Goats, in Western culture, is the embodiment of fornication, the prototype of the devil, legend has it that it will lure men to commit fornication crimes in dreams, in the past, many low-level teenagers in Europe had their first sex with goats, and even spread sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis.
However, in traditional Chinese culture, goats have a completely different image, "joyful", "sanyang kaitai", "lamb kneeling milk"... There are also the "three animals" that were indispensable for sacrifice in ancient times, all of which show that the image of sheep on the mainland is very positive.
Foreign farmers accidentally photographed their black goats suddenly walking upright
What exactly have Westerners gone through to think goats are fornicated? Why is the image of goats so different in Chinese and Western cultures?
Is it a pot of sheep to be given a lewd color in the West?
In the book "The Faerie Queen", Spencer uses animals as symbols of the seven deadly sins, and goats symbolize fornication; The animals in de Bligha's printmaking series symbolize the fall of man are monkeys, goats, and foxes, and goats symbolize fornication.
The famous image of lust in the Seven Deadly Sins is the goat
Ancient European animal husbandry economy prospered, many shepherds in remote areas all year round, lack of sex education, their sexual enlightenment often comes from animals, in fact, this situation is common in the lack of sex education in society, just like the first sex education of boys in "White Deer Plain" also came from animal breeding.
Now, please imagine as I imagine, you live in the mountains, accompanied only by goats, meadows and circling goshawks, young and vigorous, and there is nowhere to vent your anger, but how can there be so many cute little girls in real life to relieve the little shepherd's suffering?
Coupled with the extremely strong sexual desire of the uncastrated male goat, the senses brought by the goat's mating further stimulate the rise of desire, so it is natural to play the song of life harmony with the sheep.
Peter the Shepherd and his sheep in the movie "Heidi and Grandpa"
Not surprisingly, in the "Kinsey Sexology Report" published in the United States in the fifties, there was a special statistics on sexual contact between humans and animals.
"Sexual contact between men and animals is not uncommon in rural America."
"Half or more of young men in rural America have experienced this experience, and about 17 percent have peaked in it."
In the fifties, the statistics are still so large, you can imagine how likely it is that people and goats are under the default circumstances just now.
There is a saying on the Internet called "After being single for a long time, I also feel clear eyebrows when I look at (some kind of animal)"
Why goats?
Just having a relationship, that domestic animal may become a catharsis of desire, why is it that the goat is given the name of fornication?
In addition to being related to the strong sexual desire of goats and the closed living environment of shepherds, human ignorance also plays an important role.
Imagine a shepherd courting sheep and being discovered by others, how would he justify? Nature blames the sheep all - it must have been the sheep dressed as demons who seduced people.
As Brother A San said: "It's all about seducing me!" ”
In addition, infection after exposure may be an important reason why goats are called "demons". Although syphilis is only transmitted between humans, some researchers believe that syphilis may originate in sheep.
In fact, sculptures and portraits of half-man and half-beast in the ancient West are not uncommon. If man and an animal are not sick, the animal becomes a god; If they get sick, the animal will be named a demon.
Goats on board
By the Age of Discovery, this relationship between man and sheep had not diminished by the reduction of herders. Sheep, as relatively easy to raise animals that provide high-quality meat, are often carried on sailing ships.
The vast sea, the long night, why do you have to worry? Sheep become a good thing to relieve worry. Of course, there were priests on ocean-going ships, but their inability to punish the crew caused instability on board, so the sheep became scapegoats, and the impression that fornication was linked to sheep was also deepened in the minds of Westerners.
A foreign model of a goat, holding an evil book
Westerners and sheep have staged a drama for thousands of years, which can be said to surprise us.
It has a lot to do with the variety difference
The very different attitudes of Chinese and Western people towards sheep have a lot to do with the breed of sheep, Europe is mountainous, goats are more lively, and the Inner Mongolia Plateau in northern China is flat and boundless, and it is in the golden milk belt, which is a good place to graze sheep.
In Western mythology, Jesus was holding a sheep
Although goats and sheep are called sheep, they do not belong to the same species, and in the final analysis, goats have 30 pairs of chromosomes, while sheep have only 27 pairs of chromosomes.
