Maonan Fat Cover

Maonan Fat Cover

"Fat set" is the general name of Maonan people's vow-making activities. It prevailed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At the beginning, Maonan people used Nuo rituals to sacrifice the heavens and the earth. In the process of inheritance, it integrated Maonan oral literature, folk songs, drama, dance, music, percussion music and other artistic elements into rich folk activities.

On May 20, 2006, Maonan Fat Cover was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

Festival History

"Return to Wish Dance" is the general name of Maonan's Return to Wish and other activities. It was popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties. At the beginning, Maonan people used Nuo rituals to sacrifice heaven and earth and natural things. In the process of inheritance, Maonan oral literature, folk songs, drama, dance, music, percussion music and other artistic elements were integrated into rich folk activities. Its artistic forms, such as songs, dances, music and operas, bear the good wishes of Maonan people to pray for the endless survival of the nation, hope that the next year will be smooth and rainy, and have plentiful grain. It is not only the historical witness of the development of Maonan people, but also the precious heritage of Maonan traditional culture.

Festival activities

There are many kinds and abundant contents of Maonan's fertilizer sets, which are mainly manifested in them.

Forms include Nuo Song, Nuo Dance, Nuo Music, Nuo Story (Oral Legend), Nuo Mask Carving. There are more than a dozen dancing scenes. "Wishing" requires setting up various "tables", setting up altars, putting up "Anlou" on the altar, hanging gods and dancing activities are held by a group of teachers and princesses. When the master of the lead singer wants to invite a god, the master wears the god's wooden mask to dance. The main content of these dances is that the Home of "Returning Wishes" hopes to receive "gifts" through prayer activities, so that future generations can flourish. The main singer recites incantations and sings divine books. Whichever God sings, which God dances, all perform according to certain procedures.

The performance is presided over by a group of professional clergymen. The overall structure is composed of fifteen dances with rich contents. They perform dances such as climbing stairs, overtaking, bridging, picking flowers, sending flowers and sitting in halls.

The basic movements of dance include soft worship step, ups and downs step, sleeve throwing, hand-twisting light worship, skipping step and rolling circle, etc. There are few violent and rough jumps. The law of movement is that it fluctuates and dances in the course of flowing. It is gentle and leisurely, and the atmosphere is more solemn and solemn. Male gods wear dragon gowns and pythons, embroidered with various bright tones of graphics, and accompanied by flashes. Female gods wear blouses and pants, but do not wear skirts, which are roughly the same as folk women's clothes.

Inheritance value

The formation, development and evolution of Maonan Fat Cover have important reference value for understanding Maonan history. Its Nuo culture is manifested in song, dance, music, drama and other forms. We can see the integration and evolution of Maonan culture and Han culture.

Due to social development and changes in people's values, the Maonan Fat Cover is in an endangered state. Effective measures are urgently needed to protect it so that it can play its due role in maintaining national cultural uniqueness and cultural diversity.

Maonan people's "fat set" Nuo custom, this intangible cultural heritage can survive, develop and evolve tenaciously through countless historical dynasties, reflecting the history of Maonan people's social development; Nuo folk song, dance, music, drama, a variety of forms of entertainment, reflecting the integration and evolution of Maonan culture and art with other national culture and art.

From the perspective of communication, the spread of Nuo custom of "fat set" can be said to be a phenomenon of transmission, diffusion and succession of various cultural elements peculiar to mankind. It is the change, sharing, interaction and reorganization of various cultural resources and cultural information in time and space. It is a process of interaction and interpretation of the codes of the communicators and the decoding of the readers. It is also the creative spirit of cultural exchanges among the subjects. Activities.

The spread of "fat set" Nuo custom of Maonan nationality is mainly spread and inherited through oral transmission, behavior demonstration and psychological influence. In this process, symbols become the carrier of Nuo culture information dissemination. Many symbols in the Maonan "fat set" ceremony are composed in a certain way, that is, the coding process of symbols, and then through the decoding process of the recipients, the dissemination activities of the ceremony are completed.

