Celebration — Zi's Photography

Tongren June Shenwu dharma assembly, called "Zhougua Lerou" in Tibetan, is held in turns in all the villages centered in Longwu town, Tongren County, Qinghai province, from 16th to 25th of the sixth lunar month every year. It is a traditional folk amusement in the Tongren area of Qinghai province with a robust primitive flavor, lasting for 400 to 500 years. It's a complex featuring religion, sacrifice, an amusing god, amusing human that is full of magic and joy. Its ceremonies generally include chanting and dancing to amuse god. There are 1 to 2 "Lawa" (means God-man in Tibetan, called wizard or mage in Chinese) in the villages when holding sacrifice, who play a unique role. The wizard is considered the communicator between humans and god, who is available to make god come for possession and take god's place to say something. The wizard is not clergy of Tibetan Buddhism, so its life is entirely secular. As an event combining secularization and religion, it reflects relics of primitive sorcery during the whole event. Here, "sorcery is a dance style," and "altar is dance circle."