Religious Rituals and the Origin of Drama

The earliest drama develops from religious rituals, whose features of patterns, performances and dispositions have been pregnant with germs of the future drama. The earliest drama is a mixed art, the product of the undivided art. Chinese dramas at their earlier stage are composed of poetry, songs and dances, i.e. three in one. Not only dramas originate from religious rituals, but also poetry, songs and dances bear strong relationship with the ritual activities. The most dramatic ones are some religious dances, especially those that tell the stories about gods or the totem ancestors as well as the dances about clan histories. The rituals cultivate man's illusive images and art imaginations, mould man's passionate feelings and stimulate human beings to express their feelings, yearnings and wishes in the form of symbols and metaphors. As the myth age goes down and the art becomes matured, the rituals are replaced by the art of drama.