Wind and things are pressed
Summer seems to be a season that is particularly easy to associate with owls.
Do you remember the popular science of how many mice an owl catches in a summer?
If you have an owl-patterned T-shirt, did the grandmother's old man discipline you and not let you wear it?
Because the owl means the breath of death in traditional Chinese culture, it represents wisdom and auspiciousness in Western culture.
How are owls blackened and cute by us?
While visiting the Anyang Museum's "Flowing Past" exhibition, a group of cultural relics unearthed in the Anyang Gu case cemetery were found, including several pottery owl made of Han Dynasty pottery. At first I thought it was a cat's head, an owl body. Later, when I checked, I found that the cat was actually a semi-domesticated animal, and the cat that could live with people was domesticated in the Middle East as the earliest, and the cat that was close to people was introduced to China with the Silk Road in the Han Dynasty. Before the Han Dynasty, there were no domesticated cats in Chinese history, and the number of cats in the Han Dynasty was also very limited, so it is likely that there were no cats in Henan. What was unearthed from han tombs was supposed to be an owl, which the ancients called xiāo or owls.
A pottery owl excavated from the Han tomb in the Gu'an cemetery in Anyang, Henan
These pottery owls were placed in the tombs of the dead as artifacts and used as town tombs. There is already a relationship between owl and death. However, if you trace the origin of China's owl culture, the earliest can be traced back to the Neolithic Period, especially the Shang Dynasty, the owl was once a national totem, a hero worship and ancestor worship. Also unearthed in Anyang, several extremely atmospheric and exquisite owl-shaped vessels have been excavated, which can prove the love and worship of the shang dynasty people for owls. But later in the Han Dynasty, the owl completely changed into a hell and became a death-related evil bird. Chinese and the owl, what is the love and hatred between the owl, and listen to my analysis and analysis.
Yangshao culture Owl face
Throughout Chinese history, Owl-themed artworks have not been favored. However, if you trace back to the Shang Dynasty or the ancient period, there are still many bronzes with owl pottery, jade owl and owl themes, and the level of craftsmanship is extremely high. The earliest owl-shaped art in China is the pottery of the Yangshao culture excavated 7000-5000 years ago and the jade of the Hongshan culture. The Yangshao culture Pottery Owl looks domineering, possibly as a practical instrument, while the jade owl of the later Hongshan culture is completely detached from the practical function, used to represent a certain conceptual form, with profound spiritual significance. I don't know if it is archaeology that is not comprehensive enough, or otherwise, from the end of the Neolithic era to the early Bronze Age, the owl theme art is almost missing. During this transitional period, there were basically no owl-themed cultural relics unearthed. It wasn't until the emergence of a heroine that we found the dawn of civilization.
The National Museum of China collects tao owl ding
Hongshan cultural jade
Beginning in the middle and late Shang Dynasty, the number of owl-themed artworks exploded. In particular, several owl artworks have been unearthed from the Tomb of the Lady of Yin in Anyang, Henan, both bronze and jade. The owl's big eyes, big face and brave demeanor are very eye-catching and can be seen at a glance. In the tomb of Yin Ruins, in addition to the exquisite jade phoenix, the owl is unique among all the animals, which is exceptionally eye-catching, and it can be seen that the people of that era greatly worshiped the owl.
Some exquisite owl figures unearthed in the late Shang Dynasty
It turns out that the word "Shang" is the big face of an owl
"The Bird of Destiny, descending to give birth to the merchant". In the creation myth of the merchants, they are the descendants of the gentiles. Anyang city now has a "Xuan Bird" sculpture on the edge of the ancient city, and the People of Anyang generally believe that the Xuan Bird is a swallow. However, when visiting many Yinshang archaeological sites in Anyang, it is easy to find that there are no swallow ornaments in them, but there are many owls, so it is very likely that the bird is an owl or an owl. In addition, Oracle also believes that the word "Shang" is actually the face of an owl.
From the perspective of the relationship between man and nature, after Chinese entered the agricultural society, the ancestors needed to control rats. Rats not only steal seeds sprinkled into the field, but also bite off seedlings, and when the fruit is ripe, they steal grain, even after the grain is recovered, the storage must be done to prevent rats. Before the business, farmers had long recognized the important effects of owls eating mice for the benefit of agriculture.
Some owls common in China
(Spotted Owl, Eagle Owl, Long-eared Owl, Collared Owl)
According to a survey conducted by old zoologists around Chengdu in the 1950s, there are four most common owls here (long-eared owl, collared owl, spot-headed owl, eagle owl), an average of nearly 2 mice per owl per day, although later scientific research confirmed that owls have limited control over mouse populations, but in ancient times, the important role of owl catching rats was likely to be valued by early farmers. The Yin Shang culture may be the inheritance and development of the ancient Dongyi people's owl worship culture.
