In ancient times, Chinese while striving to survive in the natural environment, they also carefully observed the changes in heaven and earth, so as to gradually develop a unique world view. For Chinese, the heavens are to be irrevocable, and the birds that can fly freely, stay in the treetops, travel between heaven and earth and come and go freely, are regarded as messengers with divinity and can communicate with heaven, and then become symbols of celestial animals.
Among the many birds that "can communicate with the heavens", people in ancient times preferred the owl called "owl" in ancient times. In the Yangshao culture tombs, archaeologists have excavated a pottery owl, and many practical artifacts similar to the shape of the owl have been unearthed at Yangshao cultural sites around the world. In addition to the Yangshao culture, the Hongshan culture in Inner Mongolia has also unearthed a large number of owl-shaped jade objects, which are speculated to be more related to its religious culture.
This love for owls can also be seen in the artifacts unearthed at the Ruins of Yin. For example, a number of jade owl have been found in the tomb of The Lady of Yin Ruins, its shape, carving method and pattern are basically the same, the overall shape is round carving, squatting, there are two hairy horns on the head, round eyes, diamond-shaped eye sockets, long hook beak rolled down to the chest, short wings, short tail touch, short feet, double hook yin line carved wing feathers, hook cloud pattern, tail feather pattern. However, the most common in the Shang Dynasty is the bronze owl, which not only has a variety of shapes and exquisite production, but also has very distinct characteristics of the owl.
The popularity of owl artifacts in the Yin Shang period means that people had a crazy worship of owls at that time, why did merchants love owls so much?
Judging from the excavated bronze owl, its shape and pattern have a strong religious color, and scholars speculate that it may have been used in religious sacrifices. It is well known that merchants especially revered ghosts and gods, and ancestors were the gods they mainly worshipped. Etiquette. The "Table Record" says: "Yin people respect gods, lead the people to serve the gods, first ghosts and then rituals", showing the cultural characteristics of Yin Shang - merchants listed the sacrifice of ancestors and gods as the first priority. Moreover, the ancestors are different from the gods, and they are the closest beings to themselves, so all the descendants and divination and other issues will definitely ask the ancestors for advice. It will also use rich sacrifices and solemn sacrifices to please the ancestors in order to get the blessing of the ancestors, which is why the ritual instruments were used in large quantities during the Yin Shang period.
Owls, which always haunt at night, are regarded by merchants as spirit birds carrying ancestors, the embodiment of ancestors, and owls are worshipped as ancestors. The origin of the "slug" in the oracle is an owl with wide eyes. The Shang clan origin myth is also related to birds, and legend has it that Jian Di, the daughter of the Youluo clan from Shaohao, gave birth to a deed by swallowing the eggs produced by the birds. Shang Song. The "Xuan Bird" is loaded: "The Destiny of the Xuan Bird, descending to give birth to the merchant, the house is vast." The ancient emperor ordered Wu Tang to "correct the four sides of the domain". From the importance that merchants attached to the owl, some scholars believe that the "bird" may not refer to the swallow, but to the ancestor's incarnation - the owl.
In the society of the ancient times, there was a strong belief in animal totems, and the ancestors of yin merchants were the shaoshi clan who mainly used bird totems. The myth of the Genbird Shengshang has not been interrupted by the death of the Shang, and has not only spread more widely but also added many settings. Since the ancients could not yet explain the reason for the woman's pregnancy, but observed that the eggs of poultry became new life through hatching, they combined the two, and this explanation was generally accepted by people at the time, and then widely spread. However, by the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Jian Di had become the concubine of the emperor, and in the works of the well-known poet Qu Yuan, "Leaving the Troubles" and "Heavenly Questions", it was even more combined with the xuan bird and the emperor, and the ancestor of the Shang Dynasty, who was originally "born of the feeling of the bird" or "born without a father", had a father.
In the Qin and Han dynasties, the Xuan bird, which was regarded by merchants as a god, became a similar existence to the sending bird, such as the Yi Zhou Shu, which was mainly based on pre-Qin historical materials. Shi Xun Xie", there is a record: "The bird does not arrive, the woman does not make a wife", "The Book of Rites. The Moon Decree also states: "The moon of mid-spring... Genbird to. On the day of the solstice, the great prison was placed in Gao Zhen (禖, yin wu). The Son of Heaven personally goes, and the queen concubine leads the nine concubines to the Throne, which is the emperor of the Heavenly Son", and people will ask for a son from the goddess of fertility, Gao Yu, at the time of the arrival of the bird in the middle of the spring. According to scholars' research, Gao Yu was the god of fertility in ancient China, and the Xia and Shang dynasties were all there, but the objects were different, the Xia people believed that Gao Yu was a nuwa, the merchants felt that it was JianDi, and the Zhou people regarded it as the mother of the Zhou people's ancestor Hou Ji.
During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the activities of sacrificing Gao Yu were combined with the Shangwei Festival on the third day of March, on which in addition to the dating of men and women in the game of Qi Yu (to drive away disease disasters), people would also boil eggs or other poultry eggs in the Qushui Liuqiu game, put them into the water and go down the river to eat, the Western Jin Dynasty scholar Zhang Xie wrote in the "Luo Yu Fu": "Fu He Sanchun LingYue ... Zhu Mantle Red Shu, Cui Mu Li Lian, Floating Element Egg to Cover the Water, Sprinkle Xuan Mash in the Middle River". This custom of offering sacrifices to Gao Yu in mid-spring and welcoming birds for children continued into the Ming and Qing dynasties, when the Chronicle of Changli County in the Qing Dynasty stated: "On the third day of March, the 'Peach Society' ... Salamander leaves for both men and women, and if willows are planted in front of the door, to welcome the birds."
The evolution of ancient mythology reflects the process of the storyline from simple to complex, but how the content adds vinegar has never changed the theme of "Genbird Shengshang", and the original version of the story can be said to be a true record of the transition from matriarchal society to patrilineal society.