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THE PULLING OF THE WOODEN DRUM
The Wa nationality, with a population of some 300,000 people, lives mainly in Canyuan and Ximong Counties in southwestern Yunnan.
The "Cerui" month of the Wa calendar, roughly corresponding to December, is the time for pulling the wooden drum. On the eve of the festival, the leader and the "moba" (priest) of the village go to a tall tree where they make offerings and chant incantations to expel evils spirits. Then the "moba" brandishes an ax and inflicts a few carefully placed slices on the tree's trunk. All the rest of the villagers (males)then fell it. They put three stones on the root crotch as a token of payment to the tree ghost for its lumber. They then cut the trunk into pieces and use them to construct a wooden drum.
The following morning, the villagers put on their best costumes and go up the mountain to pull the log. The "moba", who guides the procession, sings the song of pulling the wooden drum. People throw rice and splash wine on the ground as they are pulling along the wooden drum. The log is left at the entrance of the village for two or three days. After fortune telling with the help of the corpse of a sacrificed cock, the moba determines the proper time for piercing a bull and sacrificing a pig. When the ceremony is over, the log is drug in front of the Wooden Drum House where the carpenters will shortly fashion it into a drum. The drumstick is like a pestle. In beating the drum, the drummer (who is always male) pounds the drum with the drumstick in a vertical way. The ceremony also includes many other activities. The whole program lasts for many hours.
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