From daily experience, goat meat is more fishy than sheep meat, goats have mustaches but sheep do not, which is the intuitive feeling of many people. Goats from the point of view of temperament, the difference between the two is also very large, sheep are docile, gregarious, timid, while goats are more lively, especially male goats have a strong sexual desire.
Some people say that seeing this Damascus sheep seems to understand the ancient Europeans
From the point of view of food, the hind limbs of goats can stand and can pick young branches and leaves of shrubs and trees in high places; Sheep, on the other hand, can only eat grass and leaves on the ground or in the lower places.
The coarse-haired sheep in the sheep can eat while walking, walk relatively fast, and have a higher ability to identify poisonous weeds, while fine-haired sheep eat grass standing and walk more slowly, and the ability to identify poisonous weeds is poor.
The difference in the temperament of sheep has led to a very different attitude towards sheep in China and the West, and looking back at our culture, what is our emotional attitude towards sheep?
Sheep culture in Chinese folklore
Giving sheep to exhort filial piety is a traditional etiquette on the mainland.
The allusion comes from a shrewd shepherd uncle, who, in order to educate his little nephew, who did not know filial piety, took him to watch the lamb kneeling and gave him a lamb to keep. The little boy was deeply educated and understood that the lamb still knows how to honor his mother, and that man should do the same.
Since then, every year in June and July of the summer calendar, it has become a ritual custom for my grandfather and uncle to give sheep to my grandson (nephew) to teach him filial piety, and "lamb kneeling at the breast" has also become synonymous with filial piety.
The important reason why many Chinese have a good impression of sheep is that sheep are one of the twelve zodiac signs. Being listed as the zodiac sign is enough to show the respect of the Chinese ancestors for the sheep, and in Chinese legend, the sheep sacrificed their lives for righteousness because humans stole grain seeds, and selflessly offered meat and milk to humans.
Here's a little story:
Legend has it that in ancient times, the divine sheep took pity on human beings for their lack of clothing and thin faces, and took advantage of the Jade Emperor's lack of attention to steal the seeds of the Ota and give them to humans, and taught people the technique of planting grains. In the coming year, mankind will harvest abundantly, eat and wear without worry, and feel the grace of the gods and sheep in their hearts to carry out a large-scale sacrifice ceremony.
However, the grand sacrificial ceremony caused trouble for the benefactor, the god sheep, and the Jade Emperor discovered that the human beings had obtained the five grains, and was furious, ordering the slaughter of the sacred sheep and allowing the humans to eat the mutton. In the second year, grass and lambs grew in the place where the sheep died, and the sheep have since passed on their lineage to the world, and selflessly provided their meat, milk, and hair to mankind.
Of course, mankind knows that every year a wax festival is held to commemorate the gods and sheep. Later, when the Jade Emperor announced that he would choose the zodiac, humans unanimously elected the sheep as one of the twelve zodiac signs, although the Jade Emperor was not happy, but it was difficult to go against the opinions of the people, so he had to agree that the sheep was a zodiac animal.
There is also the "Legend of the Five Sheep" in Guangzhou
Of course, not only the people's favorability of sheep has exploded, but sheep and the roots of Chinese culture are also inextricably linked
The heart of Chinese sheep culture
Sheep have always been the most important sacrifice in ancient times.
In Confucian culture, the sheep are a symbol of a very gentleman's character, and Confucius's "gentlemen are grouped without party" is embodied in the sheep, and Dong Zhongshu has pushed this respect to a new level; The sheep pass false "auspicious", "sheep are beautiful", "sheep words are good", etc., all reflect Chinese's respect and love for sheep.
Four Rams Fangzun is one of China's national treasures that are banned from outbound exhibitions
First of all, the West and then our own culture, on the one hand, to retain your eyeballs, on the other hand, it is also for your consideration, only see the origin of the Western attitude towards sheep, the next time you face the delicious lamb hot pot and sweet goat milk, I am afraid that you can no longer happily lower your mouth, don't be afraid, today meet three or five friends to go to a lamb hot pot together!
Resources:
1. Hu Jialuan: "The Kingdom of Peace", Renaissance British Garden Poetry and Animal Symbolism, 2006
2.Alfred C. Kinsey :Kinsey Reports ,1948
3. Baidu Encyclopedia: Syphilis - the source of infection
4. Qiu Ye: Chinese and Western "Sheep Culture Research", 2011