Nuwa, next let’s listen to some of his stories.
Ancient myth
Nuwa, according to the cultural relics, relics and painted pottery decorations unearthed in archaeology, provides the life imprint information of prehistoric human beings fighting against floods and worshiping reproduction. Its historical and cultural roots lie in the inheritance of the concept of female worship in primitive matriarchal society.
The titles also include wa Huang, lingwa, diwa, Fenghuang, nvyin, nvhuang, nvxi, shennv, Yinhuang, Yindi, Emperor NV, etc. in the historical records, Nuwa surname, Feng (or Feng, NV) surname, is the mother of the earth in ancient legends.
One said that her name was Feng Lishi (or Feng Lishi), and she was an ancient goddess who helped all things greatly in Chinese historical myths and legends. It is said that she is the mother of the Chinese nationality, who created life and bravely took care of the creatures from natural disasters. She is the creator God and the primordial Mother God widely and long worshipped by the people. She has great powers to transform all things, and can create at least 70 things every day.
It is said that Nu Wa created human beings and created human society by imitating herself with loess. There is also a legend that Nuwa mended the sky, that is, a great disaster occurred in nature. The earth collapsed, and birds of prey and evil beasts came out to harm the people. Nuwa smelted five colored stones to repair the sky, and killed evil beasts and birds of prey, re erected the quadrupole pillars, and leveled the world. In addition, it is said that Nu Wa made some musical instruments called Sheng Huang, Se and long, so people believed that Nu Wa was the goddess of music. In the records, she established a marriage system for human beings, so that young men and women could marry each other and reproduce. Therefore, she was also passed down as the goddess of marriage.
Under the ancient patriarchal system, patriarchy, husband power and male power became three mountain chains that firmly suppressed the development of Nuwa myth, making it divided into three types:
I. Nuwa, as the ancient sage king, the ancestor of the human race and the sacrifice of the Virgin Mary: affirm her identity as the mother of mankind and the third emperor of earth;
Second, as the God of blessing the country and mending the sky, Nuwa, who can be worshipped, confirmed her identity as the sister of Fuxi (and the next successor) and the saint of mending the sky;
III. offering sacrifices to all gods of Nuwa: it is the image of the creator God that is a complete integration.
Chinese legend
1. Maternal farming civilization in Nuwa Era
The law of social development of the principle of historical materialism tells people that the nationalities in the Nuwa and Fuxi era were just in the transitional period from the mother’s (tribe) society to the father’s (tribe) society. At this time, the Chinese nation was basically inherited according to their mother’s lineage, so it was said in ancient Chinese books that they “only know their mother, not their father”.
But at that time, the nation was also gradually transitioning to a patriarchal society. Therefore, they will recommend a male ancestor like Fuxi, who is respected by later generations, and describe the male ancestor as a “God Man” with magical power born after the combination of “God” and women.
According to “Xuanyuan Benji”, volume 100 of “Yun Ji Qi Zhang”: “the Yellow Emperor visited Huaxu country, which is also a fairy country.” Note: “Fuxi was born in this country.” It can be seen that the legendary Hua Xu is not only the “mother of Fuxi” who gave birth to Fuxi, but also a country name, or a clan or tribe name, of the legendary era of China. Therefore, the Huaxu state, which was born in Fuxi, is actually what ethnologists now say, a matriarchal clan (tribe) society that implements intermarriage within a clan (tribe).
In such a matriarchal clan (tribe) society, it is popular for men and women of different generations to marry and reproduce within the clan (tribe). Therefore, the legendary Fuxi and Nuwa are both blood relatives and connected couples. At that time, Huaxia not only knew his mother Hua Xu clearly; At the same time, due to the development of society, they were able to speculate, or make up, that their father was a “great trace”, but there was no traceable “God”.
2. Early water control during maternal farming
In the Chinese legend, Nuwa not only kneaded the loess to be a man and multiplied mankind, but also made a contribution to mending the sky. [30] according to written records, Nuwa’s final purpose of mending the sky is mainly to “accumulate reed ashes” and “stop obscene water”.
