Erlang Shen Nuo mask is which region

Exorcising customs, since the Qin and Han to Tang and Song dynasties have been inherited, and continue to develop, to the Ming and Qing dynasties, Nuo dance, although the ancient meaning still exists, but it has been developed as a recreational customary activities, and to the development of opera, some areas of the "Nuo Tang opera" "play". So far, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi and other places in rural areas, still preserves the relatively old form of Nuo dance, and added some new content. For example: Jiangxi's Wuyuan, Nanfeng, Le'an and other counties, "Nuo dance", there is a performance of Pangu open heaven and earth "open mountain god", the legend of the "and the two immortals" "Liu Hai play Golden Toad"; theatrical footage of the "Meng Jiangnu" "White Snake Chuan" as well as reflecting the labor life of the "performance of the hemp dance" and so on. Nuo dance performance form and mask production, many ethnic minorities have an impact on the dance, such as Tibetan "Qiangmu", Zhuang, Yao, Maonan, Mulao and other ethnic groups, "Shi Gong Dance", is absorbed by the Nuo dance many cultural factors and performance techniques, and the development of this unique form of dance for the nation.

On the Nuo dance, scholars explain a lot, China Nuo Opera Society Qu Liu Yi and Mr. Qian, co-author of the first Nuo opera in Jiangxi, China Nuo culture, said: "Nuo is a multifaceted religious culture, folk culture, art and culture of the fusion of the body, is a space and time across the ages, cross-social, cross-ethnic, transnational and mysterious complex of culture. In the long history, it is a favorite in traditional culture." The origin of Nuo is related to the primitive hunting, totem worship, witchcraft consciousness. Nuo in the Zhou Dynasty into the national ritual system. Pre-Qin literature records, Nuo rituals are hoping to regulate the four seasons of yin and yang, in order to seek the appropriate cold and heat, the wind and rain, grains and cereals, human and animal peace, the country's wealth and people's livelihood. Han and Tang dynasty court Nuo ceremony is grand, and spread to Vietnam, the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The end of the Northern Song dynasty court Nuo rituals using the new system, Nuo entertainment direction. Yuan Meng due to different beliefs, Nuo ceremony was excluded. The Ming Dynasty restored the Palace Nuo, the Qing Dynasty court is no longer held. But the "Analects of Confucius - township party" recorded in the "township Nuo" has been in the folk continuation, and with religion, literature, folklore and other combinations, the derivation of a variety of forms of Nuo dance, Nuo theater, is still popular in our country's vast rural areas to Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, Anhui, Shanxi, Hebei and other provinces have survived more.

Many local Nuo opera have Erlang Shen, because Erlang Shen is also a more widespread belief. For example, Anhui Guichi Qingxi Township, Ye, Kang, Cheng, Yang, Wang surnamed family Nuo dance performance, the first dance is wearing Erlang God mask "Dance Gun lamp". This Erlang Shen mask is larger than the other, in the mask frame (called "Dragon Pavilion") on the location of the arrangement is also in the first place, commonly known as the "rolling lamp Bodhisattva" or "Erlang Zheng Shen". Actors dressed as "Erlang Shen" in the "auspicious words", holding a large ball made of bamboo and gabion, inside the shape of the props and dance, called "lamp cone".