The historical origin of the custom of fighting sheep in Shui po Liang Mountain

□ Wu Jifu

The sheep fighting custom in southwest Lu is most famous in Liangshan County, which is a long-standing folk custom in Liangshan and an important entertainment project for local rural markets, ancient temple fairs, Spring Festival and festive days.

Shuipo Liangshan area due to low-lying terrain, more waterlogged wetlands, suitable for willow growth, with fallen leaves, branches herding sheep, less investment, large benefits, known as "every family plants willows, households raise sheep" said. Fighting sheep, folk commonly known as "roe sheep", due to different judgments, in the past often caused fights and fights, so it was called "storm affair" in the old days, and later developed into a folk activity in southwest Lu.

Liangshan Douyang has a long history, and there are two theories about the origin of this custom, one originated in the Western Han Dynasty and the other said to be from Cao Cao.

According to historical records, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the main father entered Qi as a phase and implemented the "Tui En Order", dividing the State of Qi into seven kingdoms. Among them, the boundary between the King of Jiaoxi and the Kingdom of Chengyang was unclear, and the conflict was continuous, the two armies were opposed to the Quhe River, and the war was about to break out. The lord father was very shocked, and specially invited the two kings to ally with the Great Wall of Qi, showing that "the dispute between the two kings cannot be held up, so it is better to ask the heavens." The two kings asked urgently, "How do you ask the heavens?" The Lord Father said, "The two kings each write a word, and Providence will manifest." The King of Jiaoxi wrote the character "Ji", and the King of Chengyang wrote the word "Sheep" (in ancient times, "sheep" and "Xiang" were common). The Lord Father laughed and said: The words written by the two kings are "auspicious", which can form a "good" word, without the use of force. Therefore, the two sides agreed that "the sheep are aggressive, two wins in three games, and the winner is bounded by the Great Wall of Qi", and it is scheduled to fight sheep on the beach on the north bank of the Quhe River at noon ten days later.

After the King of Jiaoxi returned to the palace, he passed on the school to guard the school and ordered him to select the robust and aggressive black goats. The school immediately issued an announcement: "Regarding state affairs, all the strong black goats, tiger gods, and leopard gods will be sent to the school yard to fight sheep tomorrow morning." Whoever enters the first division will receive five acres of land, the champion will give 100 acres of land and 100 gold, and the runner will receive 50 gold. Three days after the announcement was issued, jiaoxi shook the whole country, and when it reached Zhecheng Road, people and sheep embraced each other and lined up for ten miles. There is a folk song that says: "It is better to raise children than to raise black sheep, and if you raise black sheep, you have land and get a hundred gold to build a big house." ”

On the day of the competition, 100,000 people gathered on the beach on the north bank of the Quhe River, and the flags were fierce and the drums were beating. The honor guards of the two countries are lined up word for word, and the goats are covered in colored silk, strong as cattle, and fierce as tigers and wolves. Yangcheng King's fighting sheep, "a ball of white snow king yi, two horns towering knife sharp" "a pair of dragon eyes are shining with spirit, limbs and thick feet like cattle hooves"; Jiaoxi King's fighting sheep, "the whole body is black like Ugin, the two horns are thick and short like a mallet" "the tiger's eyes are suddenly frightened, and the bear's waist and cow's back are like plough legs.". The end result was that The Black Sheep of the Jiaoxi King was slightly better and won the championship. Since then, the two countries have demarcated the border with the Great Wall of Qi. The wind of sheep fighting then arose and spread to all parts of Qilu.

Another legend of origin is related to Cao Cao. According to historical records, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao served as the pastor of Yanzhou, with Cao Prefecture (曹州, in modern Heze) Juancheng as his base. According to legend, Cao Cao lost a battle against Yuan Shao and retired to Cao Prefecture, demoralizing. Cao Cao ascended to the far horizon, thinking hard about the strategy of breaking the enemy, and suddenly saw two shepherd boys driving sheep down the slope to fight and play, although the sheep were weak, they were better than the big sheep because of their fighting spirit. Cao Cao was greatly inspired and summed up the experience of "soldiers are better than Zhi'ang, defeated by heart fatigue, proud soldiers must be defeated, mourning soldiers must be victorious, and a thousand troops can be discouraged in one breath", so he summoned soldiers to watch the battle together, so that the army was mighty and powerful, counterattacked, defeated Yuan Shao, and laid the foundation for dominating the Central Plains.

