The rain dance (舞雩, wǔyú) platform is mentioned in many ancient texts including the "Analects" of Confucius. Ancient Chinese texts such the "Rites of Zhou" (2nd century BCE) record dances of the early period. The most important of the Zhou dynasty dances are the six dances termed the "Great Dances" that were performed to venerate Heaven, Earth, gods, ancestors or legendary figures. These six dances formed part of the system of court music and dance first established during the Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BCE) known as "Yayue". Music and dance were considered integral parts of a whole, each dance would have a piece of music associated with it; the word for music (樂, "yue") therefore can also refer to dance, and it may also be further extended to poetry as well as other art forms and rituals. These six dances were said to have originated from the time of six historical or legendary figures:  "Dashao" (大韶) was a dance said to date from the time of Emperor Shun (the Neolithic epoch), the dancers may have dressed up as birds and beasts. One of the earliest documents, "Shujing", mentioned the ritual of "beating on the stones as all the wild animals dance". The performance of the dance was highly regarded by Confucius. "Daxia" was a dance performed in praise of Yu the Great of the Xia dynasty, famous for his work on flood control. In this dance, 64 performers danced bare-chested wearing fur caps and white skirts. The movements of the dance may imitate the manual labour performed during flood control. These formal dances were divided into two types, civil and military. In a Civil Dance (文舞), dancers held item such as feather banners in their hand, and Military Dance (武舞) involved brandishing of weapons. "Dawu" was an important dance in six parts describing the military exploits of King Wu of Zhou, and may involve martial elements such as the use of weapons. Another six formed what was called the "Small Dances", to be performed by younger members of the aristocracy in minor ceremonies and sacrifice rituals. These are:   All the dances involved dancers holding objects such as feather plumes, yak-tails or shield, except the Dance of the People which is focused on sleeve movements. Aside from the formal and ritual dances, popular and folk dances are also mentioned in ancient texts.