Nuo opera, a religious ritual to ward off evil spirits, has transformed fortunes in southwest China's Guizhou Province.
The Nuo ritual has been practiced for thousands of years. Sacrifices and ceremonies paid tribute to ancestors, gods and goddesses while exorcising demons. It spread among people of various ethnicities along the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys and southwestern areas. Nuo rituals were widely performed at Lunar New Year holidays to expel evil spirits.
Accompanied by drum and gong, Nuo performers equipped with whips, dance to mysterious tunes. They wear colored masks -- black, white and red -- bearing varied expressions -- amiable, ferocious or fearful. In recent decades the ceremony has become little more than a theatrical performance.
Guizhou is famous for its variety of Nuo opera. Wherever there is a performance in an outlying village, farmers trek dozens of kilometers along hillside paths to watch.
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