In the legend of Nuwa mending the sky in “Huainan Zi Lan · LAN Ming Xun”, the giant AO and black dragon that Nuwa killed were actually recognized by China as water monsters who caused trouble and harmed the people. The purpose of Nuwa breaking aozu and killing Heilong is to eliminate water monsters and quell floods. Therefore, her purpose is to quell floods and control floods.
The five colored stone made by Nuwa to mend the sky is not so much to mend the sky as to control water. For China engaged in farming, flood and water conservancy have always been the major issues of primary concern; Colored stones and reed ashes are important necessities for early water control. Therefore, what the legend of Nuwa mending the sky reflects should be the history of human beings in the matriarchal (Tribal) society, who, under the leadership of their female leaders, carried out a large-scale water control of “stopping obscenity”. At the same time, such large-scale early water control also reflects the prosperity of the farming civilization of the Chinese nation and matriarchal clan society in the Nuwa era.
Mythological evolution
The first batch of ancient books of Nuwa mythology are recorded in Shanhaijing and Chuci in the pre-Qin period (although Shuowen Jiezi records the word wa in the works written by Tai Shizhen, King xuanwang of the Western Zhou Dynasty at the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but it has been lost and only for rumors). Although the records in the two books are still vague, most people today affirm their intention of the primordial deity who functions as a creator. Mr. Yuan Ke interpreted the record in “Chu Ci · Tianwen” as: “Nu Wa became someone else’s body, and who made her body”. Mr. Ding Shan thought more clearly that these two sentences explained: “in the Warring States period, the Chinese people had already spread the story of Nuwa making people.”
As for Nuwa’s statement in the “classics of mountains and seas · great wilderness West Sutra”: “there are ten gods, whose names are Nuwa’s intestines. They were transformed from Nuwa’s intestines. They live in the fields of Li Guang, close to the road.” Yuan Ke took the note of Guo Pu, a Jin man, as his solution, “or as the belly of Nuwa”, and said, “Nuwa, an ancient goddess and emperor, has a human face and a snake body, which changes 70 times in a day, and its belly turns into a God”, and took the words of Xu Shen and Liu An, Han people, as references. Ding Shan also believes that this “is obviously a fable of pregnant and Yu human beings”. Nevertheless, these records still do not clearly state that Nuwa made man.
In addition to creating people, the records of Nuwa as the original God of musical instruments (the invention of Sheng spring, etc.) in the pre-Qin classics should also be an important part of Nuwa’s creation God, but this seems to have not attracted enough attention from scholars, especially the romantic theme in literature. “The book of Rites” and “the emperor’s century”, Ying Shao’s “Shiben · zupian” as “Nuwa as Sheng spring”, it can be seen that Kong Shu is not wrong. This short five word record has become a platform for future generations of writers to gallop their talents.
In ancient books, the earliest story of Nuwa’s creation of human beings is “general meaning of Customs”. Although this story positively describes Nuwa’s creation of human beings and shows the status of Nuwa’s original grandmother’s Godhead, there is no doubt that it has been branded with the shadow of human social changes. “Kneading the loess as a man” is considered to be the projection of the invention of pottery making technology in the history of human culture in myth, and the distinction between wealth and poverty created by human beings is the reflection of human beings entering the hierarchical society. This shows that once the myth leaves its own growth soil, its form will take on a new posture with the new growth land.
At the same time, Nuwa is also the God of marriage that human beings can continue. “Custom communication” said: “Nuwa prayed to the temple God, praying and becoming a female media. Because of the purchase of faint marriage.” Luo Bi believed that “with its medium, there will be a country in the future, and it is the God who is enshrined as Gao, because of the temple.” This should be the trace of Nuwa’s marriage myth after human beings entered the marriage system. Disclaimer: the above content originates from the network, and the copyright belongs to the original author. Please inform us if your original copyright is infringed, and we will delete the relevant content as soon as possible.