Chapter 5 Part I Shaman Cultural Memory of the Oroqen Nationality-2

"Baiyinna" means "rich" in Oroqen language.Baiyinna is an Oroqen ethnic township, 116 kilometers away from Huma County, facing the Shibazhan Oroqen ethnic township in Tahe County to the west.There are 2,100 people and 500 households in the township, including 260 Oroqen people and 69 households.In addition, there are Mongolian, Daur, Hui and Han residents.The total area of ​​the township is 436 square kilometers.Baiyin Na Oroqen Ethnic Township has also been a settled area since 1953. Before that, the E ethnic residents here mainly hunted in the Wule River Basin, and they also participated in the Puppet Manchukuo Forest Ranger Team.The E nationality residents in Baiyinna Oroqen Ethnic Township now mainly focus on forest protection and also take care of agriculture.Residents in the township live in brick houses with spacious living rooms and large courtyards.Most of the backyards of every family grow some vegetables.

Apparently, Baiyinna Township is different from the previous Oroqen ethnic townships. Elderly people, especially older women, are not unfamiliar with Shamanism.They were able to provide some information about shamans who had recently passed away, and were willing to share some personal experiences.They obviously still have some enthusiasm for shamanism, and the degree of knowledge of this culture seems to represent someone's prestige and value in the old sister group.In addition to the lively old women chatting with us, there are also men who dismiss their conversations, and children who completely ignore the conversations and run around them.All this suggests that shamanism is less serious and less important.

An important reason why people in Baiyinna Township have a deep memory of Shamanism is that several well-known great shamans appeared in this place, and their deeds are still talked about.This factor makes Baiyinna famous, as if the Great Shaman is a famous brand product in this place. Guan Wuliyan, who died in 1978 at the age of 80, was a well-known local female shaman.It is said that Guan Wu Liyan suddenly became insane when she was in her 30s. After the shaman cured her illness, she became a shaman.Her greatest ability is "Ji Churen" (go to the underworld to search for the soul), she can go to the underworld to retrieve the soul of the child and cure the child's illness.Oroqen shamanism believes that to go to the underworld, you have to cross mountains and rivers, and Guan Wuliyan's dog spirit will accompany her to the underworld. If you encounter devils, the dog will bite them.When passing through the shadows, she lay motionless on the ground, did not eat or drink, and her dog did not move, because the dog's soul went to the underworld with her soul.Guan Wuliyan has cured many patients and taught several shamans, such as Guan Bobao shaman and Meng Jinfu shaman have studied with him.Her shaman level is very high. It is said that she started wearing a two-pronged shaman hat and ended up wearing a seven-pronged hat.Her shamanic attire is made of buckskin, with bronze mirrors and bells.There are a lot of streamers on both sides of her shaman clothes, and those are all sent by cured patients.

Another shaman named Guan Bobao died in 1983 at the age of 57.He got sick when he was less than 20 years old, he recovered after being treated by Guan Wuliyan, and became a shaman after he recovered.Guan Wuliyan is his master and his mother-in-law.After becoming a shaman, he cured many patients. For example, he revived a woman who was abused by her husband and passed out. There was also Mengyongni Shaman, female, who died of illness in 1979 at the age of 49.She has received gods since she was a teenager, and has led 5 or 6 gods, including the god of fire.She can lick the red-hot iron knife with her tongue, sit in the fire, or jump around, but it doesn't hurt, and she can still eat coals.It is said that Mengzhengxi Shaman once fought with Mengyongni Shaman. They competed into the ground and vacated, and Meng Yongni won.

Meng Shuqing introduced that her mother was also a shaman, and she was in her 40s when she died, 30 years ago.Meng Shuqing said that her mother was able to swallow files and iron knives during the Tiaoshen dance, and she could only spit it out after three days.The god her mother invited was delicious for children, so when she was young, when her mother danced the gods, the neighbors took her and her younger brother to other people's homes to avoid being hurt.The predecessors said that in the past, people offered two Russian children from Mada Mountain (lost) to this god.Later, this god possessed Meng Shuqing's mother, and when it came, it sharpened knives and ate children.When Meng Shuqing's mother invited this god, all the children in the village hid themselves.

When hearing these legends, it seems that you have been in a truly primitive shaman culture environment.However, when these women invited us to a dance in the village entertainment that evening, we found their expressions as excited as they had during the day when they told shaman stories.Although it is a country dance, the scene is very modern. Ballroom dancing is the protagonist of the dance. Folk dances and free-spirited singing and dancing are also very popular. Anyway, it is entertainment, and people don't care what you dance.It can be seen that the old women are very familiar with the atmosphere of the ball. They danced freely and laughed like young people.Those shaman stories and shaman gods had already been thrown out of the sky by them at this time.