Nuwa, the goddess of creation in Chinese mythology and legend

Mondo Culture Updated on 2024-03-05

Nuwa, the goddess of creation in the myths and legends of the Chinese nation, is revered as the mother of the earth for her feat of nurturing all things and opening up the world. After Pangu opened up chaos, the heavens and the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars appeared, and the mountains, rivers, plants, trees, birds and beasts flourished, Nuwa continued to create life with infinite wisdom and love.

According to folk legends, from the first day of the first lunar month to the sixth day of the first lunar month, Nuwa created chickens, dogs, pigs, sheep, cows and horses in turn, giving the earth a vibrant vitality. On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, she took loess and water and carefully kneaded a small clay figure that resembled herself, creating a chapter of human civilization, which also became the origin of "Human Day". In order to speed up the process of creating human beings, Nuwa skillfully used rattan sticks to spill mud, and those mud spots scattered on the earth also instantly turned into living beings, and some even believed that the rich were made by Nuwa herself, while the poor were made by mud splashing.

In order to perpetuate the human race, Nuwa not only distinguished between yin and yang, but also established a marriage system, so that men and women could combine to have offspring, thus ensuring the continuous development of human society. Therefore, she is also regarded as the ancient god of Gaoqi who is in charge of marriage and love in folk beliefs.

The myth of Nuwa creating human beings is not groundless, but reflects the social reality that women dominated population production in the early matriarchal society, and also reflects the primitive cognition of the ancestors on the origin of life and cultural creation. Among them, the act of "making a man with loess" has been interpreted by the academic community as a reflection of pottery-making technology in mythological narratives.

In short, Nuwa is one of the sources of Chinese culture, as the ancestor of the Chinese nation and the righteous god of the blessed society, its image carries the lofty status of the ancient mother goddess, and is deeply imprinted in the spiritual totem of the Chinese nation.

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