**20. Sending the Spirit to Heaven**

Ritual themes and actions initiated during the house cleaning and ox sacrifice are reaffirmed. Before the physical body of the water buffalo is sacrificed, the animal's spirit is sent to its heavenly palace. The *sending the spirit* ritual reiterates the myth of the water buffalo offering of the man wanting to see his wife and child in heaven.

The ritual segmen<sup>t</sup> and altar at the sacrificial site was the final, longest, most complex, and sacred, requiring the participation of all six Badai. Shi, Yang, and Wu Zhengnian shared the leadership of the ritual that alternated between the Zha and Xian schools of

practice. The Badai, dressed in the regalia of their respective schools, often performed side by side and would change clothing to address school-specific parts of the ritual.

A long rectangular board was placed on the ground at the edge of the field at the sacrifice site. This altar held nine bowls with chopsticks across each to symbolize the offerings of water, wine, sacrificial meat, and rice. Traditionally, the bowls were filled. For the reenactment, they were left empty, serving as placeholders. Behind the altar were five rows of nine paper flags hung on a string and sticks, representing the army called upon for the water buffalo's travel to heaven. As in previous rituals, a square vessel full of rice and stuck with incense was at the center of the altar. Gold-colored spirit money was burnt as an offering and a communication channel to the gods.

The left side of the altar was for the army—the right for the land god to help the water buffalo on its journey. A paper and grass totem doll wearing a farmer-style hat and painted face hung among the army flags, representing the mythological man who sought to see his wife and child in heaven (Figure 18).

**Figure 18.** Badai Yang addressing the army of the general, which are represented by the paper flags. At the center of the altar is the Doll Ghost. To the left are ten spears representing those that will be used to sacrifice the water buffalo.

Dancing the hexagon enabled a passageway between the material and spiritual worlds to offer the land god the sacrifice. Throughout the liu jin was used to sweep away evil spirits. Since the site was outdoors in a less controlled environment, evil spirits could be more freely attracted and must be constantly swept away (C. Shi 2018b).

With Badai Wu officiating, the host of the zhuiniu (Ma Mei's father) knelt before the altar and was blessed and thanked by the spirits. The water buffalo harness was presented and blessed, as were the maple spears to be used in the water buffalo killing. The water buffalo was then brought to the altar and presented to the gods. Through chant-stylized dialog, the Wu and Yang communicate the family's intent and ask the gods if they are satisfied with the animal and accept it as a worthy offering. Throwing the gao confirmed the acceptance of the gods. Two gods were invited, yushe 神, the Miao god of fish and the god of the land (tudi zhi shen 土地 之 神)<sup>26</sup> (Peng 2018c). Yushe was enlisted to help the host family with the ox in spring to help protect the family and drive away evil spirits while traveling. Now the travel is not physical but spiritual. The water buffalo sent to heaven implies the family's connection and the "traveling" of wishes to heaven—the penultimate goal and rationale for zhuiniu. The function of the god general of the army is "to fight devils and evil" (C. Shi 2018c).

The general of armies is depicted with a large army flag. Like those used historically by Miao farmer combatants, maple sticks cut as spears were presented, blessed, and placed on the bushes behind the altar.

A sacrificial rooster is brought in and its beak stuffed with rice cake and tied with a thread to protect the ritual from "any problems caused by those who would have bad words. The rooster was waved over the altar to show it is alive, then sacrificed to protect the people who will kill the water buffalo" (C. Shi 2018c).

After this, three human-sized straw figures were constructed opposite the altar serving as symbolic reminders of forces that might prevent entry into heaven.

As noted earlier, there are three sources of evil spirits, (1) those bad spirits that live in nature, (2) unnatural spirits and ghosts that haunt, and (3) those caused by those that speak poorly of others or that fight or kill each other. The three straw figures anthropomorphize these types of evil.

To assure the success of the sacred and precarious journey to heaven—whereby the spirit of both the water buffalo and the family's wishes must travel—the badai "walk the clouds" and take the spirit personally.

As fire located twenty meters from the altar heats nine-iron plow blades, the scroll of the armies (the shenxiang juan, used in the spring ritual) is unfurled in parallel with the altar. Yang and Shi walked barefoot on the scroll to "walk the clouds with the army to heaven" (C. Shi 2018c).

The shenxiang juan is rolled up and replaced by the heated iron plow blades, which are placed in a row in front of the altar. Yang and Shi then walked barefoot over the hot metal several times, symbolizing the dangerous and precarious path to heaven. Once completed, the badai carried the plow blades with their shidao and piled them before the straw figures and blows the buffalo horn to mark success (Figure 19). Doing so demonstrated that the Badai have successfully walked the clouds to heaven, demonstrating to the family, community, and guardians of heaven that they are capable and worthy (Hong 2018c).

Several blows on the sacred water buffalo horn (used as a battle call) announced their assault on the straw figures. Using the maple sticks, which would be used as spears to kill the water buffalo, the two badai attacked and destroyed the straw figures as a final gesture of overcoming all barriers and entering heaven with the spirit of the water buffalo and the will of the family. The will of the family, embodied in the delivery water buffalo spirit, was delivered and announced in heaven; the buffalo horn was blown again, and firecrackers were set off. The ritual occurred over two hours and included rounds of chanting and singing accompanied by drumming and gong playing interspersed with dialogs with the gods. The goa was thrown several times until the offerings were accepted, signifying that the spirit of the water buffalo was taken to heaven (Figure 20). With the soul of the water buffalo received into heaven, all the paper flags, the totem, and other temporary altar items are put into a pile and burnt.

**Figure 19.** Badai Shi Changwu blowing the water buffalo horn to announce the assault on the straw figures. (Photo: Thomas Riccio).

**Figure 20.** Badai Yang with a shidao knife in front of the sacrificial altar. The shidao also serves as a noise maker to attract the spirits. (Photo: Thomas Riccio).
