Religion can be approached and defined from a variety of standpoints. I choose here to pragmatically study Nuosu religion as a complex of rituals; the agents that participate in them; and set of beliefs that somehow underline these rituals while their maintenance is supported by this very performance. In one approach, Nuoso religion can thus be described as a set of rituals proper to the Nusou people living on the Liangshan territory.

- A - Rituals

Although all Nuosu rituals conform to some patterns and sequences that identify them indeed as rituals, they are also characterized by their variety, a variety that answers to the diversity of the situations that require their performance. It is not enough to say that rituals in Liangshan are performed first and foremost when death and illness occur. Their particular configuration will depend on the cause of death and the situation of the deceased at the time he/she leaves this world and on still other considerations when rites are performed years after the death for ensuring his/her incorporation into the ancestors’ world. Likewise, rituals will vary according to the nature of illness and the rituals’ sequence will further unfold when the cause of illness is ritualistically determined. Not only are rituals diverse and numerous, they also organize themselves into sequences determined by the situations to which they respond.

Besides birth, death and illness, there is an indefinite number of situations that might call for a ritual. New Year (in November) and the Torch Festival (in July) are two obvious occurrences. Cleansing rituals (xuox-burr) regularly occur on a basis that varies according to families and districts. Other ritual occurrences might include: curses enacted as a vengeance; determination of a culprit’s identity, attempts at reconciliation between spouses; inauguration of a new house… In recent times, small-scale rituals are occasionally performed for ensuring success at exams or the safety of a car and its driver for instance.

Rituals can be summarily divided into two kinds: “below the road” rituals include all rituals that deal with death and the well-being of the ancestors. “Above the road” rituals include all other rituals. From this perspective, it can be said that rituals provide at the same time for the long-term sustenance of the community of the living and of the dead from which the living derive their existence and identity, and for flexible answers to a variety of existential and social situations, susceptible to be redefined according to circumstances.

- B - Agents

The most revered religious agent in Yi religion is called bi-mox. His importance is attested by the fact that Nuosu religion is sometimes called “bi-mox religion”, in the same way as Naxi religion is called “dongba religion.” The chanting of written scriptures is usually described as being the main characteristics of bi-mox’s activity. One becomes a bi-mox by virtue of patrilineal descent. Though necessary, this condition is not sufficient. A long apprenticeship under the guidance of the father or another member of the father’s clan is also required. Summing up, bi-mox mediate between the human and the supernatural world thanks to (a) their lineage, (b) their knowledge and chanting of written, fixed scriptures, (c) the efficacy of these scriptures themselves and of the ritual instruments that the bi-mox possess and use, (d) personal skills, that vary from one practitioner to another.

Bi-mox are usually contrasted with su-nyit. Both can perform similar deeds, with the fundamental restriction that rituals linked to death and to the subsequent destiny of the soul are strictly reserved to bi-mox. If lineage and knowledge of scriptures are the mediations that bi-mox make use of, su-nyit work through a process of “immediacy.” That is to say, the direct election that protecting spirits (wa-sa) make of them allow them to enter into a direct battle with malignant ghosts. Su-nyit, it is usually said, do not rely on a lineage but on election. They do not chase the ghosts by the power of the scriptures (as a rule they are illiterate), but by “seeing” them and beating the drum.

Such opposition has to be qualified. Though bi-mox are literate, the chanting of the scriptures rely above all on memorization. Similarly, the language and formulas used by the su-nyit is very similar to the ones of the bi-mox, as it also relies on a socialization process. It is very frequent to meet with su-nyit whose family has been in the trade for a number of generations, though election takes place for each member of the lineage. Even when this is not the case, su-nyit place themselves within a “guild” genealogy that they chant at the beginning of the ritual. Finally, meeting with people who can perform in quality of bi-mox and su-nyit (ni-bi-zhz) is not rare, which indicates that the distinction is far from being absolute.