"Good woman" Owl Honored Late Shang Dynasty
Mr. Liu Dunyan, an archaeologist in the history of art, has thought deeply about this and discussed this matter in the article "Owl of the God of Night and Dreams". He believes that the first owl is a bird of prey, a majestic manner, and a symbol of victory in war. The poems describing war in the Book of Poetry also describe the owl (or eagle) to express the expectation of victory; secondly, the owl is nocturnal, often lying day and night, and Mr. Liu lao feels that the owl is the protector of dark nights and dreams. During the Yin Shang period, the ancients worshipped gods and believed in ghosts.
The Shanxi Museum has a collection of bronze ware merchants
The Book of Rites and Tables says: "The people of Yin respect God, lead the people to serve God, and first ghosts and then salute." "At that time, no matter what they did, they had to count before, divinate with bones, ask the deceased ancestors, and seek the blessings of the ancestors. And they feel that the living work during the day, while the souls of the ancestors come out at night, and the owl is the bird that carries the souls of the ancestors at night. Therefore, the owl became one of the incarnations of the ancestors and was naturally worshipped.
Why did the ornamentation of owl artifacts decline during the Western Zhou Dynasty?
However, during the Western Zhou Dynasty, people's attitudes towards the owl began to change. Especially in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty, the number of Owl-themed artworks decreased dramatically. Owl-shaped bronzes and owl patterns have basically disappeared. What happened after such a huge cultural shift in worship and ritual vessels? Historians are puzzled.
According to some speculation, the demise of the Western Zhou Owl culture may be related to a state-led "word prison". It is likely that the Zhou Dynasty, in order to avenge the bullying of the Yin merchants, completely erased the cult of the owl culture that represented the victory of the Shang Dynasty after defeating the Shang Dynasty.
After the complete failure of the merchants, the merchants were completely scandalized and scattered to remote areas. In this context, the owl worshipped by the bird became thinner and longer, gradually penetrated into chu land, and developed into the phoenix culture of the south in later generations. This cultural development will not be repeated here.
Why did the owls in the Qin and Han dynasties change from ceremonial vessels to haunted vessels?
At the end of the Warring States period and the Qin and Han dynasties, the artwork of the owl theme once again appeared in the tomb. Interestingly, most of the owl ware at this time has become pure funerary supplies, completely transforming from the ritual instruments of the Shang Dynasty to the haunting utensils. The allegorical culture of the owl changed from the auspiciousness of the Yin Shang period to the evil misfortune of later generations.
Collection of Henan Museum The Han Tomb of Sijiangou in Jiyuan, Henan Province, was excavated from the red and green glazed pottery owl pot
For thousands of years, owls have been Chinese bear the name of a vicious bird in the hearts of the people. As soon as the owl was mentioned, it was full of an evil atmosphere, as if bad luck was immediately on the body. The famous thinker Zhuangzi also compared his old friend Keiko to an owl, ridiculing Huishi for winning the prime minister as nothing more than a "rotten mouse".
The poetry of the Qin and Han dynasties also has many chapters that derogate the owl, believing that the owl's flight and standing posture are indecent, and it is delicious to rot rats, not hygienic, and the poem expresses the cultural preferences of the Han people who respect the phoenix and degrade the owl. What is even more brutal is that due to the popularity of Confucianism in the Han Dynasty, the owl was somehow put on the top hat of "no filial piety".
Xu Shen interpreted the word ィ in the "Explanation of Words" and said: "Birds, birds of unfilial piety." Day, catch the owl phosphorus, from the owl head on the wood. In this way, the owl was completely reduced to a vicious bird in Chinese culture, a demon bird, a fierce bird, and failed to turn over in the next two thousand years.
Can an owl really predict destiny?
"Don't be afraid of the night owl barking, just afraid of the night owl laughing", "the night owl enters the house, nothing happens", two folk sayings aptly describe the folk view of the owl. It is widely believed that once an owl calls on the house, it is going to die. The culture of night owl laughter, which heralds the imminent death of man, penetrates deep into every corner, and is popular both in the residential areas of contemporary scientists and in the hearts of the ancients.
Not long ago, a colleague swore to me that an old man had died at the door of his house. Before the old man died, an owl barked in the tree outside the window for several nights until the old man died. Looking at him with a serious face and a delicate explanation, I was suspicious of the letter.
In ancient times, there were more examples of fear of ominous owls. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Qi Guojing built a hall, and when he wanted to go in, he did not dare to go on stage when he heard the owl calling on the branches. Subordinate officials chased him away before taking the stage. What's even more bizarre is that there have even been strange stories in history where posts have been set up to drive owls away.
