I have been staying at home these past few days and responded to the call for self-isolation.
When I had nothing to do, I suddenly thought of a question:
Our current medical technology level is so advanced, but when it comes to preventing this epidemic plague, it seems that there is still no way to prevent it. What a more effective way!
So, in ancient times when medical technology was relatively backward, how did people prevent it?
So I looked through it and found a strange phenomenon in one of Meng Jiao's poems. Xian Ge Xing·Meng Jiao
The exorcists beat the drums and play the flute, and the skinny ghost's face is stained but his teeth are white.
Secretly, I tugged on the grass whip, and walked with my feet on Zhu Pei.
Looking at each other, the laughter filled the court, and the peach arc screamed alone when shooting arrows.
This is a poem describing the folk exorcism ceremony held in the Tang Dynasty.
According to the description in the poem, the specific ceremony is as follows:
People first beat the drums and played the flutes.
So, in the darkness, a group of plague ghosts appeared.
What does the plague ghost look like?
Everyone is skinny (skinny ghost), their faces are covered with oil paint (dyed face), showing frighteningly white teeth (but teeth are white), dragging long woven thatch in the darkness. Whip (pull the grass whip), rush through (walking Qiqi).
At this time, a man came out with a "peach arc", which is a bow made of mahogany wood. He laughed in the courtyard, then opened the bow and shot at the plague ghosts. Whichever one you shoot at, that one will let out a shrill scream.
When the plague ghost is shot to death, the ceremony ends, indicating that the plague has been driven away.
Why did the people of the Tang Dynasty think that using such rituals could drive away the plague?
In fact, this is a custom passed down before the Qin and Han Dynasties.
People at that time believed that the plague was caused by "ghosts moving around."
For this reason, the Zhou Dynasty also specially selected a fierce-looking person, called Fang Xiangshi, and then asked them to "cover bears' skins, black clothes and red clothes, hold arms and shields, and be handsome with hundreds of officials" Nuo, use the room to drive away the epidemic."
Wearing a bear skin, a black coat and red underwear, holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, he led a hundred slaves and was responsible for driving away the plague ghosts.
It’s just that in the Tang Dynasty, people probably thought it was boring to dance for a long time without even seeing a ghost. So in order to increase the fun, people were hired to pretend to be epidemic ghosts. This way, some people shoot, some hide, some chase and some run away, which is obviously much more interesting.
This is the Nuo dance that was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists and is known as the "living fossil of Chinese dance".
Of course, the most effective way to prevent diseases like #COVID19 is to stay at home, maintain indoor air circulation, pay attention to rest, and exercise moderately.
It is absolutely not advisable for people like the people of the Tang Dynasty to gather together for some kind of exorcism ceremony.
However, the "Nuo dance" reflects the ancient people's reverence for the nature of heaven and earth, which is what we modern people lack most.