Entry: Sheba Festival
Sheba Festival, sometimes called Tiaonian Gathering, is the grandest traditional festival of the Tujia People. Sheba in the Tujia language means dancing to worship the Eight Dongs—the Tujia people's divine Kings. The typical characteristic of the Sheba dance is waving hands in the same direction at the same time, thus the dance is also called the Hand-waving Dance. At Tianjiadong Village, Duanlong Town, Guzhang County, it is usually held at Sheba Festival, the second month of every lunar year. The Tujia people celebrate the festival from the third day to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. The Hand-waving Dance usually takes place at the local village Earth God temple, also known as the Hand-waving Hall.
The big day is approaching and the Tujia villages have already become lively. Hand-waving songs start ringing and dances come to life. Pan-Dong-Pan Yo-He-Ye. What a festive sight!
From Tujia oral epic—The Hand-waving Songs
It is time for our hands to dance. Thousands and thousands of hands, get together at the Hand-waving Hall to the tune of ballad and music and quietly wait for dozens of blunderbusses to ring. A giant cowhide drum, big enough for several people to stand on, is placed in the middle of the hall. A shirtless drummer, with red belt around the waist and blue silk kerchief on the head, is about to start beating. The moment the respectable villager announces the beginning, blunderbusses and the drum start ringing simultaneously. Thousands of hands, like thousands of flowers blossoming overnight, suddenly come towards the gorge which lies closely against the mountains and rivers, and arrive at the peach-surrounded Hand-waving Hall.
Big waving and small waving,
Single-sided waving and double-sided waving,
Front-sided waving and back-sided waving,
Left-sided waving and right-sided waving;
The hands form a flower and blossom vividly,
The hands form a flowing river and flow happily,
The hands form a mountain and turn green gradually,
The hands form a cloud and drift away joyfully,
The hands form a bird and chirp away cheerfully.
Hundreds of people, thousands of people and even tens of thousands of people from one or several Tujia villages together form a circle waving their hands, whirling around and stepping back and forth. This kind of simple and primitive dance is rarely seen (only this kind of simpleness and primitiveness could display the unadorned brilliance and aesthetics), and this kind of massive and grand dance is even rarely seen (only this kind of massiveness and grandness is able to move people into tears). So many people and such a large number of hands, under the command of one single drum, start dancing in such a mighty and plain manner. The drum is placed in the middle of the hall, but it feels like the sound comes from afar, thick, hard and deep, just like the sounds of broken swords and halberds, the pounding of hooves and the smoke of gunpowder. The sound penetrates mountain tops and clouds. One of the dances actually depicts wars. Our ancestors fought against vicious enemies with broadswords, spears, wooden sticks and axes to protect our homeland. Nowadays, even if these stories have faded into the past, the plots hidden in the dirt roads and forests have been passed down from generation to generation. These waving hands, as if just coming back from the battle fields, tie up their horses and go to visit their brothers who lost their lives in the war. The victorious drum-sound sends disasters further and further away.
People sing in the peaceful garden with their hand-waving dances. They sing the stories of the Gods of Tujia People, including Zhang Gulao creating the heaven, Li Gulao creating the land and Yixwoxaxbax creating humans. They also sing the tenacious spirit of survival of our forefathers. According to the songs, our forefathers came from a remote place. Back then, in order to avoid plague, they wandered about with the old and young. They walked along the roads muntjac deer once walked on, climbed the mountains monkeys once climbed, strode across the ditches crabs once crawed by, and stepped on the shoals carps once jumped by. Each person used up 99 walking sticks and wore out 99 straw sandals. They ate wild fruits when hungry and drank cold water when thirsty. Running into a fertile land, some of them stayed and settled down. Coming across deep forests and flat lands, some of them stayed and settled down. Like this, no matter where they arrived as long as there was a hill, a piece of flat land, or a river valley, which was suitable for living, our ancestors would stay, cultivate virgin land and till it and build their family there. Therefore, hamlets came into being one after another and so did villages. Our nation started in this way and became stronger and stronger from then on.
