Exorcising: Fieldwork Of A Ritual Drama, And Other

Nuo is one kind of ancient rite in China for the purpose of driving out pestilence, the imaginary ghost and other things alike, which is expressed by some specific form, wearing masks and dancing. This paper studies the evolution of Nuo-rite from before-Qin dynasty to Qing dynasty, which can be divided it into three stages: rationalization, entertainization, and religionization.At the same time, this paper give a complete record of the TiaoNuo-rite (跳傩) in Shi You village(NanFeng,JiangXi province),and JieNuo-rite (解傩) in GanFang village(NanFeng,JiangXi province).Based on the field survey in JiangXi NanFeng and AnHui GuiChi, the paper analyses the special features of Nuo today, explores the significance of rite and myth on the appearing of traditional Chinese opera.What's more, from the viewpoint of it's deep function, Nou have similarities to Bacchus sacrifice in ancient Greece.