Chapter 9 Part I Shaman Cultural Memory of the Oroqen Nationality-6

Guan Koujie accompanied us to Station 18 to visit her 60-year-old sister Guan Koni. (16) When she was 15 years old, she went out in the wild one day and suddenly fell ill. Since then, she has become more and more ill. When she was 16 years old, the shaman Zhao Liben asked God to heal her illness and she was able to recover.After recovering from her illness, she became a shaman.When we met Guan Coni, she was hospitalized in the village hospital. She said that she had a heart attack and her chest was tight.She was half lying on the hospital bed, panting with difficulty, and her face was pale.There are other patients living in the hospital, and it is natural to seek medical treatment when they are sick. Only a few shamans in the past still continue their traditions, thinking that dancing gods can cure their illnesses.

Guan Koujie said that a few days ago, her younger sister Guan Koni suddenly trembled and said, "You send me two chickens." It seems that her gods came to her again. , I want to dance to my god once.Guan Koni has two gods, one is Ani Zeleg, and the other is the fox fairy.Meng Jinfu also introduced to us that Guan Koni danced for two years when he was young, but then he stopped dancing.This time it was the gods who came to her and asked her to pick up the gods.Meng Jinfu believes that if you do not worship or invite the gods after a long time, you will dance to the gods, and it is not certain whether the gods will come or not.

After discussion, several old people decided to go to the woods to dance gods in the afternoon. We were responsible for buying some canned food and snacks to worship the gods; Guan Xiaoyun was responsible for borrowing shaman clothes and all shaman tools from the township exhibition room. In order to transport the used things from the entrance of the village to the edge of the forest. In fact, Guan Koni, Guan Koujie, and Meng Jinfu have already chosen the location, but we outsiders are still ignorant.When we saw Guan Koujie lighting a bonfire in an open space, we knew that this was the scene.

Although this place is already in the forest, it is still on the edge of the forest in the eyes of the Oroqen people.We found the river hidden in the woods by accident. It is so quiet, there is no sound of flow, the whole river is like a mirror, so clear that you can find the reflection of every tree, and those shadows are also emerald green verdant. (18) Guan Koujie kept picking up the twigs and dead leaves around, the green smoke from the fire became thicker and thicker, when the red flames emitted smoke, she picked up some thick roots and put them on the fire.When the wooden sticks turned into charcoal-like fire blocks, Guan Koujie pinched them in a shovel and smoked them around the site.She is cleaning up the scene. (19)

At the same time, Meng Jurong, the son of Guan Koni, was cutting tree poles in the forest, and he wanted to use them to support a Chuluozi, because the shaman dance needs to be held in the Chuluozi.Zhang Peng, a Heilongjiang archaeologist in our investigation team, and others helped him cut tree poles. This job was both new and exciting for them.When more than 30 tree poles were ready, these male comrades worked together to build the pinnacle.The skeleton of the tuoluozi is supported by the interlocking ends of the tree poles. Under Meng Jurong's demonstration, they quickly became familiar with how to operate it, and finally stood the tuoluozi firmly there.

When they supported and built Chuluozi, some of our lesbians followed two elderly Oroqen women to the forest to look for wild fruits. (20) Of these two women, one is Ge Shuzhen (58 years old) and the other is Meng Yuzhen (58 years old), who was cured by Meng Jinfu.Both of them can sing shaman songs, and they came to accompany the dance ceremony.There are a lot of purple persimmons in the forest, and our harvest will be considerable in a short while.Put the wild fruit in the birch bark box beside you, and chat while eating. Meng Jinfu appeared in front of us without a sound, as quiet as the river beside him. He came from the river and rowed the birch bark boat he made himself.The boat was so light and delicate that it alone was worthy of docking in that calm water. (22) Meng Jinfu brought a tent to cover the Luozi, and several men quickly put it on the tree branch stand.

