**9. Inviting the Gods and Spirits**

Next came the introduction of the badai participating in the ritual to the spirits and gods. The introductions were done using a complex system of hand gestures (C. Shi 2018a), which linked ordinary and spirit realities. Hand gestures, numbering in the dozens, serve various functions, most notably communicating with the spirits, mythical animals and soldiers, magical powers, and master badai to assist (J. Shi 2001); the hand gestures were used throughout the ritual. Then, Yang and the other badai changed into their regalia.

Gestures are ways to communicate with the spirits and ancestors. There are many gestures from the ancestors, and they are used for different reasons. Some are used to communicate and move with the spirits. Some gestures are used to hide your body from those evil spirits so they cannot ge<sup>t</sup> into you. Sometimes the masters make mistakes with the hand gestures, and the ancestors come and help (Yang 2018a).

The introduction of the Badai and invitation to the spirits was repeated twice to avoid any confusion in communication. Special consideration was given to inviting the god of the "doors and gates" because entrances and thresholds are where evil spirits often linger and hide. The function of the ritual is first to clean out the devils and evil spirits: "some must be driven away, others are locked up," and then I ask for guidance and protection of the good spirits (Yang 2018a).

Peach water was offered to each of the spirits. To verify their acceptance Yang threw his gao, a palm-sized ritual object typically made of bamboo or wood split in two and thrown as a form of divination. The gao is thrown on the floor midway between the two altars. If the gao lands with both sides down, the spirits have accepted the water and will participate. If both sides land up, it is an absolute refusal. If one up and one down, it is a negotiable refusal. The gao is thrown repeatedly, each time with a vocal request, plead, or persuasion until the offering is accepted. Once accepted, the peach water is offered and poured onto the earth.

Throwing for an agreeable response to multiple questions and wishes required multiple throws of the gao and is considered dialogue and negotiation with the spirits. With discussions taking place and propitiations offered as necessary in the form of chant or an additional offering of "fortune money" or "spirit money," gold-colored paper (typically 8 × 8 inches square) is burnt and sent to the gods.<sup>20</sup> Smoke is considered a pathway to heaven. The money sent to the gods, specifically the god of the treasury, is never a burden but seen as communication, opportunity, and blessing. "Human beings send money to gods so the gods can send back real money—so you give money to gods, and they will give to you. Yin money is sent to the gods, and yang money is sent to the family (Ma 2018b). Spirit money burning occurs throughout the ritual and is an integral part of all Miao rituals. The white paper is symbolically "silver," and the yellow paper is gold (Peng 2018b).

Negative gao responses provoke the badai to ask if the gods have changed their minds or require more spirit money, rice cakes, further cleaning of evil spirits, or animal sacrifices (Yang 2018a). The gao throwing continues going through a step-by-step checklist of wishes asked of the gods to assure a successful zhuiniu ritual. Daoist rituals inspired the checklist of wishes, and depending on the school of badai practice, were either written (text) or spiritual (visually conveyed via scroll). Yang's school used the visual scroll form.

The asking of the gods concluded with a rooster sacrifice; its spirit is believed to protect those who travel.

For the sacrifice, the rooster's mouth is stuffed with rice cakes, and its beak tied with thread to protect the travelers from any bad words. "When they are on their trip to look for a water buffalo, people may say bad things about the journey. Not the local people, but people along the journey. Tying the mouth will protect them from bad words" (C. Shi 2018b).

The ritual proceeds to a more intimate interaction as badai Yang moves with the gods and dances to "open up heaven."

The horn is blown again for *Yuhuang* the Jade Emperor, the highest of the gods.<sup>21</sup> There are two distinct types of horn blowing. "For the Jade Emperor," sounds like, *Who EE Who EE Who EE* and is blown to fulfill the family's will and respect to the Jade Emperor. The second type is used more generally as an announcement and in various contexts is identified as *Laojun* in honor of the Daoist god Laozi and sounds like *Ho Ye Ho Ye Ho Ye.* The blowing of a water buffalo horn serves as an announcement to the heavens that the section is complete.

