What is the historical background of Anhui Nuo Opera?

As early as ancient times, people knew nothing about nature. People use witchcraft to obtain the minimum living conditions and expand the living space from the extremely harsh natural environment, thus producing a sacrificial ceremony called Nuo.

In Nuo sacrificial ceremonies, people use the power of gods to drive away natural disasters, such as drought, flood, fire, insects and man-made disasters, such as plague and disease.

In the consciousness of Nuo sacrifice, dancers wear hideous masks and dress up as the legendary "Fang Shixiang", holding Agger in one hand and a shield in the other, shouting "Nuo, Nuo" while dancing, jumping around and searching for ominous things, in order to drive away epidemic ghosts and pray for peace for a year.

In the Zhou Dynasty, people called it "Guo Nuo" and "Da Nuo", and the countryside was also called "Ren Xiang Nuo". According to the Confucian classic "The Analects of Confucius", when Confucius saw the arrival of the Nuo dance performance team, he stood on the steps in a formal dress and greeted him respectfully.

Derived from this allusion, many scholars later called the various folk song and dance performances of the New Year Festival "villagers' Nuo" and quoted them in some places and temple inscriptions.

Every year, a ceremony of "Nuo" was held in front of the palace in the Han Dynasty. In addition to wearing masks to imitate 12 kinds of beasts, dancing to exorcise ghosts, there are also Nuo children singing drums to worship the gods.

Nuo customs are also circulating in Guichi, Anhui Province. In the Tang Dynasty, Guichi, Anhui Province had the custom of offering sacrifices to Prince Zhaoming as a "ghost teacher". Luo Yin, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem in Xiao Wen Temple:

Qiupu Zhaoming Temple, Gankun Baimei,

Avatar is highly educated, and human ghosts and gods are teachers.

According to Records of Xinghua Village, Zhang Bangji, a poet of the Song Dynasty, said in Mo Zhuang Man Lu Zhao Ming Temple Zhu Zhou Miscellanies:

Today, the ancestral hall of Guo Xiying in Chizhou is dedicated to Prince Liang Zhaoming. Zhu Zhou has been in charge of this temple since the Tang Dynasty, and his descendants are divided into eight families, known as Zhu Ye.

It can be seen that at least in the late Tang Dynasty, Guichi had the custom of offering sacrifices to Prince Zhaoming as a "ghost teacher".

In the Song Dynasty, Guichi people made more and more solemn sacrifices to Prince Xiao Tong of Zhaoming. The poet Huang Tingjian of the Song Dynasty pointed out:

Chi people worship Zhao Ming as Guo Jiulang. When the ship is new, people think that the feeling of god is also.

Lu You, a poet in the Song Dynasty, has a similar record.

Later, in the Qing Dynasty, Lang Sui recorded this in more detail in Volume V of the Annals of Xinghua Village:

The story of the pool on August 15 is the eternal life of Liang Zhaoming. At the new moon, an old man was sent to a temple to ride a horse with a cane, which was called "Jorge Lema" ... On this day, all the families dressed up as adults who would satisfy God, dressed as Guan, Chenghuang, and the Seven Saints Jiro.

Those who dress up as performers will ride horses and wear masks, or on the bridge at the east gate, or at the lion's mouth at the south gate ... After drinking a little wine, they will take off their masks and return them to next year's performers.

At that time, people in Guichi, Anhui Province offered sacrifices to this high-standard "Wen Xiaozhao, Emperor Ming Sheng" and "An Bodhisattva" in the form of "Nuo Dance". However, the early "Nuo Dance" did not have the main characteristics of the traditional opera in China, and "playing tricks" was just a kind of Nuo dance with a mask.

Later, Nuo gradually merged into acrobatics, witchcraft and other contents, and the factors of acting and performance also increased, and they learned from and communicated with other local operas, and even Nuo operas were mixed. Gradually, Nuo opera has a gradual dramatic trend, and the repertoire is increasing day by day.

About the Ming Dynasty, the image of Zhong Kui appeared in Nuo instruments, which marked the formation of Nuo opera.

