Chapter 17 Section 1 Constructing the Gods

Human beings have a tradition of worshiping ghosts and gods in prehistoric times. Ghosts and gods are divided into big and small, good and evil.Where do ghosts and gods come from?It turned out that it was created by human beings themselves. When human beings created their own world, they also created a world of ghosts and gods. Humans are the creators of many gods and spirits. Among the various forms of worship in prehistoric times, nature worship first appeared, followed by totem worship and ancestor worship.During the arduous trek with limited abilities, prehistoric humans deeply felt that the power of nature and many natural objects was far greater than that of manpower, so they gradually developed a distorted understanding, thinking that natural forces and natural objects have life and will just like human beings. , and higher than man himself.In fact, this is to endow the natural force with human characteristics, and believe that the natural force is dominated by gods, so beliefs arise from this, which is natural belief.Nature is personified and then worshiped, forming nature worship.In the eyes of prehistoric people, the natural world is a world full of gods. Gods can not only bless human beings, but also bring disasters to human beings.

All natural objects, from the celestial bodies to the earth, and all things related to human beings, can become objects of worship, because people believe that they each have their own gods and have powers that cannot be surpassed by human beings.Depending on the object of worship, the forms of nature worship can be divided into several categories: mountain and rock worship, water and fire worship, animal and plant worship, earth worship, and celestial body worship. Evidence of their existence can generally be found in archaeological remains. The worship of mountains, rocks, water and fire is a form of worship closely related to human life.Some small white stones are often buried in the tombs of Qijia culture, and some tombs have as many as 304 pieces, which are the relics of white stone worship.The purpose of these white stones as burial objects remains to be further studied. It is not known whether the white stones were used as representatives of all gods like the Qiang people later.There are also some Neolithic residents who oriented their tombs to the top of the mountain, or to the high hills in the distance, which is also related to the worship of mountain stones.

The worship of the earth manifests itself in the farming culture as the worship of the mother of the earth, and the mother of the earth is later commonly known as the land god.Ceremonies of earth worship are often associated with agricultural activities, usually manifested as rituals of praying for a good harvest before sowing, and thanking gods for a good harvest. These are large-scale sacrificial activities in spring and autumn.The earth has nurtured human beings, so offering sacrifices means repaying gratitude.The statues of women that appeared in prehistoric times are generally considered to be symbols of the God of the Earth, a deity who personified the Earth Mother.The Hongshan culture discovered an altar to worship the Earth Mother, which we will talk about later.In ancient China, "She" was the god of the earth, and "Ji" was the god of the valley. The collective name of Sheji became synonymous with the country. From this, we can see the deep imprint of primitive religion.

Celestial body worship includes the worship of the sun, moon, stars, wind and clouds, thunder and lightning, as well as the worship of heaven as a whole.The worship of the gods, like the worship of the earth, is also something that agricultural tribes attach great importance to.Changes in weather and weather will directly affect the harvest of crops, which is a matter of life and death.Cultivation needs timely rain, and one must ask the god of rain; crops need sunshine, and one must ask the sun god.Although the celestial bodies are high above, they are also closely related to human life, and of course we cannot wait too long.The Yangshao, Dawenkou and Majiayao culture painted pottery patterns have the sun and birds, which are considered by researchers to be evidence of celestial worship.The complex pictographic symbols of the sun, the moon and the mountain can be seen on the pottery vats of the Dawenkou Culture, which objectively reflects the comprehensive nature worship that existed at that time.

Celestial worship is not unpopular among nomadic tribes.In the rock paintings of Yinshan Mountain in Inner Mongolia, we can see many pictures about celestial constellations, as well as "sun worship pictures", which vividly depict the fact that nomads worship the sky. Spirit worship derived from nature worship was also extremely popular in prehistoric times.The objects of spiritual worship are also very wide, including many artifacts, such as houses, tools and so on.The practice of using a small object as a talisman is the most typical example of spiritual worship.In several Dawenkou culture cemeteries in Shandong and Jiangsu, some examples of burial with tortoise shells were found, which should be the relics of the worship of tortoise spirits.A total of 20 tortoise shells were excavated from 11 tombs in Dawenkou, Tai'an, 13 tortoise shells were unearthed from nine tombs in Liulin, Pi County, and 16 tortoise shells were unearthed from 15 tombs in Dadunzi.In addition, four tombs with tortoise shells were found in the Daxi Cultural Cemetery in Wushan, Sichuan.The tortoise shell is usually placed on the waist of the deceased, and it is obviously a spiritual object that is carried with him.The tortoise shell divination popular in the Shang Dynasty may have originated from the worship of tortoise spirits in prehistoric times.

In the Xuejiagang culture, there are also some phenomena of painting on stone implements. Such implements are likely to be regarded as divine artifacts, and it is also one of the manifestations of spiritual worship.When the author excavated the Qugong Neolithic site in Lhasa, Tibet, he found that a large number of stone tools were painted with red. He believed that this was also a manifestation of spiritual worship. Applying red to the stone tools gave them life and power, and the tools became Became an artifact. Nature worship is a way of thinking and behavior that prehistoric humans were helpless against natural forces. People hoped for divine power to help them and longed for God to bring hope. This is the inevitable result of low social productivity. All primitive tribes have experienced such a stage of development.Although human beings have made progress by relying on their own hands and wisdom after all, they believe that everything is bestowed by the gods from the bottom of their hearts, so they will worship more devoutly.Human beings gain the confidence and strength to survive and develop in such activities of worshiping gods.They use nature worship as one of the means to transform nature.