Munao Festival

When the divine parents of Ning Gawn Na, the mythical Jingpo progenitor, lay in their deathbed, they instructed their son to give them a good sending off ceremony for their souls. Then they would metamorphose into Heaven and Earth and Ning Gawn Na would become fully human and father the Jingpo race. A proper send-off could only be a Munao Zongge, Jingpo words for "let's dance together." But Ning Gawn Na did not know the dance, for it was only performed by the children in the Kingdom of the Sun.

One day, however, Grandfather Sun invited a representative of the bird community to the dance. A sparrow attended and when he returned home he taught the other birds. The peacock took on the lead singing role and the hornbill organised the choreography.Ning Gawn Na and his wife happened to be watching and they took the dance home and taught others. A wild hoar cleansed the corral for them and two Han brothers sent a dragon robe for the dance leader to wear. The Munao performance made the Jingpo more united, courageous and intelligent and so they have continued to stage it ever since, for four days beginning the full moon of the first lunar month.

Because Munao symbolises the solidarity of the Jingpo people, many separate villages join to celebrate it at one of the major festival sites. One of these is in the hills of Laying township, near Zhangfeng. Another is the knoll beside the Yunyan Pagoda on the outskirts of Yingjiang. The latter keeps the Munao poles up all year, plus a wooden hall with a buffalo skull mounted over the front door. Nearby, a white statue of a Jingpo man using his crossbow stands on a tall pedestal beside the pond. Since it is beyond the urban area, and even the adjacent Dai village, the Yingjiang Munao grounds has a very rural atmosphere.

Luxi also hosts Munao in a big way, converting the athletic stadium into the staging grounds. A large corral is constructed, with gates at two sides and viewing platforms for the spirits at the other two sides. In the centre the Jingpo erect the four tall poles, painted with designs symbolising aspects of their history and economic life. Small paintings at the top of mountains, for example, represent their mythical Himalayan origin. The crossed swords separating the two middle pillars remind them of their past battles, both against wild animals and human enemies.

At the base of the pillars in front stands a large drum, beaten during the dance to signal the pace and rhythm. To either side of this are gongs mounted in racks. Behind the pillars sits an orchestra, mostly of horns and woodwinds. Its members dress in fancy white coats with epaulets, black trousers and Jingpo head-scarves. When the dance begins they play, sometimes with a singer accompanying them, sometimes without. Occasionally they pause and let an a cappella singer take the microphone or allow a long solo performance. Usually the soloist plays the flute or a specifically Jingpo instrument comprising a buffalo horn attached to a bamboo flute, which makes a sound similar to the fleugelots played in funeral processions.

Munao lasts four days, with one 90-minute dance in the morning and one in mid-afternoon. On the third night the bigger host venues like Luxi will present a stage show of songs and dances of both Jingpo and Dai, young troupes and middle-aged ones. A Lisu dance and the Wa Hair Dance may be included for good measure. A great number of Dai attend Munao, dressed in their best brocaded sarongs and pinning their jackets together with filigreed gold butterflies. A few Dai and Jingpo women take advantage of the event to open stalls by the stadium entrance, selling sarongs, silver ornaments, shoulder bags and Husa swords. Only a few Dai participate in the dance, though, preferring to watch from the grandstand or outside the corral.

Explosions and strings of firecrackers announce the beginning of the dance. The corral is empty, save for the orchestra, which strikes up its first tune. Then, slowly rocking in a two-step as they advance, the long line of dancers enters through the gate. They are led by four men in red or gold silk "dragon robes," like the ones presented by the Han brothers at the first Munao. They hold their swords upright in front of them. On their heads they wear painted, split-bamboo helmets that symbolise the origin of Munao. On the sides wild boar tusks are attached, to remind them that the boar cleansed the first festival corral. Affixed to the top of the helmet is a hornbill beak, in honour of the organiser of the Birds' Munao, from which the Jingpo learned the dance. As a plume, the helmet uses feathers of the peacock and the hornbill, the singer and emcee at the Birds' Munao.

The line keeps to the corral railing until it has gone all the way around, then begins a more sinuous route in the open space around the poles. Eventually this fills up, too, and near the end of the dance the robed priests simply march back and forth in front of the drum.

Hundreds of Jingpo are by now in line, a group of women, then a group of men, with women slightly more in number. Every variation of the Jingpo sarong is on display, including the tight, red woolen miniskirt version. Men hold their swords aloft and sling the silver-laden bag over their shoulders. Outside the line, women attendants pour cups of rice-beer from bamboo containers to refresh the dancers. And when the dance concludes, much of the crowd stays in the corral, snapping photos of each other now that they're dressed in their Jingpo best.