Tiaocao gai

The name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: tiaocaogai

Applicant: Pingwu County, Sichuan Province

Item No.: 1091

Project No.: Ⅲ - 102

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: traditional dance

Region: Sichuan Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Pingwu County, Sichuan Province

Protection unit: Pingwu Cultural Center

Introduction to tiaocaogai

Applicant: Pingwu County, Sichuan Province

Tiaocaogai is a folk sacrificial dance popular in Baima Tibetan village of Pingwu County. "Cao Gai" is a Tibetan pronunciation of Baima, which means "Mask". Cao Gai's mask is the image of "Dana corpse world" (black bear God), which is similar to man and beast. Every year on the fifth and sixth day of the first month, every village holds a "tiaocaogai" ceremony to sacrifice to the mountain god, praying for good weather and no disease or disaster in the coming year.

The activities of jumping caogai include: killing chickens to worship ancestors, offering sacrifices to mountain gods, jumping caogai door to door to expel ghosts, and the whole village people, under the leadership of the masked Wizard "Baimo" and caogai, going to the river to worship gods and send ghosts. The number of the dance team must be an odd number and dance in a circle in a counter clockwise direction. There are three to five masked "baigai", four to eight masked "caogai", one black bear and one wild boar in the dance team. The crowd can watch or dance in groups.

The dance of tiaocaogai is rugged and dignified, simple and simple, with few changes. It obviously retains the primitive religious sacrificial activities of Baima Tibetans.

Tiaocaogai has a long history. Due to the traffic congestion and other reasons, tiaocaogai has always maintained its primitive characteristics, which contains a large number of primitive cultural information of Baima Tibetans.