The legend of rice not only solves our food and clothing, but also endows it with the mysterious power to ward off evil spirits. As people often say: "Man is iron, rice is steel, and if you don't eat for a day, you will be hungry." Liu Bannong, a writer during the May Fourth period, incisively pointed out in an article entitled "Eating Food": "People cannot live unless they eat;Clothing, housing and transportation are also the same. As the old saying goes: "The people take food as the sky", that is to say, eating is the foundation of people's livelihood;Rice plays a pivotal role in China's livelihood.
In ancient times, when people got married, relatives and friends would send a pair of rice bags and put them in the cave room, which meant that there was rice from generation to generation, and nine copper coins were placed in the rice bag, indicating that the newlyweds would have food and drink in the future, and they would not have to worry about food and clothing. These handmade rice bags are both practical and innovative.
The Chinese nation has a long history of cultivating rice. In the seventies of the twentieth century, rice was found at the Neolithic site of Hemudu in Zhejiang, proving that it was a product of 7,000 years ago. Later, traces of ancient rice were also found in Jiangsu, Hubei and Jiangxi. In the Yin Shang era, Chinese rice cultivation had reached a certain level.
Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty wrote in the Historical Records. In the book "Cargo Colony Column", it is recorded that "the land of Chu Yue is vast and sparsely populated, and there is rice and soup and fish." and so on. At that time, while controlling the Yellow River, the water conservancy scholar Jia Rang transformed the "salt and wet" land in Hebei, Henan and Shandong, abandoning crops such as millet and wheat and planting rice instead.
In Chinese culture, rice is not just a matter of filling the stomach, but also has a religious meaning: rice can ward off evil spirits. For example, in the south, children can't sleep and cry at night, so they need to take a rice bag and put it on their chests. The ancients believed that rice had magical powers, such as the ability to ward off evil spirits. The baby is frightened (crying soul), and a cup of rice should be filled and scraped flat. Wrap it in baby clothes, recite some mantras, and place it next to the baby's pillow. The next morning, pick it up and take a look, and if the rice sinks a little, it is considered to be amazing. Folks believe that rice mixed with salt (commonly known as salt rice) can ward off evil spirits. If a room is considered "unclean", it is said that salt and rice are thrown in the room, and it is said that evil spirits can be removed. To build a house, salt and rice must be thrown on the ground as the foundation before the ground can be started. On the day of the wedding, some things should be hung on the door of the cave room, among which there is a rice sieve and a rice bag, which are used to ward off evil spirits.
Since ancient times, China has been a country based on agriculture, and the main plant food in ancient times was grains. As early as more than 3,000 years ago, the word "rice" was found in oracle bone inscriptions. Ancient legends have it that Shennong taught the people to sow grains, and during the Yellow Emperor period, "steamed grain for rice, cooked grain for porridge". "Qi Min's Technique: Ploughing the First Field" quotes the "Book of Zhou" as saying: "When Shennong was in the time, the rain and the ...... of Shennong cultivated and plantedAnd then the grains are prosperous. At the end of the Han Dynasty, there was a nursery rhyme in Luoyang that sang: "Although there are thousands of **, it is not as good as my Dousu." "Due to the influence of rice food in the basic position of the diet, the Han people regard rice as a basis for survival and food and clothing, and regard the existence of rice or no rice as the decisive factor for the success or failure of things. According to legend, soybeans and rice can ward off evil spirits, and in folk Xi, soybeans and rice are often used in cups, and then placed under or next to the pillow, which can play a role in warding off evil spirits. The reason for choosing soybeans is that soybeans are yellow, yellow represents righteousness, and soybeans are one of the five grains, so there is a Xi custom that soybeans can ward off evil spirits in the folk, and rice is also like this, and there are Xi customs in the folk Xi customs that rice can ward off evil spirits, because rice is a necessary food for human life, and rice can have some kind of power, so sometimes there is something wrong at home, and some people will go to "ask rice" to divination.