Firstly, the dissemination activities of "fat set" Nuo custom of Maonan nationality are analyzed, including its constituent elements, dissemination methods, characteristics and so on. Secondly, the dissemination performance in the evolution of "fat cover" is discussed in stages. It is mainly divided into three stages:

1. Before 1949, it reached its peak stage of development.

2. From 1949 to 1980, from prosperity to decline;

3. From 1980 to now, the stage of rebirth and recovery after robbery.

Thirdly, it analyses the role of communication in the change of Nuo customs. Finally, the relationship between folklore and communication is discussed. Communication not only changes the living environment of folk culture, but also is an elastic mechanism to promote the change of folk culture. Meanwhile, the use of media also broadens the dissemination objects of folk activities. Folklore expands the new space of folk culture by means of communication, enriches the means of communication of folk culture, innovates folk culture, and joins the factors of the times.

Inheritance status

In Huanjiang Maonan Autonomous County, where 70% of the Maonan population live, there are two ordinary and extraordinary people.

The elderly. Ordinary, because they are indigenous farmers; extraordinary, because these two old people are the representatives of Maonan traditional culture - Nuo Opera and Huazhu Hat, the only living heirs up to 2010, they have appeared on CCTV, Phoenix Satellite TV and European and American TV stations more than 30 times.

Tan Xinci: Rescue Maonan Nuo Opera from the Fire

Maonan Nuo Opera (also known as "wooden noodle dance" and Maonan language as "fat set") is a symbol of Maonan culture, once endangered, and now it plays again brilliant. It can "escape from death" is inseparable from a person, that is, Tan Xinci. "Fat set" is a traditional sacrificial ceremony of Maonan people, which integrates singing and dancing, rough movements and beautiful melody. It is called "living fossil of Nuo Opera".

During the Cultural Revolution, "Fat Cover" was once introduced into another book as a feudal superstition. The Red Guards grabbed the divisions and grabbed them and burned their books and props together. Out of curiosity, Tan Xinci, then only in his twenties, quietly picked up several books from the burning heap at night, some of which recorded the lyrics, and some painted the mask used for singing, the pattern of wooden surface. Tan Xinci hid these books under the box, which has been hiding for more than ten years. In 1984, when Tan Xinci saw these books again when he moved, his passion for folk culture suddenly surged: Why not reorganize Maonan Nuo Opera? Tan Xinci asked some teachers to recall the singing books and transcribe them. To perform Nuo opera, the most important thing is to carve wood surface. Wood surface craftsmanship is very complex. In the 1980s, Maonan artists who can carve wood surface have already become ancient. Wood surface craftsmanship has not been handed down. Although he was 44 years old at that time, Tan Xinci began to learn wood sculpture based on his infatuation with Maonan Nuo Opera. Without a model, he combines his imagination with the images in the book and outlines the model. After several years of hard work, he finally overcomes the difficulties.

Now Tan Xinci's sculpture technology is pure and vivid. He is also the only person who fully grasps the woodwork sculpture technology of Maonan Nuo Opera. With books and masks, Tan Xinci brought in young people who like folk art and formed a Nuo opera troupe. He practiced his own performances in peasant spare time. It was very popular with the masses. At the end of the 1990s, a nationwide wave of protection of national cultural heritage was launched. With the efforts of many culturists, Tan Xinci's Nuo Opera troupe was recognized and developed.

Nowadays, the number of Nuo opera troupes has increased to five in Xiananxiang. Nuo opera has become a part of rural cultural life in Maonan. From 1995 to 2003, Maonan Nuo Opera troupe made two trips to Japan, South Korea and four trips to Southeast Asia to perform. China Central Television Station, Japan, Britain and other countries, Hong Kong and Taiwan also came to Huanjiang to invite Tan Xinci's Nuo Opera troupe to perform and make feature films. In 2002, Maonan folk songs adapted from Maonan Nuo Opera "Liu Langli" appeared at Nanning International Folk Art Festival. Experts were surprised that Maonan people have such beautiful songs. In the same year, Nuo Dance compiled by the county won four awards in Guangxi Folk Dance Competition. The State attaches great importance to the protection of intangible cultural heritage. On May 20, 2006, the folklore was approved by the State Council and listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists.