Traditional Sports
The Wa people is an ancient ethnic group living in the Southwest ofYunnan Province.Their houses are built on Ava Mountain in the subtropical areas. The area boasts its fertile soil, mild climate, abundant rainfall, rich natural resources, a large area of virgin forest,many mineral deposits, as well as rare animals. The Wa men always keep knives, crossbows and other weapons with them since they may come across wild animals in the woods.Frequently using such weapons enables these men to master the relevant skills that later evolve into some traditional sports.
Some ofthe traditional sports ofthe Wa people derive from this ethnic group’s beliefin primitive religions. This ethnic group advocates that all things in the world are influenced by ghosts, thus, whatever happens in their life, they must hold sacrificial ceremonies for ghosts. Otherwise, it is hard to evade misfortune. For another, the Wa people crave the protection ofgods, so, they worship gods through religious and sacrificial activities, among which such sports as slaughtering-bull dance for sacrifices have been developed.
The folk festivals and rituals in the Wa villages have long been a kind of platform for locals to express their emotions. The Wa also carry out some sports activities for celebrations and enlivening the atmosphere during festivals. For instance, wooden drum dance is an activity for conducting a sacrificial ceremony to ancestors. It is usually held in November ofthe lunar calendar and lasts for six to seven days. For thousands ofyears, the Wa people have been convinced that they can talk with their forebear or gods by playing wooden drums so as to ward off evil spirits, which makes this dance become a traditional sport ofthe Wa.
(1) Slaughter-Bull Dance for Sacrifices
Slaughtering-bull dance is a sacrificial activity of the Wa people, which is viewed as the very embodiment ofthe history, customs and religious beliefs of this ethnic group. The main steps of the slaughter-bull dance are as follows: wizards worship heaven and earth;participants dance with singing and slaughter a bull; the wizards offer the bull to the gods;the Wa warriors hack the head and tail ofthe bull off and finally all the people present at the activity offer the head ofthe bull to the gods. The strong bull is slaughtered and falls down,the beef is eaten by all of the participants and then the head of the bull is offered to the gods. After that, the Wa people light a bonfire on a piece ofland near their village. Men and women, old and young, hand in hand, dance around the bonfire. And they, simultaneously,sing along with. The history, religions, sacrificial rituals and daily life ofthe Wa people are perfectly demonstrated in the lyrics and dances. The slaughtering-bull dance includes 21 dance types and 207 routines[17] according to the pertinent data. Not only does it symbolize strength, courage and wisdom of the Wa, but also it is an activity for exercise, recreation and appreciation.
(2) Crossbow-Shooting
Men, both young and old, like participating in the contest of crossbow-shooting in every festival and at their leisure. The contest is held on an open area around the village.The top-level crossbow-shooting contest is to shoot the knife-edge, which is the best way to test whether crossbowmen have the ability to shoot arrows accurately. At first, some knives are stuck into the ground, and the edge of knives faces the participants. All of the shooters squat down on the ground and shoot bamboo arrows at the knives. Once the knifeedge is shot, the arrows are cut in half. This sort ofperformance can be achieved only ifthe crossbowmen have an accurate shooting ability, the knife-edge is sharp and the crossbows are powerful. Adults love this contest, and teenagers are allowed to take part in it.
(3) Wooden Drum Dance ofthe Wa People
Each Wa village has one or more special houses for placing a pair of wooden drums,namely “male” drum and “female” drum in the culture ofthe Wa people. The Wa people chop off the trunks ofnaturally grown trees and hollow out the interior ofthe trunks. And then the hollow trunks are used for making the drums. It is stipulated that two drums must be struck at the same time in a fixed site. Later, the venues ofbanging drums and the number of drums are not limited by this strict requirement. Wooden drum dance is comprised of four parts:pulling the wooden drums, entering the room for placing the drums, beating the drums and holding the sacrificial ceremony with the drums. The basic moves ofthe wooden drum dance are expressed by flexion ofthe legs and tilt ofthe upper bodies. With a strong atmosphere of primitive ceremonies, the performance ofthe dance is rough, simple but solemn.