Wamao's Yunnan Wamao
Yunnan Wamao refers to a tile ornament placed in the center of the roof. It is named after its image is similar to that of a domestic cat. Its original meaning is a tiger that can eat ghosts. Its function is to ward off evil spirits, to receive happiness and to serve the town. Yunnan folks are convinced of the mysterious role of the Wa cat. When you invite the Wa cat, you should kill a rooster and pour chicken blood on the head of the Wa cat to give it spirituality, which is called opening the light. In real life, Wamao is still widely spread in Kunming, Chenggong, Yuxi, Qujing, Chuxiong, Dali, Wenshan and other places in Yunnan, becoming a unique folk custom. However, due to different regions, the image of the tile cat is also very different: Chenggong tile cat is like a naive child; Yuxi Wamao is like a wizard with a beard; Heqing Wamao's modeling is extremely exaggerated; Qujing tile cat put gossip in its front leg.
Yunnan ethnic people attach great importance to the decoration of houses, and they are used to dividing houses into "Yang Zhai" and "Yin Zhai", where "Yang Zhai" is the living house and "Yin Zhai" is the grave of the dead. Influenced by different religious feelings and aesthetic concepts, residential decoration is extremely rich and local. Among them, Wamao, Taohu and Shishi are folk handmade artworks with decorative charm and rich folk cultural characteristics.
Folk Wamao in Yunnan is mostly used to decorate "Yangzhai". It is often placed on the lintel of a house or the cornice on the right ridge of the roof, which not only has the function of decorating the building, but also has the function of suppressing evil spirits and exorcising ghosts. Wamao, because its image is quite like a domestic cat squatting on the roof, is named, and its original meaning is a tiger that can eat ghosts. It is said that in ancient times, there was a legend that "gods hold ghosts to feed tigers", and "therefore, painting tigers at the door is vulgar, and defending them from fierceness". Therefore, whether it is a tile cat standing on the roof of a temple or a house, or a pottery tiger placed on the roof of a house or lintel, its functions are basically the same.
Most Wa cats in Yunnan are based on tigers, which are beastmaster, but their aesthetic consciousness has transformed them into cats. The production of tile cats is mostly carried out in the family, and the technology is rough. Except for the body and head of the cat, the other parts, such as eyes, ears, nose and legs, can be made by hand. After the craftsman completes the cat shape, wait for the main blank to dry in the shade, and then send it to the kiln to be mixed with other pottery products. Only in this way can the fired tile cat not be easily cracked. After some tile cat blanks are made, they are also coated with a layer of glaze, which is bright and shiny.
The main cultural function of Wamao is to suppress evil spirits and seek good fortune, and to strengthen the feng shui of residential buildings. Yunnan people are convinced of the mysterious role of the tile cat. If a house in the village catches fire twice or more in succession, it is considered that there is no tile cat, so it is necessary to ask someone to make a tile cat on the roof to avoid disaster. The door of a house is facing the ridge of the corner of someone else's house, and it is considered that there is evil intrusion, so a tile cat must be installed at the door of the house to show that it will eat the corner; The door of a house faces the field, and it is also believed that wild ghosts will rush in at any time. It is necessary to put a tile cat on the lintel or ridge tile to make it face the field, so as to strengthen the house and curb the ghosts. A sacrificial ceremony of "opening the light" should be held to place the tile cat. Usually in February or August of the lunar calendar, choose an even number of auspicious days, and ask Duan Gong to preside over it. At that time, Duan Gong caught a red rooster, read a targeted spell of eliminating disasters, auspicious, exorcising evil spirits and getting rich, and then bit the comb with his mouth, dropping blood on the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, body and other places of the Wa cat (if the craftsman who made this Wa cat can drop the first drop of blood, the Wa cat will be more effective), and put five sons in his mouth. At the same time, the yellow paper was burned, and then a spell was recited. Duangong personally slaughtered the chicken, cooked it in a pot until it was half cooked, then took it out, and put it upright in a basin, so that the head of the chicken looked up at the sky, and Duangong lit incense to offer it. Finally, step on the roof and put the tile cat on the ridge tile. Every family that has placed a tile cat should offer incense offerings on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, and the orientation of the incense burner should be right in front of the tile cat.