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Nuo folk religion, or extendedly, Chinese popular exorcistic religion, is a variant of Chinese folk religion with its own system of temples, rituals, orders of priests, and gods that is interethnic and practiced across central and southern China but is also intimately connected to the Tujia people.[1] It arose as an exorcistic religious movement, which is the original meaning of nuó (traditional Chinese: 儺; simplified Chinese: 傩). It has strong influences from Taoism.[2]
One of the most distinguishing characteristics of Nuo folk religion is its iconographic style, which represents the gods as wooden masks or heads. This is related to its own mythology, which traces the origin of Nuo to the first two humans, who were unjustly killed by beheading and have since then been worshipped as responsive divine ancestors.[3] Nuo rituals began as efficacious methods to worship them, Lord Nuo and Lady Nuo.[4] Since the 1980s, Nuo folk religion has undergone a revitalisation in China, and today is a folk religion endorsed by the central government.[5] Nuo priests are classified as 巫 wu (shamans) and their historical precursors were the 方相氏 fangxiangshi ("masters who assist the (astral) square").