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Qiang folk religion is theindigenous religion of the majority of theQiang people, an ethnic group ofSichuan (China) tightly related to theHan Chinese and theTibetans.[1]: 14 It ispantheistic, involving the worship of a variety of gods of nature and of human affairs, including Qiangprogenitors. White stones are worshipped as it is believed they can be invested with the power of some gods through rituals.[1]: 14 They believe in an overarchingGod, calledMubyasei ("God of Heaven"), which is connected to the Chinese concept ofTian and clearly identified by the Qiang with the Taoist-originatedJade Emperor.[2]: 140–144
Religious ceremonies and rituals are directed by priests calledduāngōng in Chinese. They areshamans who acquire their position through years of training with a teacher.Duāngōng are the custodians of Qiang theology, history and mythology. They also administer thecoming of age ceremony for 18-year-old boys, called the "sitting on top of the mountain", which involves the boy's entire family going to mountain tops to sacrifice a sheep or cow, and to plant three cypress trees.[1]: 14–15
Two of the most important religious holidays are the Qiang New Year, falling on the 24th day of the sixth month of thelunar calendar (though now it is fixed on October 1), and the Mountain Sacrifice Festival, held between the second and the sixth month of the lunar calendar. The former festival is to give sacrifice to the God of Heaven, while the latter is dedicated to the god of mountains.[1]: 14
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