The mystery of the phoenix's long tail Emperor Jun Shao Hao to Emperor Yu, how the short tail becomes the long tail
My name is Tang Tang, and I am a person who loves history. Welcome to [follow] me, let's talk about the changes in ancient and modern China and foreign countries together, and talk about the general trend of the world. In my opinion, life is a journey of learning and making friends, just like the phoenix, which gathers the bird worship of the ancient people, symbolizing the personality and spirit full of sunshine.
The phoenix is regarded as a symbol of the sun, rising from the east, crossing the four seas, and finally resting at the "Danxue Mountain". This depiction is actually a symbol of the sun's daytime apparent movement, revealing the most important characteristics of the phoenix.
The phoenix is often depicted as a sacred bird of a rooster or crane in different accounts, and has many aliases. These accounts embody the bird totem and elements of sun worship contained in the image of the phoenix.
For example, legend has it that the phoenix is a sacred bird of the five directions, the phoenix in the east is called "invention", the phoenix in the south is called "Jiao Ming", the phoenix in the west is called "Quail Eagle", and the phoenix in the north is called "Youchang".
These names are a product of sun worship and represent the four forms of the sun in the four seasons of the year. Therefore, the birth process of the phoenix can be seen as a combination of bird worship and sun worship.
Judging from various indications, the phoenix was first produced in the Eastern peoples.
The phoenix, also known as the "Birdbird", is a name that is deeply imprinted with the traces of the cult of the Oriental Bobtail Bird. It is an owl-like bird, barefoot, straight beak, yellow stripes, white head, and its voice is like that of a bird.
Both the name and image of the eagle are imbued with its national character and the character associated with sun worship. Why? First of all, the owl was called "Xuanniao" in ancient times, and it was an important totem of the Shang people and their ancestors.
Secondly, barefoot, straight beak, yellow stripe, white head, etc. are the morphological characteristics of the sunbird. In the Neolithic bird ornaments, we can see many images of sunbirds such as three-legged black and black crows characterized by barefoot feet and straight beaks.
Finally,"Glutinous"Words with"Joon"Synonymous,"Emu"Words with"Xi"Synonymous,"Ducks"It is the joint name of Dijun and Xihe. And Dijun and Xihe are the two sun gods of the Oriental people.
In general, as another name for the phoenix, the eagle represents the characteristics of the worship of the Oriental bobtail bird, and also symbolizes the belief of the sun god of the Oriental people.
The birth of the phoenix is related to the sun worship of the eastern bobtail people, and it is the divine envoy of the emperor and has the characteristics of representing the sun god. According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Emperor Jun took the colorful bird as his friend, put it in charge of the altar, and also married three wives, giving birth to "Three Bodies", "Ten Days" and "December", all of which reveal the characteristics of the phoenix as the messenger of the sun god.
In addition, according to the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", there are three kinds of colorful birds: the emperor bird, the luan bird, and the phoenix bird, which is also a manifestation of the phoenix.
In the Shaohao era, Emperor Jun married Emperor E and gave birth to "three bodies", this legend implies three kinds of phoenix birds - Huang, Luan, and Phoenix. At that time, Shaohao took the advent of the phoenix bird as an opportunity, took the bird as the official, and appointed the phoenix bird as the calendar, the Xuanniao as the spring equinox division, the shrike bird as the summer solstice division, the blue bird as the autumn equinox division, the Dan bird as the winter solstice division, and the five doves, five pheasants, nine birds and other birds as the officials.
This story reveals that Shao Hao's kingdom was founded by uniting various clans marked by birds. The establishment of the new state allowed the various clans to unify their calendars based on their own totem worship, and the "Phoenix Bird Clan" was in charge.
The phoenix bird is a synthesis of a variety of bird totem worship, which symbolizes the sun and represents the four points of the sun's annual visual movement. According to research, Xihe and Emperor Yu are both the supreme gods of the Dongyi nation, with similar lineages and marriage relationships, and they are both related to the worship of the phoenix.
Among the various divinities of the emperor, the divinity of the sun god is the most prominent. Emperor Yu is also known as "Taihao" or "Taihao", and the "Hao" and "Hao" in these two names both symbolize the brightness of the sun; "喾" is a side word for "告", which represents the notice of the sun god.
