Chapter 21 Postscript Nuo

Someone once asked me: "Why do so many people like to watch grave-digging stories?" I heard the pious gentlemen say: "Tomb robbing for treasure satisfies most people's psychology of getting rich overnight." But if you only care about getting rich overnight, why not watch a movie about robbing the vault of the Federal Bank of the United States?In fact, Fengshui and mausoleum culture have existed in China for thousands of years. Since ancient times, thick burials have been common, and the social phenomenon of tomb robbery has also appeared. The purpose of opening the imperial tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty was to sever the dragon veins of the Southern Dynasty. This was for political purposes; He heard that there was a beautiful concubine in the previous dynasty, but unfortunately the beauty had passed away, and he had no chance to see her, so he tried every means to find an excuse to replace the tomb for the beauty, and took a look at the beauty's body. The purpose of digging ancient tombs is to find the secret recipe that has been lost for many years. In short, the motives and methods of tomb robbery are also endless, because ancient Chinese history and culture are all in it, and at the same time, countless anecdotes and folklore are derived from it. Telling stories about tomb robbers must be inseparable from these contents. The entrance of each ancient tomb is like a door leading to ancient times. In it, you can touch history, interpret traditional culture, and discover the past that has disappeared. I think this is far more than treasure hunting. Getting rich is more attractive.

The "Nuo" mentioned in the book "Ghost City Erlu" has the same pronunciation as "Nuo". The Nuo culture is a very ancient culture. The characters for Nuo are separated. The real difficulties are incurable diseases and death, so there is "Nuo" to get rid of these difficulties. To put it simply, it specializes in subduing monsters and catching monsters. There are clear records of the Nuo system from the Han Dynasty. The process of searching for Nuo and expelling evil spirits in the Han Palace has strict regulations for each step. In fact, the ancient Nuo sacrifices have existed since the primitive society. Belief is mysterious and strict. During the development and evolution of the following two thousand years, it absorbed and merged with the three religions of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. The Nuo opera and Nuo dance are the most famous for entertaining gods and people. Whenever Nuo sacrifices are made in the village, it must be very lively. According to different local conditions and customs, the legends of Nuo sacrifices and Nuo gods are also different. For example, " The difference between Nuo with open mouth, Nuo with closed mouth, Wen Nuo, and Wu Nuo", the novel is not for the purpose of textual research on Nuo culture, here are only one or two interesting folk legends by the way.

Let me talk about the "twenty-four generals" first. It is said that Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, was also an emperor of the Song Dynasty or the Han Dynasty. The method is to order 24 people to hide in the palace and play musical instruments in advance, and then tell Zhang Tianshi that there are ghosts in the palace, and order him to do it to get rid of the ghosts. At that time, ghosts really happened in the palace, which disturbed the emperor's holy car, so the twenty-four ghosts had to be named Nuo generals, and the leader was the Nuo god "General Ouyang Jinjia". Fourteen operas, the theme of the Nuo opera is "eliminating demons and monsters to ensure safety, and the five grains are abundant and the six animals are prosperous". Usually, the last scene is usually played by the Nuo God. , which means that all the demons and ghosts have been subdued, and the world will be peaceful, and the twenty-four dramas are over.

There is more than one Nuo god. For example, in the ancient Nuo more than 3,000 years ago, Fang Xiang, who worshiped ghosts as gods, was also an important content of Nuo. There are a lot of mandrill dancing in Nuo dance. Mandrill is not what it is said now Baboons are a kind of one-legged ghosts, walking and jumping, because the tradition of Nuo is very old, and there are shadows of Nuo in many religious ceremonies in later generations. The camphor mask is a feature of Nuo. I found a bronze mask. The original exorcising was a copper mask. Later, some major event happened. The copper mask was destroyed. I dare not use it again in the future. I used a wooden mask as a substitute. This legend is too old. Who kept the bronze mask, and why didn't they dare to use it later?All of them have been lost until now, leaving a lot of room for imagination.

It is mentioned in the novel that the mask comes from the ancient country of Guifang. During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, the surrounding small country was called Fang, that is, the country of Fang, and Guifang is one of them. (full text)