Guan Koni came to the scene at about 4 o'clock. She was sick with a towel on her head to keep out the cold, and she held a blanket in her hand, which was used to cover her body.Apparently she was afraid of the cold. Meng Jinfu put the shaman clothes, shaman hat, and shaman drum on the shelf, and smoked them with fire to get rid of evil.After roasting with fire, Meng Jinfu put the shaman clothes, shaman hat and shaman drum on the left side of the Luozi and hung them up for later use.Then he put on a shelf at the position of "Maru" facing the gate of Cuoluozi.He bent the branch into an arc, forming a semicircle, and inserted it into the ground.This shelf is the god seat of the scene.He then arranged seven willow sticks in sequence and placed them on the semicircular branches to make a magical case.He cut open the bark on the front of the willow to prepare it for smearing it with chicken blood.Meng Jinfu explained that idols of gods should be placed on the shelf of gods, but the dancers did not ask for this, so they did not put idols of gods.Offerings were placed in front of the god's case, including four chickens, two males and two females.In addition to the chicken, there are two bottles of wine, four bottles of canned fruit, two bowls of millet with incense sticks, three twisted twists, and eight mooncakes.Meng Jinfu shoveled a shovel of hot ashes from the bonfire, and put "Sengqile" (a wild plant) incense in the ashes. With the fire shovel in his hand, he turned and turned in front of the altar and offerings.

The dance god shaman in this ceremony is Guan Koni himself, and Meng Jinfu is the helper in the ceremony, that is, the two gods.Guan Koujie tied a red cloth strip around Meng Jinfu's neck as a sign of identity.Before tying it, Meng Jinfu roasted it over fire.Guan Koujie is also the second god. Meng Jinfu helped her tie a yellow cloth strip around her neck, which is her status symbol. This yellow cloth strip was also roasted. At 4:30, Meng Jinfu helped the patient Guan Koni put on shaman clothes.Meng Jinfu and Guan Koujie made a seat for Guan Koni, and she sat at the head on the right side of Cuo Luozi.Sitting first on the left is Ershen Guan Koujie.Guan Koni began to pray, and while she was singing, (32) Guan Koujie responded with "Oh" and "Oh Lord" from time to time.Then Guan Koujie sang alone, and the other women sang in harmony.Guan Xiaoyun said, this is singing the name of God, it is inviting God.Guan Koujie prayed silently after singing, and then performed three kowtows. At 4:50, Meng Jinfu toasted the shaman.Guan Koujie sang the divine song.There are two gods, one is Ayou Zeleg, and the other is the fox fairy.She told the gods, who are the people present, and who are they asking God to see a doctor.Then kill the chicken.When killing chickens, the skin and feathers of the chickens should be peeled off together. (33)

At 5 o'clock the patient passed out and she hummed unconsciously.Ten minutes later, the patient sat up again.At this time, Guan Koujie sang the divine song again.What she sang is: so and so has a certain disease, pray to the gods to bless the patient.She invited God to eat moon cakes, twists, and canned food, and invited God to drink.Meng Jinfu then sang "Ah You Zeleg God" and invited it to eat and drink and heal diseases.Meng Jinfu said that he did not invite the fox god because he was a clan shaman, so Guan Koujie sang the song inviting the fox god. At this time, the patient was still vomiting, lying on the ground, moaning constantly.Everyone took the killed chicken to the river to wash it, and then set up a pot to cook the chicken in a pot.Meng Jinfu, on the other hand, smeared chicken blood on the peeled wicker, which represented sacrifice to the gods.

Then Meng Jinfu picked up the drum and continued to bake it over the fire. After it was done, he tried to beat it a few times before handing it over to Guan Koni.The shaman took the drum and beat it by himself, and the dance of gods began.Guan Koni sang while beating the drum. Every time he sang a few lines, Meng Jinfu agreed with "Oh", and the others sang along.Guan Koujie explained that when the shaman comes to the gods, everyone must sing along, and the gods will be angry if they don't sing.If the invited god goes away in anger, it will cause big trouble, and the shaman will have cramps, which will aggravate the condition.If so, we have to re-sing the Divine Comedy and invite the gods again, otherwise the shaman's illness will not be cured.

