Chapter 5 Section 2 Plant God and Plant Totem

Plant myths are generally produced later than animal myths, and the number is smaller, because most plants are beneficial to humans, and they are not as threatening to humans as ferocious birds and beasts. People are easy to grasp, so they have less mystery.The generation of such myths are all related to agriculture. The earliest plant myths were based on reverence for plants.Some plants are tall and straight, with luxuriant branches and leaves; some plants are drought-resistant and cold-resistant, and live long; of reverence.Therefore, it is recorded that there are plants that are beneficial to humans and some plants that are harmful to humans, just like the phenomenon of food poisoning in real life.beneficial to people, such as:

There is a mountain called Shaoshi, on which there are all kinds of plants and trees. Among them is a kind of tree called Dixiu. Its leaves are similar in shape to poplar leaves, and its branches are particularly luxuriant.Yellow flowers and black fruits make people less angry after eating them. (See "Zhong Shan Jing") Since the primitive people had no scientific knowledge, they could not find a correct explanation for any plants with miraculous effects or poisons, and they all regarded them as the effects of gods.According to rough statistics, there are 28 kinds of herbal medicines and 23 kinds of wood medicines.Among them, eating some will make people not suffer from hypochondria, eating some will prevent dreams, eating some can prevent evil, eating some is good for wisdom, eating some will not make you hungry, and some can make you sleep better if you eat it. People become beautiful, and some can relieve fatigue; there is a kind of wood called "shatang", eating it can even make people have the power to defend against water, and they will not drown in water; Cold... In short, there are many myths about this kind of plants.This is all beneficial to people.In addition, there are also some plants and trees that are harmful to people, such as eating them makes people sad, distressed, sterile or deaf.Among them, the myth about □〔yao摇〕grass has always attracted people's attention. "Zhongci Qijing" records: "The mountain of the aunt (yaoyao), the emperor's daughter died, her name is the female corpse, she turned into grass, her leaves became Xu, and her flowers were yellow. In fact, she was like Tuqiu, and her clothes were charming. For people.” The daughter of the Emperor of Heaven named Nvshi, died in Guyi Mountain, and turned into a weed, its leaves overlapped in pairs, the flowers were yellow, and the fruit was called Cuscuta, the fruit of love, whoever ate it would be loved by the opposite sex.In addition, there is another legend that Xi Ji is the third daughter of the Emperor of Heaven. She died before she got married, and was sealed in the sunny place of Wushan. Her elf turned into Ganoderma lucidum grass. (See "Shui Jing Zhu Jiang Shui") This is the prototype of Wushan Goddess in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River.Her image later not only entered the classical literature, but also continues to be circulated among the people.She was a plant god at first, and after personification she became a goddess and then a goddess of Wushan. She was attached to a huge rock standing in the clouds in the Three Gorges. It was said that the huge rock was the goddess of Wushan. She seemed to be looking at the river, waiting for someone.

The most famous mythical image directly related to agriculture in ancient Chinese books is Shennong.It is said that Shennong was poisoned 70 times a day because he tasted the herbs.This is an imaginary number, which means that Shennong was willing to sacrifice himself in order to distinguish the performance of Baicao. (See "Huainanzi·Xiuwu") Some also say that Shennong often wears a red magic whip. With this whip, he can distinguish whether the herbs are peaceful, poisonous, cold, or warm, and then sow them according to these properties. Valley. (See "Sou Shen Ji") It shows that the purpose of the God of Agriculture, who first tasted herbs, was actually to find grain seeds.

In ancient times, with the increase of population, hunting alone was not enough to survive, and other sources of food and clothing were needed, thus agriculture was invented.The myths and legends about agriculture embody the difficulty of finding grain seeds at that time, and they were poisoned and detoxified many times a day, thus discovering the medicinal effects of plants and trees.People can get some herbal medicines, it must be said that they are looking for the by-products of Baigu.In plant mythology, the god of valley should be earlier than the god of medicine.The highest status among the plant gods should also be the valley god.

Chinese ancient books lack the records of the original valley god, and the Wa, Jingpo, Dai and other ethnic groups in Yunnan, my country still have this legacy, and worship the valley spirit is prevalent.According to the myth of the Wa people, the valley god was originally hidden under the sea by the gods, and was taken out by a snake inserting its tail into the water.Originally, the heaven and the earth were not separated, but because of the earth-shattering new valley, the sky could no longer hold down the mountains, so it had to rise high and separate from the earth.It can be seen that the discovery of grain seeds has played such a great role in the history of human culture.Although this function has been greatly exaggerated and even deified, it just shows that the grain seed is the first and most powerful sacred plant discovered by human beings.The Dai folk ballad "Calling the Soul of the Valley" fully expresses the feelings of the primitive people: "Of the Valley Soul, you are the king; Life depends on you, and human beings depend on you!" Jingpo people hold a ceremony of "soul of the valley" before transporting the grain home from the field after the harvest every year.The congratulatory speech said: "What people can't see, the millet can see; what people can't do, the millet can do. The souls of the valley that have gone to other places will come back!" can be called back.

Because life is too hard, people also have some bizarre fantasies.For example, the myths of the Yao people say that grains in ancient times were as big as gourds, and a grain of rice weighed several taels. They did not need to be sown.So everyone didn't worry about eating, and gradually became lazy.In a fit of rage, Gu Shen went back to the sky.People tried their best to bring the God of Valley back to the ground, but the big ones turned into small ones. In addition to the worship of Ceres, during the period when the matrilineal clan totem system was dominant, because of some kind of great luck or unexpected misfortune, there was an accidental connection with a certain plant, and this plant became Potential to be a totem.For example, "Uyghur History" once told a story about a tree ancestor: at the place where the Tula and Selenge rivers converge, there are two connected trees, and there is a small mound of soil between the two trees. As it grows larger, there are five rooms inside, each room holds a baby. The local people think it is a child given by God. When they grow up, everyone elects the youngest and smartest among them as the leader.The son of the tree governed the tribe very prosperously.

According to Tibetan legends in some areas, after the mottled bamboo was blown down, there was a beautiful girl inside.According to the legend of the Yi people, their ancestors burst out of bamboo tubes. "Huayang Guozhi Nanzhong Zhi" and "Later Hanshu Biography of Southwest Yi" have similar records with minor differences.The general idea is that a woman got three big bamboos by the water, and there was a baby boy in it. After she was raised, she was very skilled in martial arts.Some also said that the three brothers avoided the flood, and the third younger brother's wooden bucket to avoid the water was blocked by a clump of thorny bamboos and was saved, so the human race was preserved.There is also a legend about Zhuang people coming from bamboo.The Miao people in southeast Guizhou worship maple trees and regard maple trees as the ancestors of human beings.Yi Yin, the founding hero of the Yin Dynasty, had a humble background. In order to make his background commensurate with his status, it is said that his mother turned into a hollow mulberry tree when she was escaping from the flood. out of the baby. (See "Lushi Chunqiu·Benwei") Some of these are plant totem myths, such as the worship of bamboo by the Yi people and the worship of maple trees by the Miao people; An ancient myth that sanctifies one's ancestors or historical figures.