Big Drum Dance of the Jinuo Minority

 

Jinghong City,Yunnan Province

The Big Drum Dance, popular among the Jinuo ethnic group in Yunnan Province, is mainly found in Jinuo villages in Jinghong City.

The dance can be traced back to sacrificial ceremonies and house-building celebrations. It is said that the big drum saved the Creator of the Jinuo people; hence they dance to show their gratefulness to the big drum. The first three days after the coming of spring is the most common time for them to perform this dance.

Legend has it that Ah Mai Yao Bai, the ancestor of Jinuo people, once made a drum. Maihei, a boy and Maibai, a girl survived a natural disaster by hiding themselves in this drum. Maihei and Maibai were the beginning of the Jinuo bloodline.

The Jinuo people in the county have a simple, unique cultural and artistic tradition. The big drum dance is at once vigorous and uninhibited as well as calm and stimulating. It combines both soft and hard elements. The music from the bamboo instruments is full of deep feeling. The dance is often performed at religious rituals such as festivals or celebrating the completion of a new house.
The big drum is a ritual instrument and a divine object to the Jinuo people. The method of making such a big drum is complex, and the rules to be followed are strict. The dance is illustrative of the ancestor worship among the ancient people of Yunnan.