*6.2. The Initial Sai: Afternoon Session*

Among the major rituals scheduled to be performed in the afternoon session were 'Receiving the Palanquins' (*jiejia* 接 駕), 'Settling the Deities' (*anshen* 安 神), 'Offering Three Cups' (*gong sanzhan* 供 三 盞) and 'Leading the Sheep' (*lingyang* 領 羊), all of which were held in the front courtyard of the Bixia Temple. Also called 'Receiving the Deities' (*jieshen* 接 神), the ritual of 'Receiving the Palanquins' started with the Chief Master of Ceremonials reciting the 'Writ of Receiving the Deities' (*Jieshen wen* 接 神 文). All ritual participants knelt on the floor while he was reciting the text until he finished the last word, with which ended the ritual of 'Receiving the Deities' (Figure 46). He instructed Wei Qianxiu, the Master of Ceremonials, to offer incense on behalf of the ritual community to all invited gods and goddesses (Figure 47) and an ensemble of ten musicians from the Assembly of Eight Sounds to accompany him 'bowing in worship four times and offering burning incense three times' (*sanxian sibai* 三 獻 四 拜).

He then recited the 'Writ of Settling the Deities' (*Anshen wen* 安 神 文), and after that, he issued an instruction for all the deities to be carried in their sedan chairs, carriages and spirit tablets to their proper places, each according to their rank and status in the pantheon of Jiacun, headed by the Jade Emperor and the Primordial Sovereign (Figures 48 and 49).

Now that the deities were settled, it was time to 'Offer Three Cups'. The first offering was a cup of wine, the second of food and fruit and the third of tea. The ritual of 'Offering Three Cups' was performed by Tray Carriers (*tingzi*) and Canopy-Holders (*weizi*), who were all beautifully dressed women from the age of twenty to sixty as they appeared. They lined up in two lines near the entrance hall under the guidance of Master Bamboo Staff, Song Huaizhi. The Tray Carriers each held a flower in their mouth to show piety for the deities while carrying a tray with cups on it to a long offering table positioned against the wall of the main hall (Figure 50). When they reached the table, they carefully placed the offerings before spirit tablets and filed out back to the entrance hall to fetch another cup of offerings (Figure 51). Each cup was offered twice, six times in total.

**Figure 46.** Du Tonghai, the Chief Master of Ceremonials, Reads the 'Writ of Receiving the Deities'.

**Figure 47.** Wei Qianxiu, the Master of Ceremonials, Offers Incense.

**Figure 48.** Jade Emperor Is Carried into Bixia Temple and Settled in Front of the Incense Pavilion.

**Figure 49.** Spirit Tablets Are Carried and Settled in the Bixia Temple.

**Figure 50.** Tray Carriers Hold Flowers in Their Mouths While Carry Offering Trays.

**Figure 51.** Tray Carriers Put Offerings before Spirit Tablets on the Offering Table.

Next came a sacrificial ritual called 'Leading the Sheep'. After a sheep was led in, Du Tonghai, the Chief Master of Ceremonials, recited the 'Writ of Leading the Sheep' (*Lingyang wen* 領羊文). Three cups of wine were then poured over the sheep to wash it clean by a ritual assistant, who then led the sheep out and handed it over to its owner. In the past, however, the ritual would involve a sheep being slaughtered on the scene as a sacrifice to the goddess (Du 2016).

Now it was time to entertain the deities with theatrical performance. People moved aside from the Incense Pavilion and gathered in front of the stage over the gateway to watch the Shangdang group skit, *Decapitating Hua Xiong* (*Zhan Hua Xiong* 斬 華 雄). Also known as *Lord Guan Decapitates Hua Xiong While the Wine Is Still Warm* (*Guan Gong wenjiu zhan Huao Xiong* 關 公酒斬 華 雄), *Zhan Hua Xiong* is another Lord Guan play in the standard repertoire of the Shangdang group skit. In the play, Guan Yu, who has not ye<sup>t</sup> established his reputation as a formidable warrior, fights Hua Xiong, a seemingly invincible general under the warlord Dong Zhuo 董 卓 (AD 132–192), and returns from the battlefield with Hua's head before a cup of warm wine cools off. Actors first played on the stage, but when it came to the chase scene, the dramatic show turned into a street performance. To escape Lord Guan's chase, Hua Xiong fled the stage, and Lord Guan intercepted and stopped him in the courtyard, forcing him to rush for the gate and run out of the temple to the main street. The drama ended with Hua Xiong running back to the temple to be caught and beheaded by Lord Guan onstage.

In the *Lijie chuanbu*, *Decapitating Hua Xiong* is listed as a 'group skit for offering cups' (*gongzhan duixi*) alongside another Three-Kingdom play, *Fighting Lü Bu* (*Zhan Lü Bu* 戰 呂 布), for the interlude performance between the fifth and sixth cup (Han et al. 1987a, p. 87; Du 2011b, p. 257), but to my surprise I found this play presented as a main group skit (*zheng duixi*) immediately after the completion of the ritual of offering cups. I turned to Du Tonghai for an explanation and was told that the adjustments had been made on the advice of Li Tiansheng on the grounds that this play was perfectly suitable for both stage and street performance and that people just enjoyed the thrill of the chase (Du 2016).

Next came the stage performance of *The Hall of the Earth God* (*Tudi tang* 土地堂), a farce (*yuanben*) about sworn brothers gambling, cheating, drinking, quarrelling and fighting before reaching reconciliation at an Earth God Temple (Figure 52). This play is characterised by an exaggerated and ludicrous situation, physical humour, deliberate absurdity, bawdy jokes and pleasantly boisterous horseplay to entertain people and make them laugh, thus distinguishing itself from the main group skit that features historical figures and events as we have seen in Lord Guan plays. *The Hall of the Earth God* is one of the eight *yuanben* plays recorded in the *Lijie chuanbu*. Similar to the Shangdang group skit with its origins traceable to Song dynasty group dance and group skit, Shangdang *yuanben* is rooted in Song *zaju* and Jin *yuanben* (Huang 1987, pp. 146–49; Hu 1988, pp. 6–10). Hardly any texts of Jin *yuanben* have survived except for seven hundred-odd titles recorded by Tao Zongyi 陶 宗 儀 (fl. 1348) under the 'Catalogue of Court Texts' (*Yuanben minglu* 院本名目) in *Nancun's Notes upon Rest from the Plough* (*Nancun chuogeng lu* 南 村 輟 耕, 436–450). Jin *yuanben* had long been thought of as an early form of Chinese theatre that failed to survive beyond the Yuan dynasty until the discovery of the *Lijie chuanbu*. The staging of *The Hall of the Earth God* in Jiacun temple festivals provides valuable evidence for *yuanben* having survived and having continued to be performed into the modern era.

After the theatrical performance, all the male deities, including the Jade Emperor, were carried out of the Bixia gong to their own shrines and temples. This is because Bixia yuanjun is a maiden goddess, so no male deities or spirits from other temples or shrines are allowed to stay overnight in her temple. With the return of the gods to their home temples or shrines, the afternoon session of the initial *sai* came to an end.

**Figure 52.** A Scene from *The Hall of the Earth God*.