Yang sang and chanted exclusively in Chinese. The dance steps were in nine parts or "states" called the "nine ancient steps." Based on hexagram readings of the *Yijing* (Figure 6). With this action, Yang "danced" to evoke the "Kingdoms of Heaven" (Yang 2018b). The function of the dance is twofold: (1) to connect the human world with heaven by way of ritual and (2) to symbolically travel to each kingdom of heaven. The dance steps opened each of the five heavens (one in each of the four directions and one for the center axis), following a dance step pattern unique to each direction and center axis. "Dancing the hexagram" required nine repetitions of step patterns, with each consisting of two steps followed by four steps performed nine times. The dance can be viewed as a danced drama that culminates with a nine-step repetition of an eight-step pattern for the center. The dance step pattern of nine (2 × 4) for each direction and then eight for the center each equaled nine when accounting for each direction and center as one. The dance opens each heaven (Hong 2018c) and retraces the cosmological structure of the Miao worldview.

**Figure 6.** A diagram of the *Yijing*-inspired dance steps that evoke the "Kingdom of Heaven." (Photo: Thomas Riccio).

The Miao believe that the *Yijing* originated with the Miao and not with Confucius or Daoism, who came after the Miao were historically established in central China. The Miao maintain that others formalized the *Yijing* into a written culture and a belief system. When pressed for details, Yang said he did not understand nor was it important to know the reason for the dancing, only that he must strictly adhere to the form to preserve its sacred meaning and open each heaven (Yang 2018c).

While visiting heaven, he encountered eighteen sacred gods and four officials—gods in charge of each specific heaven (Yang 2018c). While traveling to each heaven, Yang verbally invited the gods, ancestral spirits, and badai masters from his school that resided in each heaven. His song and chant declared why he was there and what he needed from each heaven. By so doing, he linked the material world with the cosmological, becoming the embodiment and articulator of the Miao mythic narrative.

His hand gestures, vocalizations, and actions (such as tapping the buffalo horn) varied according to his interaction with the various heavens. Tapping the horn signified the invitation of his school's ancestral teachers. Once they accepted, Yang persuaded them to eat from the altar table, talked with them, and then released them before he moved on to another heaven.

After visiting the heavens, the spirit army, which resides at the center, was called upon to support the ritual and chase away the devil and evil spirits. "It is the army sent from heaven to help the host family. There are many gods and soldiers in each heaven that gather at the center. There are 99,000 soldiers and horses" to protect those traveling long distances carrying cash to purchase the water buffalo. "This ritual is about what you should do before you go into battle (Yang 2018a). The soldiers are called to protect against three types of bad people, spirits, or gods: (1) enemies of the host family, (2) those who may be friendly but say bad things, and (3) those that could do harmful things. There are three types of evil spirits: (1) natural spirits, like a tree or rock (anything in nature can potentially be an evil spirit), (2) ghosts from unnatural death (murder, accident, or suicide), and (3) those that come from relationships (people or spirits) that fight or kill each other. Evil spirits are always close at hand, with the best protection being working together, respect, and communication. If that does not work, one must fight with the armies (C. Shi 2018b). Traditionally, it was at this point in the house cleaning when the intestines and butchered body of the ox were brought and piled between the two altars and equally offered to the two altars. The uncooked ox head was placed at the center, midway between the two altars with the oxtail facing the left altar of the land god, Tudigong 土地 公, which is borrowed from the Han. Once the offering is accepted (determined by throwing the gao), the head is cooked. "It must be an ox because this is an offering for the Water Buffalo killing ritual. The head must be cooked for the gods to eat" (Yang 2018c).