Besides bi-mox and su-nyit, non-“qualified” religious intermediaries play a role in performing rituals. As a matter of fact, each family chief performs on various occasions, the Yi New Year and Torch Festival being the most conspicuous ones. The form taken by these ceremonies, that include chanting and sacrifices, do qualify them as full-fledged religious rituals. On an even simpler basis, everyone can perform a basic ritual with a few words, an egg or a glass of alcohol, if something specific frightens him, for instance. This kind of simple practice is called yy-hox-pyt. Finally, some elders or people with special skills are able to perform a large number of rituals, for instance those commonly grouped together under the term of va-xi. Performing a va-xi requires some skills (the ceremony lasts around two hours, the killing of a rooster is involved as well as various offerings and the use of “hot stones” for cleansing) but va-xi practitioners do not benefit from the help of protecting spirits as is the case for bi-mox and su-nyit. Vaxi is performed if bad words and curses against a family have been overheard, if one has reason to fear the approach of illness, if one has had bad dreams, if some troubling event has occurred, such as the sow eating the piglets, the hen attacking its eggs or a dog climbing on the roof of the house. Other types of va-xi rituals are meant to solve quarrels and disagreements. Religious specialists also include people able to find lost things through various divinatory skills.

- C - Beliefs

Nuosu religion thus appears as an integrated whole of practices giving its structure and meaning to the time-space of human existence. At the same time, it is not so easy to identify the set of beliefs that informs this structure of meaningful practices. Looking at the beliefs explicitly or implicitly stated in bi-mox writings is a necessary task (which is far from being complete) but not a sufficient one. There is a gap between the corpus of creeds and myths proper to a given place and the more systematic outlook expressed by the ritualistic writings. Such a gap is somehow harder to perceive in areas that are bi-mox strongholds (this is markedly the case in Meigu county), but can be very visible in areas where contacts and traditions are more diversified. Answers as to the nature (and number) of the human soul as its degree of immortality, the place of rest of the ancestors, the nature of ghosts and spirits vary to a much greater extent than usually recorded. What remains constant is that the stress is indeed on the ancestors (the only kind of spirits that can be truly known or identified) and on ghosts. The latter can be seen as “counter-ancestors” in the sense that, even if it is said that not all ghosts are souls unable to enter into the ancestors world, the other types of ghosts usually recorded are those of animals whose “blood lineages’ belong to the same class as human beings (cats and horses most notably)

Although there are differences in rituals and beliefs from one place to another, one can identify a “world-vision” that is proper to Nuosu religion. The plasticity proper to any “world-vision” makes it for me a more appropriate term than the one of “set of beliefs.” A good starting point for entering into this world vision might be the following: after a person has died, rites are meant to help him/her not to be devoured, nor to be devourer. To devour or to be devoured are actually the two sides of the same coin: the “devoured” spirit is the one which has fallen prey to the ghosts and becomes itself a ravenous ghost, as it tries to compensate for what has been preyed upon it. The ritual of cremation and the making of a “bamboo soul” are meant to spare the soul such a destiny. The large-scale rites for the final sending-off to the ancestors’ world will eventually allow the soul to access a place where it can find a plentiful supply of food without having to prey upon the world of the living. Once at its resting place, the ancestor can ensure peace to his/her descendants.

In contrast, a ghost is a glutton. (And a glutton is especially at risk to become a ghost.) The gluttony of the ghosts is the reason that makes people ill, and people must avoid at any price to become themselves hungry ghosts. Consequently, the healing process is communitarian in nature. By attending the healing ritual, the family and the neighbors call back the sick from the world where the ghosts are leading him towards the human universe, where meals are taken together. Togetherness is part of the ritual efficacy. Broadly speaking, to heal the social body and to heal the sick body are to be seen as joint operations, as ghosts are the powers that break living connections, be it within the flesh or within the community. They break living bodies into pieces. The goal of the ritual is always to reassemble what has been driven apart. Most notably, by ensuring the proper “consumption” of the deceased (as long as the circumstances of his/her death allow it) through the cremation process and the rites that follow during the years, one allows him/her to join a new community. From there, the deceased can protect the community of the living from the improper gluttonous behavior of the ghosts – those who have not been properly “consumed.”

Summing up, meal can be the ultimate metaphor for ordering Nuosu religious rituals, agents and world vision into a whole. Meals are about the survival, cohesiveness and prosperity of the community. The performing of a ritual is like the preparation and enactment of a meal that will restore physical and social forces against divisive agents. Finally, the passage that leads from this world to the afterlife can be adequately represented by the cooking and consumption process.

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