Zhong Kui's story of playing the ghost began with Yi Shi, a collection of strange stories in the Tang Dynasty. The image of Zhong Kui in the opera is transplanted from the novel. He went to Beijing to fight Zhong Kui three times, and died of anger because of Yang's ferocity.

The Jade Emperor pitied his integrity, sealed the judge and ruled the world. The five ghosts, green, yellow, red, white and black, refused to accept it and made a scene. Later, they were surrendered by Zhong Kui.

On the Dragon Boat Festival every year, people "Zhong Kui" to bless the town house. In ancient times, "playing with Zhong Kui" meant playing with a puppet on the shoulder. Later, it developed into playing Zhong Kui and cruising around the village.

Zhong Kui: First, five evil kids took white towels, red, purple, green, gray and yellow wrapping paper, sticks, forks and soft-soled embroidered shoes, went on stage with the sound of gongs and drums, circled twice, put on airs and shouted to show off.

Then Zhong Kui painted his face turquoise, with a long moustache on his mouth, a black veil wrapped around his head, sandals on his feet, a belly in the basket, a stock hanging from a dustpan, a purple robe on his outer cover, a sword in his right hand or a jade plate used by a court official, a bat leading the way, a pholiota adiposa cover behind him, and a jar waiter next to him.

Nuo dance in Zhong Kui is mainly composed of five paragraphs: Zhong Kui's descent, Zhong Kui's tour, Zhong Kui's exorcism, Zhong Kui's blessing and Zhong Kui's triumph.

Before the mid-Ming Dynasty, Nuo opera formed a "three-stage" opera with both dramatic plots, the division of roles and trades, and the end of the stage.

There is a clear record in the Jiajing edition of Chizhou Fuzhi in the Ming Dynasty:

From the thirteenth night to the sixteenth night, in the hometown, employees will meet the god of the club at home. Or hefu bamboo horse, or Xiao's ten-day elephant. Or rolling ball lights. Dress up as idols, juggle, roll gongs and drums, make a scene. After drinking, the group returned to the temple.

The word "Nuo Opera" first appeared in 1885 winter reprint of the book "The Genealogy and Customs of the Zhang Family in Liyuan", which recorded:

Eggs and tea greet each other in the new year. Please treat your neighbor to a banquet and make a Nuo opera. On the seventh day of the sixth lunar month, the lucky play god was removed from the shelves until the sixteenth, but it was put back on the shelves. Every year, God takes the first round of sitting on a pipe, riding a bamboo horse or kicking stilts. Zhou Li's so-called "holding Levin shield" and "golden eye" seem to exist. Ring the golden bell and jump the horn. This is called chasing the epidemic.

Anhui Nuo Opera, although it has blended a lot of traditional opera culture, still regards singing, dancing and drama as a ceremony to lower and flatter the gods, and does not emphasize the role of entertaining people. It regards some spiritual appendages, such as masks, puppets, grass sticks, paper-cutting or body painting, as gods of Nuo ceremonies and activities, and performs Nuo ceremonies and performances around them.

Among the numerous Nuo ceremonies, it is particularly worth mentioning that there is a sacrificial ceremony of "963 Yao" in Liu Jie Township where "Crying God" is concentrated. According to Yao Family Tree and Belief:

Lantern Festival was performed on the first day of the first lunar month every year, and there used to be four nights. After the war, it was reduced to two nights and the rest were three nights and four nights.

During the performance, the drums were deafening. In the early morning of Lantern Festival, a halogen book is used to guide the gods to Qingshan Temple and Xiao Wen Temple, commonly known as "Chaomiao".

This custom is the same in the south, Xihua and Yaocun, except near Yaocun, which is said to be the friendship of landlords.

Older people say that in ancient times, in the temple, there were swings, pavilions and stilts outside the ceremony. Choosing a handsome guy, Jade Water, wearing a pear garden dress and standing on his shoulders was called "standing on his shoulders". Its glory and prosperity are no different from those of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In Guichi, all families who perform Nuo opera call masks "Nuo God", "Dragon God", "Social God", "Playing God", "Bodhisattva" and "Five Crying Gods".