Culture Research Of "Holding Tree Dance" In "Rao San Ling" Of Dali Bai Ethnic Group

"Rao San Ling", the folk carnival of Bai ethnic group to entertain gods and people, is the unique "cultural space" form, which is evolved in Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake, a landscape with special natural environment and distinctive culture, and cultivated in the long history of farming life and rice industry custom.Through long-time practice, the carnival dancing troop has developed into a fixed form. The first part, called"Holding Tree Dance", is the important part of the"Rao San Ling", which is performed by"one man and one women"or sometimes"two men and two women"—the dancers are called"Flower-willow Elders"—who together hold up a willow branch (or sometimes a mulberry branch) in the middle, at the same time, singing face to face the lyrics woven by the dancers themselves.The action(s) in the"Holding Tree Dance"reflect the prominent characteristics of Bai people in almost every aspect such as the content, form, connotation, spiritual essence, and the clothing, props or role composition, music form. However, up to now, the"Holding Tree Dance", which is the opening part of the"Rao San Ling"Dance, has not been well researched as an independent subject, or even worse, the dance is pitifully misunderstood as a kind of"One Night Stand"by some people.and few researchers have noticed its reflection to the worship among Bai people for the Vulvae and the Fairy Tree;The"Holding Tree Dance"is a general and concentrated reflection to the cultural connotation of"Rao San Ling"Dance, which embraces the primitive farming worship, fairy tree worship, community sacrifices to land gods, female vulva worship and reproductive worship. So, we can't ignore its value to be researched, especially its reflection to the worship among Bai people for the Vulvae and the Fairy Tree. The special pas of"foot hooking foot","hip against hip", and"heart to heart", and the action of shaking the willow/mulberry branches or oxtails which also appeared in the neolithic rock arts of Cang Shan Mountain, reveals a close relation between the"Holding Tree Dance"and the original witch/wizard sacrificing dance, besides, these dancing movements can also be viewed as simulations of human's sexual intercourse. Moreover, the form, in which men and women can dance and sing together and the lovers can easily meet each other, manifests the highest respect to humanness in the Bai culture.This paper consists of five parts: The first chapter is the prolegomenon, to introduce some background information such as the reason for choosing this topic, the value to study it, the research situations, as well as the academic means and ideas to work out the paper. The most important reason for the author to select the"Holding Tree Dance"as the object of study is hoping to contribute some efforts to protect and inherit the"Holding Tree Dance"by discovering its characteristics and value.The second chapter describes and analyzes the cultural environment of the"Holding Tree Dance". It consists of three parts: the historical origins of the"Holding Tree Dance", the relationship between the"Holding Tree Dance"and the Bai people's human environment, and hence the other names of the"Holding Tree Dance"is the"Mulberry Dance"and"Flower-Willow Dance".The third chapter explains the art formation of the dance, containing the beats, pas, dance characteristics, music and libretto, unique duet track, dance costumes, performing props, and so on. It shows the uniqueness of the dance and its costume, as well as the important position of the female dancers and the special meanings of the performing props.The forth chapter analyzes its cultural connotation. It contains five parts: the relationship between the"Holding Tree Dance"and the Bai people's farming practices; the"Fairy Tree"of the dance, symbolic significance with agriculture of the"sun patch"and the"gourd"; the relationship between the"Holding Tree Dance"and the Bai people's reproduction worship; the relationship between the"Holding Tree Dance"and the Bai people's marriage customs. What particularly noticeable in this chapter is that the analysis on the relationship between the willow, mulberry and the female vulva worship,for it has never been mentioned in the prior study on"Rao San Ling".The fifth chapter concludes its cultural values through four aspects: the theoretical value on folklore of the Bai people's"Holding Tree Dance", as well as its value of art and sociable significance, and the inheritance and protection of the dance. In the end, to highlight the entertaining and sociable values of the dance, and to stress the dance's inheritance and protection, the author hopes this paper can be possibly referred to for the further research on the same subject.