According to the records of "Shangshu Yaodian", in ancient times, there was a kind of sun festival held in the morning and evening, and the morning was called "Yinbin Sunrise", which was presided over by Xi Zhong; The evening is called "Yin Na Day" and is presided over by Kazuna.
Therefore, the presiding officer of this sun sacrifice or the executor of the calendar is also collectively referred to as "Xihe".
In ancient astronomical observations and records,"Yin Bin out of the day"with"Yinnak Day"It is an important ritual that records the first and last shadow endpoints cast by sunlight on the table at the beginning of the rising and ending of the day, also known as "Xihe".
Xihe was considered the messenger of the sun god and was responsible for conveying the will of the sun god. According to ancient myths and legends, the two names associated with the phoenix, Chang Xi and Emperor E, are derived from the word "Xi", because "Xi" and "E" have the same sound, and they are both next to the word "I".
Changxi represents the ornamentation on the flag, while Emperor E represents the feather decoration on the crown. Although Emperor Jun and Emperor Yu are both sun gods, they are different, Emperor Jun is born from the worship of Xuanniao, which is considered to be a handsome bird, and the image is Xuanniao and Owl; And Dijun is more related to the sun worship during the period of blood social organization, and there are many records of Dijun's lineage in mythology.
In addition, the clans of the Tejoon era had matrilineal features, so the person who presided over the sun sacrifice was depicted as a woman and was seen as the wife of Tejoon.
Emperor Yu: The fusion of the sun god bird and the sun sign Unlike the totem deity, the emperor has a purer sun personality and is called "Taihao". He married a number of concubines from the Chen Feng clan, the Youqi clan, the Youtai tribe and the Suzi tribe, representing the sun god of the eastern tribes.
Emperor Yu's sons, Qi and Zhi, are actually Shang kings and have the character of birds. This shows that the bird worship associated with the emperor includes not only the worship of the Xuan, but also the worship of the bird.
Dijun was the sun god of earlier times, and determined the annual apparent movement of the sun by observing phenology; The emperor was the sun god of the later era, and the annual apparent movement of the sun was determined by the gauge measurement.
The calendar stage represented by Emperor Jun is close to the era when Shao Hao was famous as a bird, while the calendar stage represented by Emperor Yu is close to the era of "the calendar of the sun, moon and stars when people are honored and conferred" recorded in the "Shangshu Yaodian".
In the oracle bone inscriptions, Gaozu Kui and Di Jun represent the female ancestors of the Shang nation and the long era before the founding of the People's Republic of China.
On the contrary, Emperor Yu was revered as the "Taihao Clan", had a masculine personality, and was considered to be the father of Shao Haozhi, the sun god of the Shang nation.
As the incarnation of the sun god, Fuxi got its name from the "Xi" of "Xihe". In ancient legends, he was often confused with Emperor Yu, and there was even a saying that Emperor Yu's surname was "Feng".
This is because "wind" and "phoenix" are originally the same word, and the phoenix is regarded as the divine envoy of the emperor, so there is an explanation of the emperor's surname wind. However, this surname has no totemic significance, because the emperor is the sun god of the patrilineal era, and the prototype of the phoenix is not a bird, but a crown ornament on the sun festival, made of colorful feathers, so the early identity of the phoenix is "five-picked bird".
The name of the phoenix comes from "Emperor E", so it is also called "Emperor Bird". The phoenix was born in the era of Emperor Jun, because it was influenced by the concept of the Xuanniao people to take the bird as the god of wind, so it is also called "phoenix (wind) bird".
"Luan" is presented in the bronze inscription as the image of a colorful bird feather, and its original meaning is a phoenix bird, so the phoenix also has a name called "Luan". The legend that Emperor E gave birth to the "Three Bodies" actually means that Emperor E has three different titles: "Phoenix", "Luan" and "Emperor".
The name phoenix first appeared in the legend of Shaohao's name as a bird, so the phoenix bird as the symbol of this new cultural community may be a combination of the characteristics of various bird totems in the Shaohao nation, including Xuanniao, Shrike, Blue Bird, Dan Bird and five doves, five pheasants, and nine hu.