No ox was sacrificed for the La Yi demonstration, and only the ox head was used, purchased at a local slaughterhouse earlier that day. The badai interpreted the ready availability of the ox head (which are seldom slaughtered) as a sign from the gods. "Without it, even the demonstration could not proceed" (C. Shi 2018b).

Every aspect of the ox sacrifice and cooking was important. Traditionally, a host family member oversaw the ox killing and preparation. "It is not a badai. It is another one who will kill the ox and then take it away to clean it and cook it and bring it back to the altar" (C. Shi 2018b). In keeping with tradition, the demonstration charred the ox head then separated the meat from the skull (Figure 7). An ax was used to split the horns from the skull. The meat was then distributed into five bowls to compliment five bowls of corn wine altar offerings. Every aspect, from the type of basin, towel, and fire used to the process of how the head must first be boiled in a pot without blood being split, was strictly observed. Throughout the process, a devotion to the thunder god, *Ji Leishen* 祭 雷, and jade god *Yuhuang Dadi* 玉 皇 大 帝, was held foremost in the minds of those doing the preparation of the ox head and its meat.

**Figure 7.** The flaying of the ox head by members of the host family to make the meat an offering to the gods. (Photo: Thomas Riccio).

Yang then sang to the armies. The armies are "From the past, from the very beginning of ancient times and do not use modern weapons, only spears and shields" (Hong 2018c). The soldiers from five different directions/heavens are asked to gather at the center between the two altars where the "barracks" are located.

Once gathered, the shenxiang juan—the scroll placed on the altar—is unfurled. It is extended to create a pathway from the altar to the house entrance to invite the army. As Yang chanted the invitation, he walked with a dance step along the side of the scroll. By moving back and forth with the "army," he symbolically walked with the soldiers serving as their guide to the material world. When Yang walked on the cloth, he "walked on clouds" between heaven and earth. While doing so, he gave the army the names and information needed to protect the host family. Then the armies "must take the sacrifice and be sent back because they do not belong here. When you learned to be a badai, you have a right to call those armies and lead them" (Yang 2018c). The shenxiang juan scroll is canvas, approximately twelve inches wide and twelve feet long and colorfully painted with martial figures.

Walking on the clouds is a trained specialization worthy of note in that it reveals the intricacy of badai ritual training. Badai Shi outlined the training,

For forty-nine days, you are trained for that kind of walking. Every morning at daybreak, I washed my face and went on the roof and practiced the walk. You must walk on the house roof barefoot with a cup of wine in hand, an offering to the teachers. For forty-nine days, you cannot pause. Each day, you must do it and chant sacred words to the elements five times very fluently without any pause. You are walking on the roof, and after practicing, you learn to walk on clouds. If you pause, you must begin again and do another forty-nine days. You say those words, and that finishes that day's practice (C. Shi 2018c).

During the call of the army, Yang described how he saw gods riding horses and how he "invited them to ge<sup>t</sup> off their horses and drink corn wine." The army "took away food" with some "hanging over the table after finished eating. I must invite the gods to ge<sup>t</sup> their horses or vehicles (chariots) and go back to heaven with their army otherwise they will stay". Often Yang would drink from the bowl of corn wine and gesture towards the heavens, so that the gods do not drink alone. Sometimes the gods enjoy themselves too much and are reluctant to go and must be persuaded by giving them spirit money for their travel (Yang 2018c).

Once Yang's visits to the heavens were complete, he cleaned the altar and all the ritual implements with incense and prepared it for sacred writing, a process by which he wrote on paper a list of each altar element, thereby making them sacred. He did this to ensure that "everything is done correctly, and then I check again" (Yang 2018c). Satisfied that all was in order and done correctly, the ritual of inviting the gods and armies was complete.

That evening, when the badai had their dinner of ox meat (the first meat they had in several days), they chanted to invite the god of the treasury to come to the house and share in the sacrificial meat. For breakfast the next day, they ate ox head meat from the night before. Once dinner was complete, they chanted again, asking the god to go back because he belonged in heaven.
