Shamanic Rituals: Chinese Texts in Cultural Anthropology

Author: Sun Wenhui / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-23
Features: At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, the author of this book acquired some folk Nuo opera manuscripts scattered in the. Subsequently, through continuous field research and over a decade of study, a comprehensive and cultural anthropological interpretation of the mysterious ancient Nuo was conducted. "Nuo" is an original culture of humanity, an "invention" of magic rituals by ancient humans to eliminate disasters and dangers. It takes sacrificial rituals as its carrier, encompassing various aspects such as anthropology (e.g., human birth, ethnic formation, folk customs), primitive religion, primitive science (e.g., medicine, astronomy, history, geography), rural political economy, and art and literature. It is the source of drama, poetry, music, dance, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, and paper-cutting. It has endured for thousands of years and is an extremely precious historical and cultural heritage of China. China is a multi-ethnic country, and each ethnic group, especially those in southern provinces, holds abundant Nuo cultural resources. Their Nuo rituals, customs, skills, and arts largely retain a more primitive form. Due to differences in human geography and ecological environments, they each reflect distinct ethnic characteristics, possessing high research and aesthetic value. "Nuo" embodies the most original and vast historical and cultural traces of the Chinese nation. The anthropological study of Nuo treats its activities as an important part of human life for in-depth examination, truly recognizing Nuo as a fossil of human historical activities. Through its study, the rich cultural connotations can be deeply explored to serve the present and future of humanity. The Sacrifice of the King's Son or Child King—A Cultural Anthropological Chinese Text is a rescue, excavation, and research effort based on these invaluable and irreplaceable cultural resources.
2. The life of a prince or child king was extremely important to the subjects and even to the king himself. Therefore, as history evolved, some tribes or kingdoms began to use princes or child kings as substitutes for their leaders in human sacrifices. The ancient Phoenicians always sacrificed their favorite children to the gods when facing great disasters such as wars, plagues, or droughts. Before a major battle, the Carthaginians sacrificed two hundred noble male children to the gods. In the ancient Indian epic Rigveda, the Bhrigu, who gave birth to the universe through being cut, was a sacrificial offering to the gods. Although this theme is presented in myth, many historians believe it originated from ancient Indian human sacrifice rituals. In the Greek royal family, the eldest son always served as a sacrifice to replace his father in offerings to the gods. During the Swedish era of Oーン, the king sacrificed ten of his sons to the gods in Abasa. Among the Semites in western Asia, when the country was in danger, the king would offer his own son as a sacrifice.
3. Princesses or beautiful women, with the development of productivity and social progress, the rituals of human sacrifice also underwent significant changes. As society shifted from a matriarchal clan to a male-dominated one, sacrificing beautiful women to male gods became a common practice in human sacrifice rituals. In Egypt, such traces of human sacrifice still exist. Near the Karnak Temple in Luxor, known as the "Museum City of Egypt," there is an ancient dock on the Nile River. In ancient times, whenever the Nile flooded, the residents would select beautiful women to throw into the river, "marrying" the Nile River to appease the river gods and calm their anger. Chinese classics also record instances of sacrificing princesses or beautiful women to deities. The Biographies of Immortal Transcendents () states: "Red Pine () was the rain master during the time of Shennong, teaching Shennong by wearing water jade. He could burn in fire without harm and often ascended to the Kunlun Mountains, staying in the stone chamber of the Queen Mother of the West, moving with the wind and rain. The daughter of Emperor Yan chased after him and became an immortal together. Later, during the time of Gaoxin, he again served as the rain master, becoming the origin of modern rain masters." The prototype of this myth likely stems from Emperor Yan sacrificing his youngest daughter to worship the rain master Red Pine. Thus, Emperor Yan's youngest daughter became the "wife" of the rain god and was transformed into a "divine being," following the rain master. In the Yellow River Basin, residents revered the water god Hebo and held regular sacrificial ceremonies. Whenever floods occurred, the rituals became more frequent and grand. The oracle bone inscription "Rao Yu He" () indicates that various offerings were made to the river god, including young and beautiful women. The myth of Fu Fei likely evolved from such sacrificial rituals. Fu Fei, also known as Luo Pin or the Goddess of the Luo River, was said to be the daughter of Fuxi and the wife of the river god Fengyi. Cao Zhi praised her beauty in the Luo Shen Fu (). The annotation to the Luo Shen Fu cites the Han Shu Yin Yi () as saying: "Fu Fei was the daughter of Fuxi, who drowned in the Luo River and became a deity." It is difficult to say she was a beautiful woman who accidentally fell into the water; if the myth records a real history, it is highly probable that she was a sacrificial offering by the Fuxi clan to worship the Luo River god. Such rituals of sacrificing women as offerings persisted until the Republican era. The 1960 Chinese film Moya Tai tells a story of this kind. The beautiful Dai woman Mi Han in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, was burned to death after being falsely accused by the local chief of spreading a plague as a "ghost." Eighteen years later, when disaster struck the village again, Mi Han's daughter, Eran, was falsely accused of being a "ghost" and sacrificed to the gods. Only with the arrival of the People's Liberation Army did such human-sacrificing rituals come to an end. Although this is a fictional story, we still believe it reflects real-life events. P37-P38