Tujia Folk Beliefs and Culture — Auspicious Object Worship (Part 1)
Chapter 11: Auspicious Object Worship. Auspicious objects are tokens and symbols of humanity's beautiful pursuits and aspirations in secular life. Due to differences in historical and cultural backgrounds and geographical environments, each ethnic group in China has developed its own distinctive auspicious objects. The Tujia are no exception. Although auspicious objects differ from strictly religious objects of worship, since in people's minds they can...
This article has been compiled from historical materials on 'Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network' (33519.com · Specialty Foods / Cuisine / Customs section). Prices, business hours, administrative divisions, and statistical data mentioned in the text may already be outdated. Before traveling, please refer to the latest announcements from merchants, scenic areas, and local competent authorities; the parts involving folk legends and folk customs are local historical and cultural anecdotes, provided for cultural reference.
Chapter Eleven: Mascot Worship
Mascots are the carriers and symbols of the beautiful pursuits and wishes of secular life. Because of differences in historical and cultural background, regional environment, and so on, each ethnic group in our country has developed mascots with its own characteristics. The Tujia people are no exception.
Although mascots differ from objects of religious worship in the strict sense, because in people's conceptions they are things that can bring auspiciousness and avert disaster, and their function of showing auspicious response and bestowing blessings while averting calamity contains the idea of "all things have spirits" and belief in deities, the belief in mascots still carries a mysterious religious color and still contains factors of religious belief and worship.
The objects of mascot worship among the Tujia people can be divided into types such as natural-object mascots, plant mascots, animal mascots, implement mascots, and food mascots. A large part of them evolved and transformed from their primitive religion and are remnants and derivatives of their various primitive religions. Through analyzing them, one can both explore the primitive religions that once appeared and existed in Tujia history and understand the pursuits and mentality of the Tujia people in real life.
I. Natural-Object Mascots
Natural objects include natural substances and natural phenomena, mainly: the sun, moon, stars, earth, stone, water, fire, wind, and so on. The Tujia region is a limestone mountainous area, crisscrossed by streams and rivers, with rocks scattered everywhere. Therefore, among its many auspicious objects, stone and water are particularly prominent auspicious objects.
1. Stone. In the Wuling Mountains where the Tujia people live in concentrated communities, stone is part of the mountains and also the main body of the riverbeds. It can be seen everywhere, and people have endowed it with various auspicious meanings and worship it.
In traditional Han Chinese belief culture, stone is a symbol of reproduction and an object to which people pray for children. These stones are often called Child-Begging Stones, Mandarin Duck Stones, and so on. They often resemble female genitals or male phalluses, and are therefore regarded as reproductive auspicious objects with fertility. Volume 52 of Taiping Yulan, "Records of Commanderies and Kingdoms," says: "The Child-Begging Stone is on the south bank of Ma Lake. From the belly of the east stone protrudes a small stone, and in the belly of the west stone is held a small stone. Therefore people beg for children here, and it has proven efficacious, hence it is called the Child-Begging Stone." Volume 3 of Yuenan Suibi says: "There is a Mandarin Duck Stone at the mouth of Seven Star Cliff in Zhaoqing. There are two stones in all, each about one zhang long... There is also a Mandarin Duck Stone at the foot of Deqing Mountain. There are also two stones, one large and one small." Volume 76 of Taiping Huanyu Ji says: "The Child-Begging Stone is five li south of the prefecture (Yibin, Sichuan). The two gorges face the Yijiang River, like husband and wife facing each other. Therefore the old people transmit that if the east does not beg from the west, the child will return. Thus the custom says that for those without children, prayers are answered." In Sandaokan Village, Mati Township, Gulin County, Sichuan Province, there are two mountains across the river, and each mountain has a stone, one male and one female. Local farmers who seek a boy worship the male stone, and those who seek a girl worship the female stone. Influenced by Han Chinese stone reproductive worship, the Tujia also use stone as an object for begging children. On Wuluo Zhongli Mountain by the Qingjiang River in Changyang, there is a stone cliff called "Chazi Rock." At the top of the rock is a small temple the size of a land shrine, known as the Stone God Terrace. In the shrine, besides the two earth deities, the Earth Grandfather and Earth Grandmother, there are also two large cobblestones about one chi in diameter, commonly called "Maliu Guang." The stones are yellow in color, hard and smooth, with many patterns, so they are also called "Huangguang Stones." These two stones have enjoyed human incense on the mountain for several hundred years. People worship these two stones mainly to beg for children. The couplet beside the shrine door reveals this very clearly:
The veins are tied to the helmet top, gathering spiritual beauty
Facing the dragon horns, descendants flourish
On the south bank of the Qingjiang River in Changyang there is a peak towering into the clouds called Shamao Mountain. On the cliff of Shamao Mountain there is a stone that resembles a beautiful woman, so it is called "Stone Beauty," and also "Stone Guanyin." On the west side of Shamao Mountain there is a rock facing it from afar, called "White Horse Rock." Peng Qiutan, a Tujia poet of the Qing Dynasty, wrote a "Bamboo Branch Song" singing of "Stone Guanyin" and "White Horse Rock":
Below Shamao Mountain I saw my lover's heart; before White Horse Rock my tears soaked my breast.
