Remember GX: Sacrifice

The most striking part of the Baonuo funeral ceremony is the water buffalo sacrifice. Legend holds the ancient Baonuo ate their deceased relatives’ bodies—until the day a little boy witnessed the labor and suffering of a mother cow giving birth. When he learned from his own mother that every mother on earth suffers much in childbirth, he resolved to let no one eat his mother’s flesh so that she would suffer no more.

When she passed away and villagers came looking for her body, the boy shared what he had learned and pleaded with them to sacrifice and eat a buffalo instead. The villagers accepted this substitution, and since then Baonuo tradition calls for a water buffalo sacrifice every time someone dies.

“We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all...For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:10, 14

A Baonuo woman’s traditional clothing displays the design of a square seal on the back. Legend holds that a long time ago, the Baonuo king had a foreign enemy. In his scheme to ruin the king, the enemy disguised himself, infiltrated the king’s family and stole the royal seal. With the seal stolen, along with the authority it held, the enemy drove the Baonuo people from their land. Ever since, Baonuo women wear an embroidered design representing this seal on the back as a reminder of this bitter incident. Today, parents teach their children through this legend to beware of being cheated by outsiders.

“When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14