The shaman began to spin around and suddenly she became dizzy and fell forward. (35) Meng Jinfu hurriedly supported Guan Koni who was about to fall.At this time, Guan Koujie continued to sing, saying something to remind the confused shaman, and the women who sang along also raised their voices and sang with Guan Koujie more vigorously.Suddenly the shaman's drum beat was very loud, and she was trembling all over, and she was about to fall again. Her son hurried over to help her.The shaman staggered forward a few steps, and finally sat down on the ground.The shaman took a break, she wanted to drink water, and after receiving the water bowl, she drank 2 bowls in one go.Then she started beating the drum again, jumping in circles, and fell to the ground after a sharp turn, and the two gods rushed to take care of her.Guan Coni repeatedly danced and fainted. We started recording at 6:30, and by 6:45 she had passed out four times. When Guan Coni woke up again, she asked for a cigarette for her, and Ershen hurriedly offered it.After taking a few sips, she went on to dance again. At 6:50, I suddenly heard the two gods say: "Ah you? Zeleg God has come."I saw Guan Koni panting and talking to the two gods.Meng Jinfu shoveled a charcoal fire, put incense on it, and sent it to the shaman god. At 6:55, Guan Koni shaman sat on the ground shaking and singing, and everyone sang in harmony.Guan Koni shaman asked for wine, and Ershen put the wine bowl on the shaman's drum, and she drank two bowls of wine in a row. At 7 o'clock, the shaman took off again.After a while, Guan Koni shaman said: The gods want you to offer three sticks of incense, and the two gods will do so.Guan Koni shaman beats the drum in front of the god, her upper body swings back and forth, while her lower limbs do not move.After a while Guan Koni shaman wanted to drink chicken soup again, Ershen put two bowls of chicken soup on the drum, the shaman gulped it up, and then jumped up again.During the beating, she vomited several times, but couldn't vomit.She repeatedly beat the drum to induce vomiting, but she couldn't vomit.She had no choice but to ask for a cigarette, and by smoking, she took a short break.The assistant singer told me that the shaman vomited on the drum during the dance, and everyone judged what caused the disease in the shaman according to the shape of the vomited things. (38) When the shaman was resting, Meng Jinfu baked drums for her. At 7:17, Guan Koni shaman began to dance around Cuoluozi to the left and then to the right. After a while of spinning, everyone thought her spirit had come again.Ershen circled the shaman with a fire shovel and charcoal mixed with incense. She vomited again, but still couldn't vomit.So she rested again and smoked a cigarette. At 7:30, the shaman took off again. Suddenly, the shaman became anxious and jumped wildly. After spinning three and a half times, he passed out again.Guan Xiaoyun said: It was a success.It was 7:35 when the shaman woke up slowly. Meng Jinfu helped her take off the shaman clothes, and the dance ended.Guan Koni, who finished the dance, said that he is much more comfortable now. After the ceremony, everyone ate chicken around Chuo Luozi, (40) talking while eating.In the dark night, by the small river in the Daxingan Mountains forest, people talked and laughed heartily around the bonfire.Meng Jinfu's face was reddened by the fire, and the listless Meng Jinfu who talked during the day seemed to be a different person. His smile hung on every wrinkle. I seemed to see the vitality and spirit of the Oroqen hunters in the past. At 9:10, Meng Jinfu wrapped the leftover chicken bones with wicker and put them on the branches.Everyone had a lot of fun, but they had to return.On the way back, fog began to form on the mountain. The thick clouds and mist were still covering our heads just now, and after a while, we were surrounded and submerged.Holding hands, we explored the road with one foot deep and one foot shallow. We could only hear each other's voices but could not see each other's shadows. We groped in the clouds and mist, and walked out of the forest like flying through the clouds. The next morning, on September 8th, on our way to visit Meng Jinfu again, we met Guan Koni, who was walking on the street full of energy, and everyone hurried over to say hello.She said that her illness has been cured, she has just completed the discharge procedures, and now she is going home.We were so surprised that we didn't know what to say for a moment.