My lover wears the black gauze cap and rides a white horse; do not let me become a Stone Guanyin.
"Stone Beauty" and "White Horse Rock" form a pair of corresponding stones, consistent with the usual pattern of child-begging stones. Moreover, "Stone Beauty" is also called "Stone Guanyin," and Guanyin is the most widespread deity among the people for begging children. Therefore "Stone Beauty" was also once a child-begging stone. Only with the passage of time have people gradually forgotten its child-begging function and instead only appreciated its graceful, beauty-like figure and elegant charm. The Qing Dynasty Changyang County Gazetteer says: "Stone Beauty is on the south bank of the Qingjiang River at the east gate. In clear weather she wears blue clothes; in rain she wears green clothes." The Qing man Sun Xi, traveling in Changyang, wrote a poem on "Stone Beauty" saying:
Standing by the cliff, one doubts whether it is illusion or truth, as if one were a pure and beautiful person.
The herb-gathering immortal maiden wishes to be her companion; the goddess who moves with the clouds is willing to be her neighbor.
Neither empty nor form, a countenance for a thousand autumns; without summer or winter, ten thousand ages of spring.
Elsewhere there have been stones for gazing at a husband; perhaps this rock is her former body.
It can be seen that the child-begging folk function of "Stone Beauty" has been replaced by an aesthetic function.
Stone is also an object to which people pray for rain. Stone became connected with rainwater because stone comes out of rivers or mountains, and both rivers and mountains were once considered by the ancients to be places that generate rain. The Book of Rites, "Chapter on Sacrifices," says: "Mountains, forests, rivers, valleys, and hills can produce clouds, make wind and rain, and show strange creatures; all are called spirits." The Gongyang Commentary, Duke Xi, 31st Year, says: "Why sacrifice to Mount Tai, the rivers, and the sea? Because mountains and rivers can moisten a hundred li. The Son of Heaven ranked them and sacrificed to them. What touches stone and comes forth, joins in every inch, and before the morning is over rains over all under heaven is only Mount Tai." The Tujia also have the custom of praying to stone for rain. Li Daoyuan's Commentary on the Water Classic, "Yi River," says: "The Yi River flows east past Nanliu City; the city is the mountain. The isolated mountain is steep and sheer. More than a li up to the southwest one finds a stone cave. Holding torches and walking about a hundred paces, one finds two large stone blocks standing together in the cave, one zhang apart, commonly called 'Yin and Yang Stones.' The yin stone is always wet, the yang stone always dry. Whenever water and drought are out of balance, the residents put on dignified clothing and go into the cave. In drought they whip the yin stone, and rain comes in season; in excessive rain they whip the yang stone, and soon the sky clears. According to what has been passed down, it has often been effective." The rain-praying yin and yang stones recorded here have the same paired pattern as the child-begging stones described earlier. In fact, they are auspicious objects of the same kind of meaning, because in ancient times praying for rain and begging for children were often interconnected, and child-begging objects were often also rain-praying objects. The Qing Dynasty Tujia poet Peng Qiutan's "Bamboo Branch Song," from years of great drought and great flood, also thought of the Changyang yin and yang stones:
In the jihai year the low fields bore dust; in the wushen year one poled a boat into the market.
Henshan has its own yin and yang stones; if one does not attend to yin and yang, why not whip them?
Folk legend directly says that the yin and yang stones are one male and one female, which in fact preserves the saying of their original meaning. Legend says that in the jiazi year there was a great drought in Henyang, and the Yi River was almost dry. One noon, farmers living near Henshan saw across the river a man and a woman coming across the river from the north bank of the Yi River. The man wore a white long gown, wrapped his head in a blue cloth turban, and held a banana fan; the woman wore a colorful long skirt and carried a pink parasol. They ran along a grassy path toward Henshan, spoke to no one they met along the way, paused briefly before a cave in the mountain, entered the cave, and were never seen coming out again. A young man invited a group of people into the cave to investigate, but they did not see even a shadow, only two stones. Someone said, "Could these be the man and woman who entered at noon, transformed?" Of the two stones, one was dry and one was wet. People struck the wet stone with a stone, and rain came pouring down; they struck the dry stone, and the rain stopped. Later people used the method of striking the stones to relieve that year's great drought. This legend shows that in traditional belief, praying for rain is related to the affairs of men and women. The ancients used cloud and rain to refer to sexual activity between men and women, linking rainwater with sexual activity. Therefore, from this it can be inferred that the yin and yang stones were also child-begging stones.
