The origin of ask the spirits game

The popular games among some universities and middle school students, such as "Ask the spirits", "Chopsticks Fairy" and "Vegetable Fairy", are not new modern games, but variants or simplified versions of one of the oldest witchcraft in China.

Mr Tu Jianhua, director of China Atheism Society, told the reporter that Fuxi originated from the worship of the legendary Ziguxian, but there are different historical records about its origin. In his Three Notes, Hong Mai, a Song Dynasty poet, thought that it only appeared gradually in the period of Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty, but Liu of the Southern Dynasty recorded it in his Bieyuan.

The story of Zi Gu, the change of time, place and content of asking for heaven recorded in Shen Kuo's Meng Qian Bi Tan reflect the change of witchcraft in Hua Fu.

The biggest change of "Hua Fu" is that it has become a divination game after being manipulated by literati, Taoist priests and wizards. In modern times, it has been used by guilds and has become a means for gangs to gather congregations and gather wealth.

Professor Guo Zhengyi introduced that Hua Fu generally refers to the use of horizontal sticks and pens. Two fingers against the bar, there is a sand table below. After the pen draws a line on the sand table, the host reads the "heavenly book" and can read it again after harrowing the sand table.

During the Cultural Revolution and the mid-1980s, "inviting immortals" began to spread in rural areas. Some invited Guanyin, and some even claimed that Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou could invite them. This kind of activity is particularly rampant in Henan and Shaanxi.

The earliest "disc fairy" was just a one-man play, and later it spread to the witch's disc fairy hall. "Inviting immortals" exists in both the north and the south of China, and the popular one in the north is called "dustpan immortals". The dustpan is filled with rice and chopsticks. When chopsticks lifted the dustpan full of rice, believers thought the dustpan fairy was coming.