During the historical events from the Shang Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, the culture of viewing owls as ominous things was basically laid. Due to the dominance of Confucian culture in the Han Dynasty and the ridicule of the owl scavenging by masters such as the classic Zhuangzi, the owl has not changed its image for two thousand years. Even in the Song Dynasty, which worshipped flowers and birds, and the Ming Dynasty, which advocated "dressed animals and animals", the owl disappeared in Chinese art, completely hidden in the dark night sky. Of course, in ancient times, there were also a few well-informed people who did not agree that the owl was a symbol of misfortune and doom, and some people even realized that there were differences between regions and customs in the culture of the owl belief. Tang Dynasty official Liu Martyr, originally from Hebei, went to Lingnan as an official, and recorded various customs and foods along the way, in the "Records of the Mountains", he said: "The northern owls are singing, people think it is strange, and the common evil is evil, and the south is flying day and night, no different from the birds and magpies." The people of Guilin take raw food and raise them to catch rats, thinking that they are victorious over beavers. However, there must be too few people with such materialist ideas, and they have not had any impact on Chinese culture, and it is even more difficult to influence the understanding of owls in Chinese folk culture. In the ancient West, the owl was seen as a symbol of wisdom, and the big eyes showed that the Buddha could see through everything.
Speaking of which, many people will surely ask, "Does the owl bark really mean death?" Scientifically, can an owl really predict that a person will die? Unfortunately, not only have Chinese scientists not done this experiment, but foreign scientists have not verified it (people are not familiar with this story). Theoretically, the owl's strength lies in its strong night vision and ability to catch prey in a silent, flowing flight. In the end, whether the owl can smell the smell of the person who will die, predict death, and still need to be verified by the test of the high person.
However, it was once discovered that there was a cat in a hospital that could predict death. In 2007, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that a medical scientist at Brown University in the United States had discovered that a cat named Oscar in the hospital could predict who was going to die in the hospital. The researchers speculated that Oscar might be able to smell the chemical emitted by the death of certain cells. In addition, a special kind of dog trained by Japanese medical scientists can smell early thyroid cancer patients, which is very powerful.
Oscar cat who lives in the hospital
I would like to say here that I have been collecting and inspecting the historical information of the owl these past few nights, but I actually dreamed that I was dead last night. Unusually evil. As for whether owls are related to death? Since there is no research, we can neither affirm nor deny whether it can predict death or not. Folk popularity or rumors, or whether it is a specific species can be smelled. This is a good idea for anyone who is a master to study in depth. To do it along folk lines, this must be a major medical discovery.
How are owls germinated?
Finally, we're going to talk about contemporary owl culture. In today's China, owls have long become rare, and there are probably not many people who can recognize the word "owl", and children do not know what it is. Owls, a type of big bird, need not only forests, but also trees to survive. With the continuous deterioration of China's forest environment and the rapid development of urbanization in various places, most places have long disappeared. Taking Chengdu as an example, according to the article "Preliminary Investigation of Owl Anti-Rat", the author investigated several large ginkgo trees in an ancient temple in a suburban commune in the 70s, and also found 4 species of hundreds of owls, and in the 80s, only three long-eared owls were found; by the 90s, the trees had disappeared and there was no trace of owls. That's fine, and the experiment is over. The partial disappearance of the ows has deprived many people of the opportunity to learn about the owl. The children of the city can only catch a glimpse of the zoo occasionally, and the natural foundations of modern humans and owls are completely short- In this context, it is rare to hear the owl barking, and even to see the appearance of the owl.
In today's extremely information-rich society, the owl reappears in the public eye with a cute image through the lens of an ecological photographer. The round face, coupled with two large round eyes, looks very cute.
Owls, especially small owls, are simply the best interpretation of cute pets. Coupled with the influence of Western culture, various ornaments with the theme of owls became popular. Owl paintings, owl stickers, owl bags, owl shoes, owl animations, owl toys, and all kinds of owl-decorated goods have sprung up on the market. Kids love it, and so do parents.
A certain treasure on an owl cute pillow, it is said to be able to give the baby a good dream
Completely unaware, the emotional history of owls and Chinese has gone through more than 5,000 years of history, from birds of prey to evil birds, from night owls to cute, love and hate are intertwined, which can be called a history of owl blood and tears.
Resources:
"Owl Faith in Chinese Culture",
《鸱鸮类防鼠初探》 《The Owl in Early Chinese Art: Meaning and Representation》
Author: Mu Shi
The original article was published in Douban and has been reprinted with permission from the author
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