With the hands waving, come spring thunder and awakened insects; come the Tomb-Sweeping Day and Grain Rain (the 6th solar terms, which is in April); come the Dragon Boat Festival, the Mid-autumn Festival, the Double Nine Festival and the end of the year. These waving hands always hold the happiness and sorrow of the festivals and watch the back of lonely wanderers on the hills from afar. Therefore, we recall our mother who sewed our worn clothes to keep us warm under the dim light of a bean lamp in cold dark nights; we recall our father who brought a bowl of Chinese medicine, put his hand on our forehead and alleviated our pain when we moaned in sickness; we recall our lover who leaned against the wall, made paper-cuts and stuck them in our heart; we recall our elder brothers and sisters who suffered so much to bring us up after our parents passed by. The dance originates from labor. Therefore, its vocabulary expresses labor scenes, such as spring sowing, autumn harvest, hunting, fishing, cutting firewood and grinding the mill, all of which are the beauty and soul of the dance. These walking cows and sheep, growing crops, jumping fish and shrimps and wild vegetables, which are of good quality and fine growth, are all the dance vocabulary. At this moment, these dancing hands are spreading seeds here and there. Immediately crops grow up following the palm prints, green and lush. Rice is sprouting; rape flowers are blooming; wheat is turning yellow; peas are podding and orchards are full of fruits. The mother, carrying a basket of food, walks toward the sunny hill, where the father in the midst of the wild flowers, whose blue vines stand out, is working in the wheat field. Wind dancing and wheat growing, the father wipes off his sweat and sings happily.
Out of these hands come these blossoming flowers, whose brightness and charm are dancing in the hands;
Out of these hands flows the clear water, whose melody is flowing happily through the hands.
Out of these hands rises the smoke, among which, the aroma of rice lingering on the hands.
No matter what kind of goods and crops, they are all created by the hands which work on the chest of the soil. In fact, the hands themselves are fertile land laboriously raising us and our offsprings.
Herds of cattle and sheep, together with their children, are staring feelingly at these waving hands from hills, lawns and riversides. They know very well that it is these waving hands that lead them up and down, prepare food for them, provide shelters for them and feed them so well that they become plump and sturdy; it is these hands that protect their lives in raining and scorching days, bring them more grass and fodder and fasten the fences for them during nights. When these hands caress their body and groom their hair gently, they feel the love and warmth of the world. Although they know these hands may take their lives away someday, the warmth and love given by these hands will never disappear. Thus, they keep mild respect for them in their heart, sing and applaud loyally for these hands.
They are friends of these hands, so they are supposed to be the loyal audience and be moved into tears by these hands.
These are moving hands indeed! These hands, upon their birth, start learning working and living. They keep creating and become glorious in their work and life. It is these hands that create our homeland and protect it, create and protect our descendants, pave roads and build bridges for us during our hardest times and lead us to happiness. It is these hands rather than our feet that complete the roads leading to the homeland and happiness. The hands have created humans, history and everything we need. These hands are everywhere amid rivers, streams and mountains. They are full of wisdom and thoughts; they are physical and also chemical; they are flesh and also iron; they are present and historic. The whole human race and the entire world grow, reproduce, change, develop and make progress from these hands. They will not gain a higher position at the expense of people's life; they will not flatter officials; they will not steal, rob, seek benefit at the expense of public interest; they will not fight against each other to go after fame and money. They will only uphold justice, fight against evil and present a shining and moving heart to the world. Those filthy hands, in comparison, are simply sheer insults to these hands. Even the hands of our beloved leaders whose names have been passed on from generation to generation appear so plain and ordinary. Leaders' hands are also working hands whose flesh and fate are tied closely to these waving hands. When the leaders plough and cultivate in the field, it is these waving hands that present them sky and land; when they give commands in battlefields and read histories, it is these waving hands that help them create the new world as well as the history. These waving hands once used wheelbarrows to win over basic necessities of life for the Chinese revolution and used guns to win over the peace after the Chinese revolution. Holding a bowl of water made from blood and sweat, these hands clean up and cure the wounds of our nation.
Therefore, fathers, mothers, elder brothers and sisters, after you finish the Hand-waving Dance and step out of the hall, please allow me to touch your great and immortal hands full of local accent, nostalgia and greatness.