Traditional Sports
The Nakhi traditional sports featured in the primitive modes of production directly reflect the different historical stages of the development and changes of the lifestyle of the Nakhi. The Nakhi history has experienced hunting, nomadic and farming phases, which has accumulated profound cultural heritage for the Nakhi and laid the foundation for creating plenty oftraditional sports. Such survival skills as climbing trees, poles, ropes and rock are learned by the Nakhi in the long-term production and life practice. And then, these skills have gradually developed into recreational activities or sports games.
Traditional sports are an important part in religious ceremonies. Some songs and dances,such as “Dongba Dance” and some competitive sports activities, are even held throughout a religious ceremony. In this way, the religion also provides the inheritance and development of traditional sports activities with a place and culture carrier. Religion needs to utilize all kinds of traditional sports to liven up the atmosphere of religious ceremonies, so as to expand its influence. It, simultaneously, also employs its strong influence to bring an extensive foundation ofthe mass and necessary conditions to the development oftraditional sports activities. This is a key reason for the spreading oftraditional sports ofthe Nakhi.
Apart from the Spring Festival, the Qingming Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Nakhi have many traditional festivals such as the Torch Festival,the Sanduo Festival [19]and the like. Folk activities that are frequently held contain rich content ofthe traditional sports, and the traditional sports ofthe Nakhi really grow up on the soil of folk custom. They, bearing recreational features, have won people’s great affection with the lively form, rich content and strong ethnic characteristics.
(1) Dongba Dance
Dongba Dance is a traditional sport with the ethnic characteristics of the Nakhi, which is mostly carried out in sacrificial activities. Rich in content and various in forms, Dongba Dance covers imitation of animals and gods, since the Dongba religion is a primitive belief featured in polytheism and popular among the mass in mountainous areas. The classic of Dongba Dance records 60 combination actions[20], each one of which is a complete routine.The weapons used in Dongba Dance include knives, shields, bows, arrows, spears, swords and poles. The actions are simple, practical as well as aggressive.
Dongba Dance has one or more dance moves and fixed rhythms to perform according to certain plots of a story. Some of the performances are of solemnity, power and roughness with a combative spirit. Most of the actions are called “seeking out and killing ghosts”,and participants mimic the movements of such animals as tigers, elephants, bulls, lions and dragons. When dancing, the dancers hold knives in their right hands and bells in the left ones. Moreover, owning a noticeable rhythm, the dance reflecting goddesses looks very graceful and wonderful. In this sort of dance, with drums in their right hands and bells in the left ones, the dancers imitate peacocks. Besides, flower-dance and lantern-dance are more womanly.
Dongba Dance consists of a large number of technical movements and routines functioning both attack and defense. It is shaped by primitive arts, sports and religion,reflecting the courage and wisdom ofthe forefathers ofthe Nakhi.
(2) Fly-Stone Rope
Fly-stone rope is a traditional sport loved by the Nakhi in Lijiang City, Yunnan Province.The equipment used for shooting is made of leather, which can be divided into single-band rope and double-band one. First, the single-band rope is more than 15 centimeters long with a stone ball tied to one end. When shooting stones, the players pull the rope tightly, find the targets and then loosen their hands to make the stone balls fly for hunting goats and other animals; secondly, the double-band rope is about 1.2 meters long and has a string bag in which several small stones can be put. This kind of rope can be used for shooting stones far away to strike birds, cattle or sheep. It is also commonly held as a competition in which participants shoot stones as far and accurately as possible.