The "Tima" hymns, chanted during ceremonies, are rich and complex, containing both the essential and the superfluous, touching upon history, geography, astronomy, calendrical science, philosophy, folklore, religion, and the arts. The most renowned among them are the "Tima Shenge" (Tima God Songs) and the "Banshou Ge" (Arm-Waving Songs).

The "Tima Shenge" are the songs chanted and intoned by the Tima during religious rites. Legend holds that unlocking the secret of the "Tima Shenge" will reveal the ten-thousand-year history of the Tujia people to the world. The content of the god songs depends on the nature of the ceremony being presided over; that is, different god songs are sung for different religious activities. For memorial rites for the deceased, the "Song for Sending Off the Departed" is sung; for exorcism, soul-calling, or praying for a son, the "Vow-Fulfilling Song" is sung; and for driving out demons, the "Evil-Dispelling Song" is sung. The lyrics of the Tima Shenge are relatively fixed, with few instances of improvisation. Take, for example, Catching the Soul to Seize the Ghost: Steep cliffs, dense thorns; swift waters, difficult roads. O revered great gods, there is no good path for you to travel. Muddy and broken paths, not a single secure foothold on the rocky trail. Wild brambles scratch the traveler all the way, through barren mountains and desolate wilds. Ah-ya-ya, seeing the waterway, travel along the water path; crossing great floods, it’s swift, but where trees meet, they fall; where earth meets, it crumbles. Hurry on, press forward tightly, O people in the boat, hold fast. Row on, row on, see clearly—there—the snatched soul floats and sinks upon the water.

This god song is a dialogue between the Tima and the great gods. While it invokes the great gods to drive out ghosts and capture souls, carrying a superstitious tinge, it describes the rugged hardship of mountain roads and offers earnest warnings about water crossings and boat safety with considerable vividness, imbued with a strong sense of daily life. Furthermore, the simultaneous presence of humans, gods, and souls offers a technique that is profoundly intriguing.

The Long Knife Slashes Evil is one of the Evil-Dispelling Songs: There is, O brothers, an inauspicious dream. I shall chop it away, your night-dream startles, I chop it away. Chopped away from the head of the dead, chopped away from the head of the ghost. Chopped away as it tumbles over rocks and cliffs. Chopped away as it jumps into rivers and drowns. Chopped away as it hangs by hemp rope around the neck. Chopped away by knife cleaving and axe chopping. Chopped away when venomous snakes block the path. Chopped away when fierce tigers bar the way. Chopped away for coveting money and committing murder. Chopped away when the five grains fail to ripen. Chopped away for speaking well to the face and evil behind the back. Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop! All things bad and inauspicious, chop them all away!

This god song portrays the Tima's struggle against evil. The Tima believes that all things possess a spirit, and all that is bad or wicked is caused by malevolent forces. However, the Tima does not beg the evil; he does not fear it, but seeks to "chop it away with a long knife." This, to a certain extent, expresses the urgent desire of the people to master their own destinies and expel evil.

In terms of form, the Tima Shenge include free verse with end rhymes in couplets, as well as metrical forms with end rhymes every two or four lines. The vocal style is also divided into high pitch and flat pitch. The high pitch is soaring, expressing intense emotion; the flat pitch is slow and gentle, expressing deep feeling. Their rhythm is resonant, melodious, and pleasing to the ear.

The Banshou Ge are the songs sung by the Tujia people during the arm-waving activities.

The arm-waving activity is called "She Ba Ri" in the Tujia language. It is a large-scale sacrificial ceremony and a traditional artistic festival for the Tujia people, a unique custom of the Tujia with deep and ancient origins. Judging by its content, it has existed since the age of hunting and fishing and has been passed down to the present day. "Every year from the third to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the local people gather, clad in multicolored blankets, their heads wrapped in silk scarves, beating drums and firing off salutes, dancing and singing. During the dance, men and women clasp hands, moving forward and back with grace—this is called arm-waving. Often they continue from dusk till dawn, never tiring." "Ten thousand red lanterns, a thousand overlapping people, a continuous, lingering sound of the arm-waving song." Ancient literati described the scene of the arm-waving songs this way, reflecting the grandeur of the arm-waving activities in the Tujia regions. Even now, in the areas where the Tujia people are concentrated—such as Laifeng along the You River—many ruins of arm-waving halls remain, and the Tujia people along the You River basin still frequently hold arm-waving activities. The scale of the arm-waving activities varies between large and small. The Grand Arm-Waving involves several villages or dozens of clans uniting, with a large number of participants, often numbering in the thousands. The Small Arm-Waving is an activity held by a single village or clan. Regardless of whether it is the Grand or Small Arm-Waving, their goal of sacrificing to ancestors and praying for a bountiful harvest, as well as the content of the arm-waving, remains fundamentally the same.

The arm-waving activity is conducted in designated arm-waving halls. The Banshou Ge are divided into two types: the Hall-Walking Song and the Hall-Sitting Song. The Hall-Walking Song is sung in accompaniment to the movements of the arm-waving dance; whatever is danced is sung, with one person leading and the crowd chanting in response. The Hall-Sitting Song is sung when the singers are seated, including solos, duets, and chorus singing. The singers are the host of the arm-waving activity, the "Tima," the altar master, and other skilled singers. While some content of the Banshou Ge is improvised, the majority consists of ancient songs that are led by the "Tima," passed down through generations, vast in content, and fixed in their lyrics.

