The origin of the Wa "Lamu Drum Festival"! The Origin of Wa "Lamu Drum Festival

La Mu Drum, one of the major rituals of the Wa, is a major event for the whole village. It is usually held in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar (January of the Wa calendar) and lasts for six or seven days. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, each Wa village had at least one pair of wooden drums (one male and one female), which were provided in the wooden drum room and were not allowed to be moved except for festivals, rituals and alarms. Generally, the wooden drums were replaced once every ten years or so. Therefore, the wooden drums are especially grand and sacred. There are many Wa villages, and almost every year there are villages pulling wooden drums. Pulling wooden drums is a festival for ancestors. Legend has it that there is an ancestor of the Wa tribe, An Muqua, who knew many ways to overcome floods and wild animals. One day, a big tree fell down in front of the cavern where she lived. It was a big old tree with an empty heart, and when it was struck, it made a loud sound of "dong, dong, dong". Anmuqua rang it in the daytime to gather people to hunt and gather in the mountains, and rang it at night to lead people to sing and dance around the campfire. At that time, people could only use sticks and stones to fight with wild beasts. During the day, people could beat the wild beasts and hunt them for food; at night, if people could not beat the wild beasts, the wild beasts would eat people. Since the Anmu abduction knocked the ancient wood, the beasts heard the ancient wood sound and the sound of human song and dance, no longer dare to come to eat people, people can survive in the mountains. According to another legend, the drums are sacrificed to the god "Mo Wei". The Wa believe that "Mo Wei" is the incarnation of human ancestors. He usually lives in the sky, but only when people sound the wooden drum, he comes down to the earth to protect people and enjoy joy with them. Therefore, the Wa people regard the wooden drum as a heavenly object, no matter which tribe, the first big thing after the establishment of the village, is to pull the wooden drum to sacrifice to the ancestors.

To the year of pulling the wooden drums, the walled village of Wulang, the headman, the devil will discuss the matter of pulling the wooden drums in advance, and send people into the mountains to choose the tree for the wooden drums - the best red hair tree or flower peach tree, and determine the "main sacrificial household" - if the number of households that voluntarily sign up for it is high, then it will be the best choice.

La Drums is the first of its kind in the world, and it is the first of its kind in the world to be used in the world.

On the morning of the day of pulling the wooden drums, the cattle are plagiarized. The first ceremony of the Wa in the major festivals is to plagiarize the cattle. First, the cow is bolted to the "ox horn fork" (planted in the center of the walled field in the shape of a cow's horn on the wooden horse), the magic bar in front of the "ox horn fork" hand dance, after reciting the words, signaling the man holding the pike mark to the cow's right front blade plagiarized violently to the left side of the cow fell to the ground, the blood sprayed upward for the good luck, otherwise in the plagiarism, the cow is plagiarized. The left side of the cow falls to the ground and blood sprays upward as auspicious, otherwise, plagiarize until there is an auspicious appearance. In the afternoon, the preparation of knives, axes, guns, crossbows, pikes and other equipment and instruments, and test shots. Around seven o'clock in the evening, the devil Ba and other people fired a gun to convene the young and strong men on the mountain to pull the wooden drum. Three or four men with knives, axes and torches in front of the road, the group to all, to the selected tree tops gun, crossbow, drive dare tree ghosts; and then by the devil Ba recite incantation "do ghosts" and cut a few axe tree, then we take turns to cut down the tree. After the tree cut down, in the stump on the pressure of three stones, for the "tree pillow stone", in order to prevent the tree god to run away. Then in the cut down more than two meters of a section of the tree body to make wooden drums, and at each end of the two holes cut wood, bolted on four rattan rope. At night, the person who cuts the drums sleeps next to them, and the young people dance around them.

The next morning, the village men, women and children, dressed in festive costumes, the good wine and meat, good food and good food, sent to the mountain to cut wooden drums to eat. As soon as the sun rises, the pulling of the wooden drums begins. Commanded by the devil Ba and the headman, they sang with a branch in hand to pull the wooden drums of the horn, sometimes riding on the wooden drums, sometimes standing next to the wooden drums, men and women dozens of people, respectively, pulling the four rattan rope, pulling the side of the dance, joyful and lively. Wooden drums pulled to the village door parked for a day or two, to wait for the devil Ba kill chicken sacrifice, the new wooden drums to enter the village.

The new wooden drum into the village on this day, the neighboring villages are to come to congratulate the people, the cottage is full of jubilation, knocking point of light and beating drums, firing guns and cannons. The devil Ba put the egg and the mouse dry bar on the root end of the wooden drum, reciting words in his mouth. After reciting the incantation, he dropped the egg on the root of the wooden drum. People sing and dance around the new wooden drum for a while, and then take turns to sing and dance at the head priest's house to congratulate him. The chief priest's family hosted a banquet for those who came to congratulate him and the townspeople of the village.

The making of the new wooden drum takes about twenty days, during which time chickens are killed every day for worship. After the completion of the wooden drum chiseling, knocking the wooden drum to the whole village to announce the good news, and hold a new wooden drum installation ceremony. The ceremony is presided over by Wolang, and the devil reads "Sigangli" and the migration routes of each family name in the village and the history of the village's development, and then prays for the blessing of the god "Mowei". In the evening, the whole village to the wooden drum room singing and dancing.