In general, the phoenix is a new deity established by people using the elements of sun worship, and the birth of the phoenix is also the result of the integration of national cultures and the union of local tribes.
It is worth noting that during the Emperor's time, the character of the phoenix underwent a major change. In the mythology of the emperor recorded in "Lisao" and "Lü's Spring and Autumn", the phoenix has the name of "Phoenix Emperor" and is depicted as a long-tailed bird like "Tianzhai".
This change was determined by the national connotation of sun worship in the era of the emperor. If we understand the emperor as a sign of the sun, then the phoenix of the emperor's era is the bird of the time.
Judging from the harmonic data, it includes at least the following kinds of birds: Jun Bird, "Classic of Mountains and Seas" says that Jun Bird "sounds like a hoof"; Chicken, the ancient sound of the word "sue" is the sound of chicken crowing; hoove, that is, the bird, because the word hoof, is next to the sound of "sue"; Owl, "The Classic of Mountains and Seas" says that it "sounds like a morning bird"; The Quail Eagle, a species of geese, represents the western phoenix.
In the bodies of these birds, the composition of the long tail is significantly increased. Therefore, the description of the phoenix in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" in the shape of a chicken, a crane, a hoof, and a Zhai can be said to reflect the concept of the phoenix in the Dipu era.
The phoenix alias we listed earlier can also be traced back to the era of the emperor.
The era of the emperor is the era when the mythical bird phoenix has a mature image, which indicates that the birth and maturity of the phoenix are closely related to the cultural background of the emperor era. During this period, the worship of the Eastern short-tailed bird began to merge with the worship of the Western long-tailed bird, and this fusion formed the unique cultural symbol of the phoenix.
Therefore, we can say that the phoenix is a product of the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures. The legend of "the sons of the four concubines all have the world" in the myth of Emperor Yu provides us with another perspective to interpret this era.
On the one hand, this legend can be understood as the establishment of marriage relations between the emperor and other peoples; On the other hand, this legend can also be understood to mean that the emperor became the sun god revered by all ethnic groups.
We believe that the latter is more in line with the true connotation of the myth of Emperor Yu, because Emperor Yu is a deity developed on the basis of the sun god Di Jun of the Eastern people. No matter how you interpret it, it can be seen as a symbol of the integration of various ethnic cultures.
The story of the marriage between Jian Di and Di Yu also further confirms the cultural integration of the Eastern and Western peoples. Jian Di swallowed bird eggs and gave birth to the ancestor of the Shang people, her name "Jian Di" means "big", and "Di" means "pheasant", indicating that she represents a kind of big pheasant.
Jian Di is from the Youluo clan, and her people once lived in the north of Xi County, Shanxi, where the "Zhai clan" lived before the Western Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, the combination of Jian Di and Di Yu also represents the combination of the Eastern nation and the Western nation.
In general, the era of the emperor was an era when the sacred bird phoenix had a mature image, which witnessed the fusion of the Eastern short-tailed bird worship and the Western long-tailed bird worship, and also symbolized the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures.
The legend of "the sons of the four concubines all have the world" in the myth of Emperor Yu and the marriage story of Jian Di and Emperor Yu further confirm this.
The myth of the marriage between Emperor Yu and Jian Di symbolizes the blending and complementarity of Eastern and Western cultures. In ancient Chinese mythology, Di Yu was the sun god of the East, and Jian Di was the god of the long-tailed bird in the West.
The legend of this marriage not only reflects the exchange of Eastern and Western cultures, but also reveals the worship of the sun and birds in ancient times. In the pottery of the middle reaches of the Yellow River in the Neolithic Age, there are many images of birds with three feathers and nine tails, and the sacred bird in Western mythology is called "Jinfeng".
Therefore, the marriage myth of the emperor can be interpreted as the formation of the well-known phoenix on the basis of the sun worship and sacrificial rituals of the Eastern people, and the symbolic way of the bird feather symbolizing the sun by the Western people.
This reflects both the creativity of the ancient people and the importance of cultural blending.