The Banshou Ge and the Tima Shenge share connections but also distinctions. Both are passed down by the Tima, but based on content, time, location, and purpose of performance, they are not the same works and must be differentiated. The Tima Shenge are religious songs sung by the Tima in individual households for the master, to dispel illness or disaster, or to sacrifice to deities. The Banshou Ge, however, are ancient historical narrative songs sung by the Tima during the traditional folk arm-waving activities, meant to commemorate the ancestors of the entire ethnic group, pray for prosperity in descendants, and wish for abundant harvests and longevity. Although the Banshou Ge do not carry the explicit religious overtones of the Tima Shenge, the arm-waving activity itself possesses a religious nature, and the Banshou Ge attached to it are naturally influenced by religion. Parts of the Banshou Ge related to agricultural production, because they are vital to people's survival, are generally sung by most singers and altar masters and are widely known. Other ancient Banshou songs can only be sung by the Tima, and some Tima are not entirely clear on the precise meaning of the ancient Tujia language in these songs when they perform them.

Key works among the rich and vast ancient Banshou Ge include Yong Ni Bu Suo Ni, which covers themes from the creation of the world, great floods, the marriage of the brother and sister, to the continuation of humanity. The Migration Song describes the process of the Tujia ancestors migrating, settling, and migrating again in a constant search for fertile lands. There are also songs describing the capable individuals, warriors, and the protective goddess revered by successive generations of Tujia ancestors.

Viewed holistically, the Banshou Ge is an ethnic epic with a complete structure, where the content of each part maintains an internal connection. Yet, regarding specific content, each part possesses a degree of relative independence and can stand alone as a piece. The forms are diverse, ranging from creation epics and heroic epics of grand scope and magnificent bearing, to song cycles or short songs reflecting folklore and documenting production. Linguistically, the vast majority of the Banshou Ge are transmitted in the free verse of ancient Tujia language. They possess a certain rhythm but are not restricted by syllable count or meter, making them free and lively, suitable for expressing feelings and meaning. The Banshou Ge are sung accompanying the dance, and the dance treads to the rhythm of gongs and drums, but the lyrics lack strict chapters or divisions; they are generally sung continuously following the narrative plot. In artistic technique, the Banshou Ge pay attention to depicting character images and highlighting distinct characteristics. Overall, the Banshou Ge are full of imagination, imbued with romanticism, and use the free verse language of their own people to artistically and vividly recount the general outline of the historical evolution of ancient Tujia society, along with the labor and lives of their ancestors…

Finally, Elder Chen said, "The Tima possess many other astonishing skills, such as piercing the nostrils with studs, levitating bowls in mid-air, freezing a chicken with a breath, or standing a Buddha statue on a finger. I personally witnessed Old Man Xiang perform these when I was a child, and I even begged him to take me as a disciple. But Old Man Xiang adamantly refused. Later, someone reminded me that the esoteric arts of the Tima have always been passed down from male to male, from within the family, and never to women or outsiders. Naturally, he was unwilling to accept me, an outsider. Strangely enough, he has sons and grandsons, yet he won’t pass his skills on to them either. I once asked him what the reason was. At first, Old Man Xiang only offered mysterious smiles and did not answer. When pressed hard, he vaguely said that the disciple he was waiting for had not yet arrived, and the others were simply not fit to be Tima. From his tone, it seemed he had already chosen his successor, but it remains unknown who that person is. This is another strange matter."

We listened, captivated and yearning, impatient to meet this marvelous Tujia Tima. Elder Chen continued, "Did you know? The surname 'Xiang' of Old Man Xiang is said to have evolved from the character 'Xiang' used by Lin Jun Ba Wuxiang!"

Our excitement grew. Could it be that Old Man Xiang was a direct descendant of the venerable Lin Jun?

However, Qin Ping'er asked a different question: "You mentioned Old Man Xiang was the last Tima of Tangya, but I heard Uncle An say that where your people die, you have customs like circling the coffin and singing funeral dirges. Are those Taoist masters Tima as well?"

Elder Chen smiled and said, "That part is indeed confusing. In truth, a significant portion of the rituals performed by Taoist masters during the three-day auspicious burial period for the deceased Tujia people now originates from Central Plains Taoism and Buddhism. Only the coffin circling and the singing of the 'Sa Er He' are genuine Tujia funeral customs. So, the current Taoist masters and those monks who chant sutras to guide the dead are much like each other…"

"Sa Er He? What is 'Sa Er He'?" Qin Ping'er asked, her eyes wide with curiosity.

Just as Elder Chen was about to reply, a mournful voice called from beneath the stilt house: "Uncle Bei, my grandfather is 'old' now; come and help us…" We stood up and looked down to see a middle-aged man, his head wrapped in a white cloth, kneeling rigidly in the rain in the courtyard, his eyes fixed upward toward the second floor.