Above is a picture of Yao Taoist ritual setting of food offering to spirits. Rice and rice stem mannikins are extensively used in Yao Taoist ceremonies.
Yao tribe
can be subdivided into Lowland Yao and Highland Yao. Their distribution can be
found from Hunan and Sichuan in China, to Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Traditionally
the Yao tribe uses two ways of treating illness:
1.
The Yao traditional medicine:
a.
Diagnosis
and treatment methodologies
b.
Herbs
preparation and applications
c.
Herbal
bath in big wooden barrel
2.
The Yao magic:
Majority of Yao are animists, they employ a mixture of shamanic, Taoist
(Lu Shan sect etc.) and Buddhist rituals to solve day to day issues. However,
the Taoist ritual of Yao is quite different from its Chinese counterpart. Below
is just a general description of healing process:
a. Divination
i.
This
is normally done on the 1st and the 15th day of Chinese
lunar calendar.
ii.
Setup:
the host must put two bowls of raw rice with joss sticks, five small cups of tea
and a bundle of white rice and some money wrapped in white cloth. This is
deemed to be the present to the Yao Priest’s master (Si Kong).
iii.
With
this, the Yao Priest will sit on a chair on a table. Now the priest can go into
trance to ask the Si Kong to enter his body.
iv.
During
the trance, the priest will jump down from the table and performing star steps.
He would then take a handful of raw rice and throw the rice towards the main
entrance. The rice is said to invite the ghost armies of the Si Kong to the priest’s
service.
v.
The
ghost armies will be treated with an offering of tea and after that, the pries
will take another handful of rice and throw it onto the floor; meaning to send
out the ghost armies for checking the reason that his client suffers illness.
vi.
After
pausing for a while, the priest will make a hand gesture as if constructing a
bridge to fetch all of the ghost armies that were sent out for investigation.
vii.
Now
divination can begin by using two pieces of “C” shape woods three times on the
floor while chanting: “If it is a Yang, then the armies must protect, if it is
a Ying-Yang, then the armies will ensure the well beings of my client, if it is
a Ying; then please take care of my client.”
viii.
After
the divination, the priest will have an idea of the source of the illness and
he will come out of his trance.
b. Soul retrieval
i.
This
ritual utilizes four pieces of 10 feet cloth acted as “bridges” to bring back
the lost soul.
ii.
The
process is same as in performing the divination. Except that a manikin or the
patient’s shirt is needed for the lost soul to attach to.
iii.
First
the bridges are constructed pointing towards to four corners: East, South, West
and North.
iv.
The
priest holds a handful of rice, perform incantation and then throw towards the
Eastern direction hence charging the ghost armies to the East to fetch the lost
soul. Then the ritual is repeated for the South, West and North directions.
v.
After a while, the ghost armies are then
fetched back through the bridges if everything is alright. Otherwise, the
priest will check to see if there are any obstacles by using the divination
method. If the result is okay, then the ritual will come to an end. Otherwise
more rituals may be entails.
vi.
Upon
successful completion of the ritual, the patient’s shirt or manikin will be
given to the patient as a representation that his/her soul is back.
If I were
to compare, the Yao rituals can be quite complex and demanding. Often, a few
assistants are required to perform the simplest rituals. Other related rituals
such as the death ritual, the ritual to pay karmic debts are also being practiced
till today. It is actually quite interesting to witness some Taoist death rituals
in Malaysia and found some similarities with the Yao Taoist rituals. It may
worthwhile to take a deeper look.
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