When I got up today and flipped through the calendar, I suddenly found that it was Halloween, so I couldn't help but sigh that time passed so quickly.
Halloween is a Western holiday, and we seem to have little interest Chinese. But now that everyone lives in the same global village and has a festival with each other, it doesn't seem like a big problem. However, the festival is still secondary, and what is even more interesting is the cultural collision between China and the West.
For example, there is a very famous example, that is, the black cat. There is a case of black cats, as if both China and the West regard it as a symbol of inauspiciousness, believing that it is related to some evil ghosts and ghosts, which will bring disaster. Some people say that Halloween is coming, and you have to hide away after seeing the black cat.
Of course, such an idea is not valid in our socialist countries that believe in materialism. But I would like to say today that even in the old China, the idea that black cats were unlucky did not seem to hold up very well.
We often hear people say that black cats are unlucky, on the one hand, because the characteristics of the cat's own actions have brought people a strange feeling, and on the other hand, because of the westernization of China in modern times and the acceptance of some Western ideas and traditions. Black cats are not like this in our traditional culture.
First, the behavior characteristics of the cat itself.
We all know that cats are very dexterous creatures, jumping up and down, drilling around, always giving people a feeling of coming and going without a trace. In addition, the cat always walks lightly, and often waits until it comes closer before people react.
Such a pattern of behavior will naturally make people think of superstitious legends such as ghosts. Coupled with the fact that the black cat is black, it can better hide itself at night, which increases the probability of scaring others, and naturally becomes a representative of some kind of supernatural object.
But now that science is developed, we all know that this is just an imagination. After all, the cat walks lightly, saying that it is a ghost or something like that, but it is really wronged, what if people just walk more ladylike?
Second, the Culture of the West about black cats.
In fact, in my opinion, behind the stigmatization of black cats, it is more related to Western culture.
1. Witches and Satan.
In the Middle Ages in the West, due to various reasons such as superstition, a large-scale "witch hunting" movement was set off. In this movement, not only witches are captured, but also witches' pets. Animals such as black cats, crows, owls, etc., are labeled as witch pets because of their appearance or behavior.
This movement ended in 1200 AD, which directly triggered a large-scale cat persecution campaign. Cats were added to the trial: "The monster cat walked into the house at night to attack a baby or a suffocating sleeping human." The witnesses to the witch trial at the time claimed that the witch could be transformed into a black cat and that the witch would kiss the cat's ass during the party.
Next, Pope George VI came forward to declare the black cat the embodiment of the witch, which gave the black cat stigma campaign the official label, so that the public would associate cats or witches whenever they were mentioned. Later, people completely formed the idea that the black cat is the embodiment of the witch, the messenger of hell, and has the power of Satan.
This idea persisted throughout the Middle Ages, and many Western proverbs have a shadow of it. For example, we often say that cat has nine lives (cats have nine lives), the earliest saying is that killing a witch, she will change into a black cat again, and can change a total of 8 times.
2. Effects of the Black Death.
From 1347 to 1353, a large-scale plague of the Black Death broke out throughout Europe, and at least 25 million Europeans were killed by the plague, which accounted for about 1/3 of the total population of Europe at that time!
In the shadow of death, the entire European people were panicked and their faith collapsed. Although people want to find the true source of the plague, under the panic, unjust, false and wrong cases often appear. Unfortunately, the black cat has become the protagonist of unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, and as a representative of witches and Satan, the black cat is the source of the spread of the Black Death in people's eyes. In this way, the black cat has become a complete symbol of inauspiciousness in Western culture, and it can no longer turn over.
It was not until modern times that it was finally speculated from historical records that the Black Death in Europe was actually caused by a bacterium called Y. pestis. These bacteria are parasitic on fleas and are transmitted by animals such as mice. That is to say, those black cats have been carrying the black cauldron for hundreds of years.
These are the two main reasons why we think black cats are unlucky, but these are just the views of us ordinary people and Western culture. So in ancient China, how did those authoritative official accounts look at black cats?
1. Black is itself not necessarily negative.
According to some of our usual language, black always seems to represent negative things, such as inverting black and white, black and white, and so on. But in fact, black has a broader meaning in our Chinese culture.
As early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, our ancestors have produced the five squares (southeast, northwest, and middle), the five tones (horned Shang Gong Yu), and the five colors (blue, red, yellow, white, and black). In the Warring States period, Zou Yan absorbed the ideas of his predecessors and put forward the "five virtues always" theory of the five elements winning and the cycle without reason. And one of the points of this doctrine is to unify the five colors and the five elements, that is:
"The earth is victorious, so its color is still yellow... Wood qi wins, so its color is still green... The golden qi wins, so its color is still white... Fire is victorious, so its color is still red... Water is better, so its color is still black..."
According to the Five Virtues Theory, what the Zhou Dynasty represented was huode, and in the end it would be destroyed by the representatives who advocated water virtue, and when Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms and replaced the Zhou Dynasty, he changed all his official flags to black, and renamed the Yellow River to Heihe. Since then, black has had the meaning of honor, solemnity and solemnity.
Of course, for five thousand years in our country, black has not always dominated the culture. But this does not prevent black from appearing in a positive image all the time. Let's take Peking Opera as an example, the masks of characters like Bao Zheng and Zhang Fei are all black. It represents words such as serious character, impartiality, and kong wu forcefulness.
According to the above content, it is not difficult to find that black is not a fixed representation of good or evil in traditional Chinese culture, and the meaning of black can often be judged by combining specific contexts and historical situations. So the color of the black cat itself is not enough to prove that it is unlucky.
Second, the image of the black cat in Chinese culture.
In Chinese culture, the image of cats is almost always positive, and it can even be said to be extremely honorable. In the Tang Dynasty, China had the earliest pet cats, and by the two Song Dynasties, a large number of cats were born, the most widely known of which was the Lu You who wrote "I don't go out with Tanuki Slaves".
As a member of the cat, the black cat was not disliked because of its appearance, and with its unique color, it also successfully won the title of "Beast of Evil Spirits", even if it is unique among all cats in the world.
In the "Ming and Qing Yin Yang Feng Shui Theory", there is a saying that "Xuan cat (black cat), a thing that wards off evil spirits, is easy to place in the south, and it is suitable for future and grandchildren". In ancient times, people would find ways to raise a black cat or place black cat-like ornaments.
In addition, the black cat is also the protagonist of many painters, such as the famous "Cat Butterfly Diagram" by bada Shanren.
In modern times, although there are many fewer people painting Chinese paintings, this does not prevent the image of black cats from appearing in new communication media, such as our childhood memories "Black Cat Sheriff" is an example.
Well, above I take you back to the status of black cats in Western culture, and the status of black cats in Chinese culture. It is not difficult to find that the meaning of black cats in different cultural contexts is different. If anyone else says that black cats are unlucky in the future, then we must let him go back and take a good look at the old ancestor's statement.
References:[1] Zhao Jun. Different connotations of animals in Chinese and Western cultures[j].Journal of Beijing City University,2006(04):101-103. Lu Qihong. Witchcraft and Witchcraft Persecution in Early Modern Western Europe[d].Fudan University, 2006. [3] Zang Ming. The Formation and Evolution of the Five Virtues and The Beginning Theory[d].Northwest University, 2012. Liang Xi. Comparison of cultural connotations of French-Chinese color words and the teaching practice of intermediate classes[d].Guangxi University for Nationalities, 2018. Tu Wenli. An Interesting Discussion on Chinese and Japanese Cat Culture[j].Reading and Writing (Journal of Education and Teaching),2018,15(03):6+29+4.