Recognizing the Dark Aura: An Excerpt of The Legend of White Snake as a Festival Ritual in Lateqing Sichuan Opera

Abstract:This paper explores the role of festival ritual in late-Qing Sichuan opera. Unlike the commercial performances of teahouses and theaters, festival performances in late imperial China were accessible to audiences of men, women, and children from different walks of life. In addition to entertaining the audience, festival plays also served the functions of communicating with gods and exorcising monsters, ghosts, and other malevolent spirits. The Sichuan opera play examined in this paper includes scenes excerpted from The Legend of White Snake, but unlike full-length versions, this excerpt play focuses entirely on Duanwu Festival. Temporally associated with the summer solstice, many symbols and rituals associated with Duanwu Festival express anxieties over drought, disease, and the threat of monsters and demons. Through comparison with a full-length version of The Legend of White Snake, this paper shows how one excerpt play was adapted to a festival ritual context and changed to increase ritual efficacy. As we shall see, rituals performed in the play are directed not only to characters in the play but also to the real-life audience who were watching the play. The play uses exorcistic symbols associated with Duanwu Festival to increase the efficacy of the ritual, both within the world of the play and the festival celebration for which the play was performed.