Shi bi's ceremony

Shibi's legal activities have a long history and are eclectic, colorful and magical. If we compare these complicated legal activities, we will find that Shi Bi takes the fundamental interests of human beings as the center to adjust the relationship among people, ghosts and gods.

In the practice of interpreting scriptures, especially in the altar ceremonies of the middle and lower classes, witchcraft is often mixed. The ritual of walking the altar is almost inseparable from witchcraft.

Qiang people often use the following spells to explain the comparison: there are three main activities to explain the comparison, which are called divination; Two classics curse; Three prayers. There are the following 12 kinds of divination: hand divination, claw divination, sheep moustache divination, sheep bone divination, sheep shoulder divination, egg divination, chicken mouth divination, bird divination, highland barley divination, water divination and wool divination. There are cypress sticks, chicken mouth sticks, money sticks, soul summoning, soul evocation, straw sticks and so on. Divination is a very common witchcraft activity in the ritual of Qiang people's release. According to some available data, Qiang people have a long history of divination. In ancient Oracle Bone Inscriptions in China, there were as many as 300 kinds of divination about Qiang people. These ancient Oracle Bone Inscriptions not only recorded the long history of the Qiang people, but also reflected the divination activities of the ancient Qiang people to some extent. There were many divination methods of the ancient Qiang people. Historical Records Biography of Qiuci said: "Although there is no order of monarch and minister, there are also doubtful divinations. Whether it is stone or grass, the country is different. But everyone can fight and attack, push the soldiers to win, and believe that their gods know their coming. " According to Liao history, the Tangut Qiang people in Xixia believed in divination very much, and there were four divination methods when they sent troops. One is "burning Jiao Bo"; The second is "calculation"; The third is to "curse the sheep"; The fourth is "the arrow is on the string." In the historical materials of Yuan Dynasty, there are also records about divination of Qiang people. The Biography of Zhang Tingrui in Yuan History said: "Chen Qiangbing waited for him, and Ting Rui entered the preface ... His leader threw away his gun, bowed and said:" This is a good omen. I want to break the spleen of the sheep, which depends on the artistic quality of the meat. " "After the Yuan Dynasty, the Qiang people believed in divination, but they still remained in the Qiang area in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River. Daoguang's "Mao Zhou Zhi" Volume 1 "Customs" records Qiang people's divination "or taking wool as a rope, everything in Chen is on the ground, and divination is sprinkled with highland barley; Or take the sheep's shoulder, burn it with salary, and check the grain, which accounts for the good or bad of the year, which is called roasting the sheep's shoulder. " Hu Jianmin mentioned in "Beliefs and Habits of Qiang People" that Qiang people have "sheep spleen bones, eggs, wool thread, white dogs, etc." Until now, divination has not completely disappeared in Qiang areas. Divination generally includes sheep spleen bone divination, egg divination, wool thread divination and white dog divination. Ancient sheep spleen and bone divination was mostly used to predict the outcome of war, and later it was used to predict luck, etiology, the fortune of pedestrians, or the good or bad luck after death. Compared with egg divination, wool divination, white dog divination and so on. It is mysterious and unfamiliar with this technology. It can only be fully taught when the most reliable apprentice holds a thank-you ceremony. Egg divination is mainly used to predict the cause, and white dog divination is used to predict the cause. In addition, there are more than 20 divination methods, such as sheep fan bone divination, vertical water column divination, water divination, highland barley divination, cypress divination, chicken mouth divination, hand divination and money divination.