2. Water. As an auspicious object, in the mountainous areas where the Tujia live in concentrated communities, water mainly refers to rainwater and river water.
The Tujia entered agricultural society very early. From early slash-and-burn cultivation to the later cattle plowing and fertilizing introduced by the Han Chinese, the Tujia for more than a thousand years took the agricultural economy as the main way of obtaining the means of livelihood. Agriculture cannot do without rain falling at the right time, but rain does not always fall at the right time as people wish. Sometimes there is too little, sometimes too much; too little causes drought, too much causes floods. Thus, year after year, the longing for rain falling at the right time and in the right amount gave rise to worship of rainwater and the rain deity (the Dragon King). This worship is mainly embodied in rain-praying rituals. The Tujia have many varied rain-praying rituals:
Beating the cave to pray for rain, also called catching the dragon to pray for rain. This is a rain-praying sorcery presided over by a tu laoshi. It is commonly believed that the Dragon King lives in a dragon cave (a mountain cave, sinkhole, or underground river) and controls rainwater. Drought occurs because the dragon has left the cave and neglected its duty. Therefore the dragon must be driven back into the dragon cave and the cave mouth sealed, so that the dragon can produce clouds and rain in the cave. This sorcery is held in times of great drought. First the tu laoshi performs rituals, catches a small flower snake, and puts it into the cave. Then each participant carries a bucket of water and a load of chicken and dog excrement and pours it into the cave. Then a dog is killed as a sacrifice, commonly called "pressing the dragon." It is said that soon after "pressing the dragon," rain will fall. There is another kind of cave-beating rain-praying sorcery somewhat different from this. This sorcery holds that the dragon has not left the cave, but is merely neglecting its duty in the cave. What people must do is make the dragon strictly keep its divine post and send rain. Therefore, a rain-praying ritual combining kindness and severity is often adopted, including both sacrifices to the dragon and filthy sorcery performed on the dragon. In drought, the tu laoshi first leads the people to build an altar by a spring and perform sacrifices. A platform one zhang high is built of wood. In front of the platform a spotted bamboo mast several zhang high is erected. At the top of the mast three to five bamboo branches are left, and a dragon flag is inserted. To prevent the mast from being blown over by the wind, two ropes are tied from the top and stretched diagonally down to be fixed on both sides of the platform. The ropes are covered with small five-colored triangular flags. The tu laoshi and participants wear willow rings or tree-branch rings on their heads. The tu laoshi performs rituals on the platform, reciting rain-praying scriptures and respectfully inviting the Dragon King to send rain. Then the tu laoshi throws divination blocks to determine the dragon cave where the Dragon King appears (mostly a sinkhole). Amid the sound of ox-horn trumpets, the tu laoshi leads the people to the determined dragon cave. The tu laoshi kneels and worships, chanting words. After the ceremony, a prepared small dog is tied with rattan to a large stone and thrown into the deep pit. After a while, when it is estimated that the dog has fallen and bled, it is believed that dog blood has been sprinkled on the Dragon King's head. The Dragon King has suffered the defilement of "dog blood poured on the head" and will certainly send rain to wash its head. The rain-praying ritual then concludes.
"Beating the cave" is also called "smashing the dragon cave" in some Tujia mountain villages. The so-called dragon cave mostly refers to a mountain cave with spring water flowing out from inside. People believe such a cave is the dwelling place of the dragon. Whenever there is drought, people hold a ritual of smashing the dragon cave to pray for rain, also a ritual combining kindness and severity, sacrifice and sorcery. Under the blazing sun people do not wear straw hats. They beat gongs and drums, carry a black dog, and hold trays for incense, coming in a mighty procession to the dragon cave. First they burn incense and sacrifice, then kill the black dog and smear its blood on the cave mouth. This may also mean using dog blood to defile the dragon and force it to send rain. Next they throw stones into the dark parts of the cave, and finally fire three shots from a three-eyed gun. These all have the meaning of intimidating the dragon. It is said that when the dragon is hit by stones or frightened by the loud noise of the three-eyed gun, it must turn over, and when the dragon turns over, rain will fall. Therefore, after the three shots of the three-eyed gun, people run home one after another, as if afraid of being drenched by heavy rain. This is also an act of making rain-like signs to induce the Dragon King to send rain.
