Sacrifice to the sea in Qinghai Lake

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: sacrifice to the sea in Qinghai Lake

Applicant: Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province

Item No.: 993

Project No.: Ⅹ - 86

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: folk customs

Region: Qinghai Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province

Protection unit: Mass Art Museum of Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province

A brief introduction to the sacrifice to the sea in Qinghai Lake

Applicant: Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province

Qinghai lake sea sacrifice is the largest folk sea sacrifice activity in the area around Qinghai Lake. The history of offering sacrifices to Qinghai Lake can be traced back to the Han Dynasty. In the first month of the tenth year of Tang Tianbao (751), when the imperial court granted the four sea gods in the southeast, northwest and northwest, the West Sea God was granted the title of guangrungong and sent envoys to offer sacrifices. The activities of offering sacrifices to the sea in Qinghai Lake have a history of more than 1200 years.

Stir fried noodles with vegetables on the seaside will be built on the 15th day of the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar, and the pine and cypress branches will be lit. The people of Tibet and Mongolia will be offering offerings such as hada, Baijiu, five colored grains, fried noodles with butter and so on, and air the paper Wind Horse "Longda" in the air. "The Qinghai Lake will be a good example." At the end of the sacrifice, the master held a grain bag wrapped in five colored silk thread, led the Lama honor guard with all kinds of magic weapons, and the deer god, cow God and other local gods who were wearing the masks of deer head and cow head, blowing the Tibetan suona and Dharma name, to the shore of the lake. The mage stood on the bank and recited the mantra to the lake, while the worshippers threw sacrifices to the lake to express their worship of the sea god, and prayed that the sea god would protect the happiness of all living beings and the peace of the country. After the sea sacrifice ceremony, sports activities such as horse racing, cattle racing, archery and performances such as dancing God, Zuo Douhou, sound dance and auspicious deer dance were held at the lakeside.

The sacrificial words, scriptures and traditional sports competitions are of great value in religious teaching and ethnological research. They are valuable materials for exploring the development and evolution of ancient Chinese nations.