Shamanic Rituals: Chinese Texts in Cultural Anthropology

Author: Sun Wenhui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
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2. The life of a prince or a child king is very important to the subjects and even to the king himself. Therefore, as history evolved, some tribes or kingdoms began to use princes or children as substitutes for their leaders when sacrificing to gods. The ancient Phoenicians would always sacrifice their favorite children to the gods when facing great disasters such as wars, plagues, or droughts. Before a major battle, the Carthaginians also sacrificed two hundred noble male children to the gods. In the ancient Indian epic Rigveda, the Bhrigu who was cut to give birth to the universe was a sacrifice to the gods. Although this theme is presented in the form of mythology, many historians believe that it originated from ancient Indian human sacrifice rituals. In ancient Greek royal families, the eldest son would always be sacrificed as an offering to replace his father king. During the Oin era in Sweden, the king sacrificed ten of his sons to the gods one after another in Abasa. Among the Semites in western Asia, when the country was in danger, the king would offer his son as a sacrifice to the altar.
3. With the development of productivity and social progress, the ritual of human sacrifice also underwent significant changes. As society shifted from a matriarchal clan to one centered around male dominance, sacrificing beautiful women to male gods became a common phenomenon 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 to appease the river gods and calm their anger. In Chinese classics, there are also records of sacrificing princesses or beautiful women to deities. The Biographies of Immortal Transcendents (Volume 1) states: "The Master of the Red Pine (Chisongzi) was the rain god during the time of Shennong. He wore water jade to teach Shennong and could burn himself in fire. He often visited the Kunlun Mountains and stayed in the stone chamber of the Queen Mother of the West, rising and descending with the wind and rain. The youngest daughter of Emperor Yan chased after him and became an immortal together. During the time of Gaoxin, he again became a rain god, and this is where the modern rain god originated." It is highly likely that the prototype of this myth was Emperor Yan sacrificing his young daughter to worship the rain god Chisongzi. Thus, Emperor Yan's young daughter became the "wife" of the rain god and was also deified as a "divine being," following the rain god. In the Yellow River Basin, the people revered the water god Hebo and held regular sacrificial ceremonies. Whenever there was a flood, the rituals became more frequent and grand. The unearthed divination inscriptions "Rao Yu He" show that various offerings were sacrificed 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 Ode to the Luo Goddess. The annotation to the Ode to the Luo Goddess cites the Explanation of Han Shu as saying: "Fu Fei, the daughter of Fuxi, drowned in the Luo River and became a deity." It is hard to say she was a beautiful woman who accidentally fell into the water; if the myth records a piece of real history, it is highly probable that: she was a sacrifice offered by the Fuxi clan to worship the Luo River god. This ritual of sacrificing women as offerings persisted until the Republican era. The 1960 Chinese film Moyatai tells such a story. 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 also falsely accused by the chief of being a "ghost" and sacrificed to the gods. It was only because the arrival of the People's Liberation Army that this human sacrifice ritual was stopped. Although this is a fictional story, we still believe it is rooted in real-life events.
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