Digging up trees to pray for rain. It is commonly believed that ancient trees in streams and deep pools are transformations of the Dragon King. In drought, digging up these ancient trees can startle the Dragon King into sending rain.
Stirring up fish to pray for rain. It is commonly believed that fish and shrimp are the descendants of the Dragon King. In drought, catching fish and shrimp can make the Dragon King send rain out of pity for its descendants. Therefore, when catching fish and shrimp, people deliberately gather many people and make loud noise to attract the Dragon King's attention, so that it knows as early as possible that people are catching fish and shrimp.
These various rain-praying rituals express both worship of the rain deity and worship of rainwater.
Because rainwater affects the abundance or failure of agriculture, the Tujia often associate water with wealth, treating water at a specific time and place as wealth water, gold water, silver water, or water that can bring a bumper harvest of the five grains. The Tujia in the Enshi area of Hubei call the first bucket of water carried home on the first day of the first lunar month gold water and silver water, regarding it as a symbol of prosperity. Therefore on this day people all rise early and rush to wells, springs, and riversides to be the first to carry the first bucket of water. In order to get the first bucket of water, people get up at dawn, and some even earlier, carrying torches to fetch water. In the mountain villages at dawn of the new spring, people wake early, and joyful clamor drifts about. In some places in western Hubei, on the evening of New Year's Eve people carry a bucket of water, trying not to disturb those who are asleep. This bucket of water is called "seedling water." It is commonly believed that if one carries "seedling water," the next year's grain will have a bumper harvest. This custom also expresses belief in the harvest function of water, though it specifically refers only to a bumper harvest of grain. Local Tujia also attach a legend to this custom: long ago, western Hubei had no paddy fields or cultivated soil. The Tujia relied on slash-and-burn cultivation for their livelihood. They had more than enough miscellaneous grains, but found it hard to eat rice. One year an old man told everyone to open fields on the mountain, working day and night, and at night working by lantern and torch light. Therefore a place in Maodong is called "Torch Field." They opened fields until the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, when the old man told his children and grandchildren to rest a little. The young people were too tired, and once asleep they slept until the first day of the first lunar month. The old man never woke them, but alone carried water to the fields all night, filling a newly opened paddy field. The next year the grain had a bumper harvest, and everyone ate rice. From this legend one can still vaguely discern the historical shadow of the introduction of rice cultivation into the Tujia region. It can also be seen that after rice was introduced into the Tujia region, the Tujia worship of water became richer, and the auspicious meaning of water incorporated the meaning of a bumper rice harvest.
Rivers are a common form of water, and river worship also belongs to the category of water worship. In the adjacent mountainous areas of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guizhou where the Tujia live in concentrated communities, there are countless streams and rivers of various sizes. The largest rivers are mainly two. One is the Qingjiang River, and the other is the Youshui River. The ancestors of the Tujia, the ancient Ba people, first lived in the Qingjiang River basin, and later part of them migrated westward into the Youshui River basin. It can be said that the Qingjiang and Youshui are the mother rivers of the Tujia. The Tujia lived, multiplied, and reproduced generation after generation in the two river basins, creating the material culture and spiritual culture of the Tujia. The two rivers provided the sons and daughters of the Tujia with many conveniences such as drinking water, irrigation, boats, fishing, and hunting, and thus became objects of their worship. They are described separately below.
