Ethnic minorities in Yunnan attach great importance to the decoration of houses, and they are used to dividing houses into "Yang Zhai" and "Yin Zhai", in which "Yang Zhai" is the house where they live and "Yin Zhai" is the grave of the dead. Influenced by different religious feelings and aesthetic concepts, residential decoration is extremely rich and has local characteristics. Among them, Wamao, Hu Tao and Shishi are folk handmade works of art with great decorative charm and rich folk cultural characteristics.
Yunnan folk tile wool is mostly used to decorate "Yang Zhai", often placed on the lintel of the house or on the cornice of the front roof ridge. It not only has the function of decorating buildings, but also has the function of suppressing evil spirits and exorcising ghosts. Wamao, named after its image like a domestic cat squatting on the roof, originally meant a tiger that can eat ghosts. It is said that in ancient times, there was a legend that "the fairy held the ghost to feed the tiger", and "therefore, it is necessary to draw a tiger from the customs and guard against its 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 or lintel, its functions are basically the same.
Most Wa cats in Yunnan are based on tigers, who are beastmasters, but their aesthetic consciousness has transformed them into cats. The production of wamao is mostly carried out in the family, and the technology is rough. Except the cat's body and head, other parts such as eyes, ears, nose and legs can be made by hand. After the craftsman completes the cat shape, he waits for the main blank to dry in the shade, and then sends it to the kiln to mix with other pottery products. Only in this way, the burnt tile cat is not easy to be cracked. After some ceramic tile cat blanks are made, they will be coated with a layer of glaze, which is bright and shiny.
The main cultural function of Wamao is to suppress evil and seek good fortune, and to strengthen the geomantic omen of folk houses. Yunnan people are convinced of the mysterious role of the tile cat. If the house in the village catches fire two or more times in a row, it is considered that there is no tile cat, and someone should be asked to make a tile cat on the roof to avoid disaster. The door of the house is facing the roof of someone else's corner, which is considered to be invaded by evil spirits, so a tile cat must be installed at the door to show that it will eat the corner; The door of the house faces the field, and I believe that wild ghosts will rush in at any time. It is necessary to put a tile cat on the lintel or roof tile so that it faces the field to strengthen the house and curb ghosts. A sacrificial ceremony of "opening the light" should be held to place the tile cats. Usually in February or August of the lunar calendar, choose even auspicious days and ask Duan Gong to preside over them. At that time, Duan Gong caught a red rooster, read a targeted spell to eliminate disasters, be auspicious, exorcise evil spirits and make a fortune, then bit the comb with his mouth and dropped blood on the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, body and other places of the cat (it would be more effective to save the cat if the craftsman who made the cat could drop the first drop of blood). At the same time, I burned the yellow paper and then read a spell. Duan Gong personally slaughtered the chicken, cooked it in a pot until it was half-cooked, then fished it out and put it vertically in a basin, so that the head of the chicken could look up at the sky, and Duan Gong lit incense to offer sacrifices. Finally, step on the roof and put the tile cat on the roof tile. Every family with a tile cat must burn incense on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, and the incense burner should be in front of the tile cat.