**15. Big General Doll Ghost**

The last house altar ritual segmen<sup>t</sup> was positioned on the floor at the main entrance as an "indoor and outdoor offering" from the badai and the host family. The threshold altar is symbolic of how the Miao co-exist as both material and spiritual—worlds inside and outside (C. Shi 2018b).

This strategically placed altar establishes the "other palace" where the water buffalo will be offered.

Each Miao house has a stone square set in the floor opposite the main entrance, the *Long Jia Kou Shuo,* which symbolizes a family's connection to the village well. The altar is placed in relation to the stone square which connects metaphorically to the village well. A dragon is said to live in the village well, and each household's connection to the well assures the dragon's protection.<sup>23</sup> The altar is placed between the house's main entrance and the long jai shou, "Dragon Family Mouth", because it is powerful (Long 2018).

At sunset, the Big General Doll Ghost ritual was initiated at the altar and continued with the sacrifice of a rooster in an adjacent field (Figure 14). If practiced otherwise, it can bring bad luck and damage the ritual's effect (C. Shi 2018b).

**Figure 14.** The Doll Ghost, which is performed in nearby woods. (Photo: Thomas Riccio).

Shi conducted this segmen<sup>t</sup> following badaizha protocol. He began by calling upon the "Big General," also known as *guan tou da jiang*, 大 將 軍, the highest level of official dealing with disputes or legal issues. "He is a god and grea<sup>t</sup> general evoked to protect the family from quarrels and legal troubles. The ritual seeks to determine possible problems, arguments, recent infractions, or causes of difficulty" (C. Shi 2018b).

The Big General supervises the Doll Ghost as a ritual within a ritual. As with other ritual segments, both are modular and can be presented as stand-alone or combined. Both were traditionally presented at night. For the La Yi demonstration, both were conducted in the afternoon. The Doll Ghost, also referred to as du *jiao da wang* 角 大 王, the One Horn King, was represented by a crude grass and rope totem with paper for a head and hat and a face drawn on it. When asked, Shi could not explain the meaning or origin of the Doll Ghost or One Horn King.

It is just the meaning of that ghost. The One Horn King is responsible for carrying away whatever they need in the ritual. He is the carrier of bad things away from the family. The One Horn King is one of two brothers. Both have a horn on their head. They appear in "Journey to the West" (Hong 2018c).

The altar was arranged on the floor and grass matting, "We use grass so much for the rope it is the most convenient material we have" (Ma 2018b). In addition to the Doll Ghost—One Horn King—there was an empty bowl and rice cake offerings, bowl offerings of rice, corn wine, and water, and a wooden box of rice to hold incense sticks. Unique to this altar was a large basket containing an egg and later the head of the sacrificed rooster. A series of white paper spirit figures and flags hung to either side of the altar. One set of anthropomorphic forms signified the ghosts called upon to accompany the Big General. The other flags signified the armies under the general's command.

Using a whistling style of chant—a "dragon voice"—Shi punctuated his call by tapping and rattling the empty bowl with the sidau knife; the bowl would later contain the rooster's meat. The ritual moved through seven steps, all of which required gao acceptance by the spirits and gods.


The Doll Ghost is foolish in behavior and appearance but respected for being effective. He tends to dream, and when he awakes, he is without clothing. It is forbidden to laugh at his plight, appearance, or interactions during the ritual because his function is serious (Peng 2018b). However, at the end of the ritual, all are encouraged to laugh at his effective ye<sup>t</sup> foolish ways. The relationship between the serious and comedic is evident in other Miao rituals and is best explained as a tension release after a long day of ritualizing.

Under the supervision of Tian and Shi, Yang conducted the rooster sacrifice ritual in the nearby woods (Figure 15). The wide, shallow altar basket contained an egg and an empty bowl and was taken to the pre-dug hole where the rooster was sacrificed and decapitated.<sup>24</sup> The egg was also buried. The rooster's feathers were plucked and stuck on the burial plot, and the rooster's body was thrown to the spirits to signify the sacrifice. After a procession back to the house, the rooster was thrown at the altar. Shi took over the ritual and sprayed peach water in the four directions and then wrote to the spirits in the air with the knifepoint of his shidao. Blood from the rooster was smeared on the doll and then thrown out of the house. The doll signifies removing those that would quarrel or bring legal problems to the family (Tian 2018b).

**Figure 15.** L to R: Badai Yang, Tian, and Changwu sacrificing a rooster in the woods near the family home. (Photo: Thomas Riccio).

A wooden bowl and meat cleaver are brought, the rooster is butchered near the altar, and its meat is put into the bowl. The altar's paper flags and figures are then burnt.

The ritual concluded, the six badai and the host family ate dinner together to mark the Big General's success and acceptance of the day's sacrifices. "We are eating and sitting with the big general, the one horn king and the other gods and spirits that have come today to help us. We eat with them to make sure the gods share the sacrifice, and they enjoy the fresh meat and offerings" (C. Shi 2018c).