The Qingjiang River originates at the southern foot of Qiyue Mountain in Lichuan City, Hubei Province. It flows through Enshi, Jianshi, Badong, and Changyang, and empties into the Yangtze River at Zhicheng City. It has a total length of 423 kilometers and a drainage area of 17,000 square kilometers, covering counties and cities including Lichuan, Enshi, Xuan'en, Xianfeng, Jianshi, Badong, Wufeng, Changyang, and Zhijiang. The Qingjiang River winds through the myriad mountains and ravines where the remnants of the Wuling Mountains and the Daba Mountains meet. In some sections it actually cuts through mountains, forming "underground rivers." The "underground river" in Tenglong Cave in Lichuan is fully 25 kilometers long, which is why the Qingjiang is also known as the "Milky Way of Three Brights and Three Darks and Eighteen Bends." Because the Qingjiang mostly passes through limestone karst caves and most of its course lies in limestone mountainous terrain, its water is remarkably clear. The Book of the Later Han: Biographies of the Southern Man and Southwestern Yi states: the Qingjiang's "water is so clear that one can see ten zhang down, and sand and stones can be distinguished. The people of Shu, seeing its clarity, named it the Qingjiang [Clear River]." The Qingjiang's marvelous water color and enchanting scenery are deeply loved by people. The sons and daughters of the Tujia people have also attached a magical legend to it, expressing the Tujia people's worship of the Qingjiang. Legend says that long ago, the Qingjiang was called the "Yishui." At that time, a wicked dragon caused trouble in the river. Many houses on both banks were washed away, many fields were submerged, harvests were poor, and the river water was muddy and unclear all year round. On the bank of the Yishui lived a couple; the husband's surname was Xiang, and the wife's childhood name was Xiniang. They were over forty and still had no child. One day, Xiniang was washing clothes by the river when she suddenly heard the crying of an infant. Looking up, she saw a clay jar floating on the river, rising and falling, drifting toward her. Xiniang fished out the clay jar and saw a baby sleeping inside. Overjoyed, she quickly carried the jar home on her back. The couple adopted the baby and named him Jian'er. At one month Jian'er could smile, at three months he could crawl, at five months he could walk, at seven months he could speak, and by the age of seven he could hunt in the mountains and catch fish in the river. The villagers all said he was a wonder child. When Jian'er grew up, Xiniang told him about the wicked dragon causing trouble in the Yishui. Hearing of the wicked dragon and seeing how bitterly the villagers had suffered from it, Jian'er resolved to subdue the dragon and rid the people of this scourge. He first went to Mount Emei to take a master and cultivate himself, learning a full set of martial arts, and then returned to his hometown to subdue the wicked dragon. He traveled upstream along the river searching for the dragon, and finally found it at Longwang Pond, where the dragon lived. But how could he lure the dragon out? The nearby villagers all came to offer ideas and strategies. They drove many pigs to the stockaded village opposite Longwang Pond as bait. When the wicked dragon heard the pigs squealing, it stretched its head out of the pond, opened its huge mouth, and extended its tongue to roll up the pigs. Jian'er was quick-eyed and deft-handed; he leaped up with his sword and cut off the dragon's tongue. But he used too much force, and the tip of his sword sliced off half the cliff opposite, and the sword also broke and fell into the river. It is said that this is how the place names "Dragon's Tongue," "Sow Stockade," "Knife-Cut Mountain," and "Sword Shoal" came to be. With its tongue cut off, the wicked dragon gave a great roar, leaped out of the water, soared into the air, and fled downstream. Jian'er pursued relentlessly, leaped onto the dragon's back, and gripped its neck. It is said that the reason the dragon's descendants—snakes—have thin necks is that the dragon's neck was squeezed thin back then. The wicked dragon struggled desperately in its death throes, threw Jian'er off, and then arched its body three times in succession, tossing Jian'er down three rapids—today's "Three Winnowing Streams." Seeing that Jian'er was losing strength and was about to be eaten by the dragon, the villagers on both banks hurriedly sounded gongs and shouted, which took away half the wicked dragon's ferocity. It dropped Jian'er and burrowed into the water to flee for its life. Seeing the villagers aiding him in battle, Jian'er was filled with strength from head to toe. He followed the wicked dragon underwater, pressed down on the dragon's head, and slammed it hard against the riverbed, smashing a huge pit at the gorge mouth and killing the dragon. Afraid that it might come back to life and cause trouble again, Jian'er pressed it firmly into the pit. Later people called this great pit "Great Dragon Pool." It is said that after Jian'er killed the wicked dragon, the Yishui River ran with blood for three months, and afterward it gradually became clear, and from then on it was renamed the "Qingjiang." Although the story told in the legend is not credible, it contains a certain truth: people's memory of the Qingjiang's flooding and the disasters caused by inundation, their wish to overcome the Qingjiang's floods, and their love for the Qingjiang's ever-clear water color throughout the four seasons. People used the story of defeating the wicked dragon to express their wish that the Qingjiang would never flood and that its water would remain clear forever. In people's minds, the Qingjiang became a living being with spirit. Around the Qingjiang River, many wonderful and moving legends have also arisen. These legends mostly take things on the river, in the water, and along the banks of the Qingjiang as clues to their stories. For example, the water deity Golden Duck, who rules over fish, shrimp, and water conditions on the Qingjiang, could let the kind-hearted Grandpa Tian catch many fish, and could also send a great flood to inundate the yamen of the greedy Magistrate Hu; another example is the Immortal Cave on the bank of the Qingjiang, which could stir up huge winds and sweep away wicked people; another example is a natural stone bridge at the source of the Qingjiang, known as Cloud Dragon Bridge, said to have been transformed from a green dragon in the Qingjiang River. In the minds of the Tujia people, the Qingjiang is a magical river and also a river with spirit.