should be an activity closely related to the agricultural season and solar terms. The word "Nuo" comes from "Nuo" (short-tailed bird). From the perspective of primitive totem worship, "Nuo" seems to be related to the worship of bird spirits of ancient farming people. From this, it seems that Nuo is a seasonal sacrificial activity, and the object of its sacrifice is undoubtedly the god bird (that is, Nuo God). This can also be confirmed from a large number of ancient rice farming sites unearthed. The decorative patterns and furniture of Sun God Birds in Liangzhu, Hemudu and Gaomiao sites symbolize the bird worship custom of ancient farming people. Because rice farmers who have studied "livestock farming and bird farming" all regard the bird god as the god of harvest, and the main function of its Nuo sacrifice is to pray for the bird god to bless the rice harvest. Looking at the extension of Nuo, it is enough for people to eat glutinous rice, wear rice, live in buildings, take the road, play gongs, shoot crossbows and worship rice ... Why do these words closely related to people's daily life always circle in this Nuo sound? There is only one explanation: the ancient rice planter worshipped Nuo and formed its religious belief. Nuo God is a sunbird, a symbol of light, and represents healthy qi in the world, so Nuo sacrifice is used to exorcise evil spirits. Nuo sacrifice is a large-scale religious ceremony, which must be arranged in a unified way, so Nuo sacrifice can also be interpreted as "doing well", which means "Mei Sheng". The original meaning of Nuo is the worship of the divine bird. Birds are more obedient in the hearts of rice farmers, so Nuo means "obedience".

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