Study On Sacrificial Ceremonies And Rituals Of Yizu Luoluopo Ethnic Group In Zhizuo Village

American anthropologist Erik Mueggler’s The Age of the Wild Ghosts uses the term "wild ghost" to refer to various aspects of ritual and sacrificial ceremonies. Sacrificial ceremonies have become a type of research tool, as if serving as a footnote about community’s way of life. Certainly, sacrificial ceremonies should not merely be regarded as a tool. Rather, we must critically ask to what is the basis or foundation of this tool? Is it round or square? What is its objective? What factors is it composed of? What is its essence? What is its logic or rationale? Such questions are the basic points of this research. Sacrificial ceremonies are, in fact, processes in which human actions and the heart’s inner emotions intertwine and interact in space-time. These processes are capable of reflecting individual, familial, and group behavioral patterns, while simultaneously reflecting humankind’s inner psychology. This article, based on field research in local communities, investigates the "spirit" as the target of sacrificial ceremonies. Ritual ceremonies can reveal the mechanisms of interaction between the human and the supernatural, thereby essentially exploring an aspect of human life not well understood by humankind.Supernatural beings can be categorized in different ways according to their function, characteristics, and areas of domain. Based on their functions, supernatural beings can be divided into three different types:individual, familial, and village-level beings. Based on the their usefulness, they can be divided into good and evil. In addition, based on the spaces in which the supernatural deities exist, they can be divided into ghosts of the home and ghosts of the wild. As a result of the varied nature of supernatural beings, sacrificial ceremonies are often comprised of different mixtures of language, words, and tone of voice. By categorizing the supernatural, we can not only better understand sacrificial ceremonies, but also clarify the levels of the various ceremonies. The ritual ceremonies are rooted in animism-the concept of the "soul" has always been the basis of spiritual ceremonies, and thus related research. Humankind is the unified form of corpse and soul; thus, the mere fact that everything has a soul is the foundational basis of sacrificial ceremonies. Living beings desire "the three immortal souls to converge as one body." Dead souls, on the other hand, are "souls returning to their ancestors." Therefore, calling the spirits is necessary in order to unify the human body and the soul. The convergence of the souls embodies the concept of community, and is also the cultural basis of ancestral worship. The core purpose of sacrificial ceremonies is to secure ancestral protection and blessings, while simultaneously summoning the ancestral spirits in order to avoid the occurrence of lonely or wandering spirit, thereby protecting posterity. Calling out one’s demands and interests has become a method of ensuring ancestral blessings during sacrificial ceremonies. In order to ward off evil spirits, it is necessary to call for good spirits while effectively maintaining balance of the mind and body, stability of the family, and harmony within the community. Under the blessing of the ancestors, deceased souls will return back to their ancestral homes. Living spirits will return to their bodies.Bimo is the ritual specialist who conducts sacrificial ceremony, effectively connecting humankind and the supernatural. He utilizes ritual tools and divination methods to facilitate a connection between the two realms as well as pass on information. During sacrificial ceremonies, utensils and sacrificial offerings are used as vehicles for communication. The human and the supernatural are in frequent interaction; therefore, Bimo is highly engaged with numerous spirits. The worlds, through their interactions, will eventually find balance with one another. The spirits of the supernatural realm enter the human world in order to fulfill their duties of either harming or protecting. Upon the completion of their mission, they then return to their realm. Some of the spirits originate in legend while others make their origin known during the ritual ceremonial processes. The sacrificial ceremonies, according to the logic and laws regulating the return of the spirits, prompt the "return" of the spirits to their proper place so that human and supernatural realms can exist in equilibrium.With the understanding that the "soul" is the target of sacrificial ceremonies, we can then explore the basis of the existence of such ceremonies-belief in animism. The objective of sacrificial ceremonies is to return to the protection of the ancestors, to achieve the elimination of evil. Bimo utilizes sacrificial objects and utensils to conduct specific processes between humans and the supernatural. The ritual ceremonies serve to make known the origin of the spirits, make known their needs, and ask them to return to their place in order to maintain harmony between the realms. This article unravels the logic and systematic nature behind sacrificial ceremonies. When humans encounter questions they cannot answer, they begin to look towards "another world"-the supernatural worlds-to find answers. Through ritual ceremonies, humans have learned to "solve" their various problems. Ritual ceremonies have become an important part of life. Sacrificial ceremonies are the crystallization of human beings in their habitat. They play an active role in strengthening the relationship between humankind and nature, integrating collective memory, and maintain social order. Simultaneously, sacrificial ceremonies play an important role in regulating daily life. The combination of humans, the supernatural, Bimo, ceremonial utensils, and sacrificial offerings is essentially the reflection of light within a community. The logic behind sacrificial ceremonies says:on the one hand, ritual ceremonies and local communities are inextricably linked; on the other hand, through ritual ceremonies one can explore the "secrets" of society. Sacrificial ceremonies are exercises of faith. Through such exercises, the details of social life become clear. Ceremonial writings can be vehicles for the exploration of social life and the logic behind ritual ceremonies. By attempting to understand such phenomena, we are capable of bringing about new ways of thinking for ethnographic writing and anthropological studies.