The Bo people’s ancestor worship traditions live on
Blood consecrates the ritual. When the Bo (僰) people of southwestern China honor their forebears, blood is used not just as an offering for the deceased, but as a symbol of their ancestral bond—and a reminder of the violence that had nearly severed it.
Officially classified under the Yi ethnicity, the 7,000 Bo of Qiubei county, Yunnan province, claim to be the last descendants of an ancient people who may have been exterminated in the 16th century. First recorded in today’s Sichuan province over 3,000 years ago, the Bo were successful merchants before the Silk Roads existed, and were noted for entombing their deceased in “hanging coffins” on high cliffs facing the sun—as close to the heavens as any mortal could reach.
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