Rmaism

Rmaism is the traditional religion of the Rma, or Qiang, of western Sichuan, a pantheism of gods of nature and human affairs and of Qiang progenitors. The God of Heaven, Mubyasei or Abamubita, is supreme.

Its central rite is the worship of white stones, which ritual is said to invest with the power of gods. Five, seven or nine pieces of white quartz stand on the roof of a house, the largest for the sky god, and cypress boughs are burned before them.

Rites are led by priests called shibi, shamans who train for years under a teacher and keep Qiang theology, history and myth. By the Ming dynasty the name Qiang was kept only for the non-Han people of the upper Min valley, and the wars of the 1580s brought heavy official repression.