Toshihiko Izutsu (1967 2:19, cited by Girardot 1983:82) suggests that singing and dancing here and in Zhuangzi refers to shamanic trance-inducing ceremonies, "the monster is said to be a bird, which is most probably an indication that the shamanistic dancing here in question was some kind of feather dance in which the shaman was ritually ornamented with a feathered headdress."
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The Shanhaijing collection of early myths and legends uses hundun 渾敦 describing a shen 神 "spirit; god" on Tian Shan 天山 "Heaven Mountain".