After that, under the initiative of Cao Cao, the custom of fighting sheep arose in the southwest of Lu. Tang Li Yanshou's "History of the North" records: "In the first month, the townspeople bought male sheep, and each went to the scene to decide the victory or defeat, causing the group to beat and beat, and thousands of onlookers." It can be seen that the custom of fighting sheep during the Southern and Northern Dynasties has been spread in the Jilu Yuwan region.

Sheep fighting competitions in Liangshan County are generally held at markets or temple fairs. Before the sheep fight, people invite each other. When the appointed date was reached, people elected several people who were famous and "oppressed the public" as "chiefs" to handle the matter. Before the start of the competition, the "principals" will fight sheep according to the teeth (two teeth, four teeth, six teeth), weight, fame, take turns to enter, one-on-one fight, single round robin, commonly known as "winners", the final winner won the prize, called "famous sheep".

There are generally two ways to fight sheep: one is freestyle, that is, the owner of the sheep fight lets go of two sheep to fight on his own; The other is to pull open the bucket (standard), the owner pulls the sheep away a certain distance, turns back violently, fights for a round, pulls away again, and fights again until the winner is decided. In the market, it is often the two sides of the sheep fight that discuss and shout, temporarily find a spacious place, and draw a line on the ground with a whip. Immediately surrounded by people, the scene is thrilling, and the joy is thunderous. The winner of the sheep fight, its price tag immediately rose.

The Liangshan Dou sheep breed was originally The Luxi sheep. In August 1981, after the investigation and research of the editor of the "Chinese Sheep Breed History and Atlas" and the experts, professors and scholars of 14 scientific research units across the country, the "Luxi Sheep" was changed to "Little TailEd Cold Sheep", with Liangshan as the breeding center, as the breeding base of the small-tailed Cold Sheep, and the fighting sheep breed became the Small-tailed Cold Sheep. It is known for its large, strong and brave, with high reproductive rate, fast growth and development and other characteristics, up to 150 kilograms after maturity, more than 1 meter high, known as the world's super giant sheep, is the best gene bank for meat sheep production. The ram of the small-tailed cold sheep is large, powerful, and aggressive, with developed spiral-shaped bony horns, thick and hard. When the two sheep collide, they can produce a force of 800 kilograms, like the sound of chopping wood, full of power, very eye-catching.

Due to the prevalence of sheep fighting customs, in 1986 Liangshan County held the Chinese Sheep Fighting Sheep Race Conference, and in 1988, the Sheep Fighting Association was established, which widely attracted sheep fighting enthusiasts, enthusiasts and organizers. According to statistics, liangshan county now holds more than 100 large-scale sheep fighting competitions every year. For example, Haoshantou Village in Liangshan County is a characteristic village of folk tourism in Shandong Province, and a sheep fighting contest will be held here every Year on March 20, when the ancient temple fair is held. The village's ancient meeting began in the Qing Dynasty, began on the 22nd of February of the lunar calendar every year, lasted for one month, and later evolved into a literary and art exchange conference, with a sheep fighting competition, while staging a big drama, Yangqin rap, Shandong fast book, martial arts exhibition, dragon dance, lion dance, cockfighting, song and other folk art activities, famous in southwest Lu. At this time of year, the people of the ten miles and eight townships will come to the meeting, watch the sheep fighting, and listen to the big drama.

Why are the Liangshan people keen on fighting sheep? This has to do with the local social environment. Liangshan has been rich in goats since ancient times. In the view of the Liangshan people, the real significance of the sheep fighting race lies in the improvement of the quality of the sheep breed and the will of the sheep fighting people. The local folk proverb: "The ewe is good, a good nest; Rams good, good slope. "Farmers select excellent rams through sheep fighting, and then use rams to breed fine offspring. This is a great joy for the local people, which can not only entertain to adjust life, but also improve the quality of sheep, which can greatly improve the economic benefits of farmers.

In addition, the Liangshan people are more martial arts, the sheep fighting people are more martial arts, and the sheep fighting is not only the strength of the sheep, but also the strength and wisdom of the people. Screening good sheep through sheep fighting is conducive to the development of the local sheep industry, which in turn promotes the prevalence of sheep fighting.

Nowadays, with the improvement of people's living standards, sheep fighting has developed from ancient meetings and market competitions in the past to today's street community fighting competitions, which has become an entertainment activity throughout urban and rural areas.

Source: Qilu Evening News