First of all, the myth of the goddess

The myth of goddess is the main part of the myth in the Three Gorges area, which shows that this small place can especially breed beautiful women, especially worship beautiful women, and has a deep beauty complex. From this point of view, it is no accident that Rainbow Zhaojun, a famous beauty in history, appeared here, but it has profound cultural inevitability.

1, rezu

Legend has it that Lei Zu was the princess of the Yellow Emperor. In the Central Plains culture, there is a view that the wife of the Yellow Emperor is a sister, which has been recognized by many chemists in ancient China. However, there is still a view in the Central Plains culture that the first princess of the Yellow Emperor was Lei Zu, and the most powerful evidence is Historical Records, which records that the Yellow Emperor "married the daughter of Xiling". In folklore, the Yellow Emperor had four concubines and ten concubines, of which the first princess was Lei Zu and the second concubine was Fang, Tong Yu and He. Lei Zu personally planted mulberry and raised silkworms, and taught people to spin, and was called "the first silkworm" by later generations.

People in the Three Gorges certainly agree with the latter view. Besides historical records, there are many legends about Leizu here. Legend has it that one spring, Lei Zu, a young girl, was raising silkworms in the mulberry garden of Xiling Mountain at the mouth of Xiling Gorge, and she met the Yellow Emperor passing by with a great army. The Yellow Emperor was very surprised to see that she was wearing a silk dress with soft light. Because people are wrapped in grass or animal skins, the Yellow Emperor asked Leizu what he was wearing, and Leizu said it was silk. Huangdi thought it was a great invention and decided to take Leizu away. Leizu also fell in love with the little emperor at first sight and was willing to get married. The Yellow Emperor and Leizu were besieged by local aborigines. During their escape, they once hid in a cave in Huangniuyan, namely Xuanyuan Cave in Huangniuxia of the Three Gorges. There is also a long-standing saying in the Three Gorges area that "the emperor's old son is the nephew of the mountain people". This proverb seems to prove from folklore that Leizu is the princess of the Yellow Emperor. Now there is Leizu Temple on Xiling Mountain, and there is Daping at the entrance of the temple, which is the "ancestor of humanity". It is said that only two "big flat" in China are eligible to be the "ancestor of mankind", and the other one is in the Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor, so in the Three Gorges, people call Lei Zu the great "ancestor of China".

2. Tu Shanshi

In the orthodox culture of the Central Plains, Tu Shanshi is the wife of Dayu. Dayu married Tu Shanshi when he was controlling water in the south. Shangshu Mo Tao is recorded in "Marrying in Tushan" and "Eight Records of Huayang and National Records": "Marrying Tu Shan ... Now Jiangzhou Tushan is also. Carved in the Jade Emperor Hall. " In this system, the story of Tu Shanshi and Dayu is roughly like this: After Emperor Shun killed Gun, the water conservancy minister who was ineffective in water control, Feng Gun's son Yu became the water conservancy minister and continued to control water. While visiting the Three Gorges, Yu met Tu Shanshi and married her. Yu has been in charge of water for thirteen years and has not entered the house for three times. Tu Shanshi lived alone day and night. When the moon came out, he couldn't help thinking of Yu, who was nine feet and two inches long, and sang the love song "Waiting for someone! . According to Lu's "Spring and Autumn Annals", Tu Shanshi's "Waiting for People" is the first recorded love poem in China and the first love poem in China. Then one day, Tu Shanshi gave Jade a meal. When he saw Jade incarnate as a bear, he was very ashamed and turned into a stone. Yu asked this stone for his son, and the stone cracked. There is a baby in it, which is Yu's son Qi.

The legend of the Three Gorges area is completely different. In the Three Gorges, with the help of gods including scalpers, the semi-closed Xiajiang River was dredged and the great project of the Chinese nation to govern the Three Gorges was started. Tu Shanshi, a beautiful girl from Chongqing (Jiangzhou), was deeply moved and quite touched. Qu Yuan's Tian Wen records: "How did you get a daughter from Tushan and bring it to Taiwan Province?" According to Wen Yiduo and Liu Shenxian, "communication" is "adultery", which is consistent with the legend in the Three Gorges area. Taisang is a flat platform with dense mulberry forests, where Yu and Tushan Stone meet. I had to work during the day, and Tu Shanshi was lonely, so I sang the song "Waiting for People". This story and Yao Ji, the goddess of the Three Gorges to be told later, are willing to recommend the salt water goddess to the king of Chu, and Lin Jun, who is willing to stay, have the same cultural connotation and distinctive characteristics of the Three Gorges myth. Recently, Mr. Ji Lianhai, whose eyes are not very good, told this story in the lecture hall of CCTV, which caused indignation on the Internet and was asked, "What does a person like you do?" Mr. Ji apologized again and again, saying that he really knew nothing about research and was just popularizing historical knowledge. In fact, this has been circulating in the Three Gorges area for thousands of years, and the great Qu Yuan also wrote it in his own poems.

3. Yao Ji

Yao Ji is the most famous goddess in the Three Gorges. We usually refer to this goddess. Legend has it that she was the youngest daughter of Emperor Yan. She died as a minor and was buried in Wushan, becoming the goddess of Wushan. There are the most legends, the most abundant materials and the most extensive influence about this goddess in the Three Gorges area. Goddess peak in the Twelve Peaks of Wushan is the image of this goddess.

This goddess is also related to Dayu, the hero of water control. According to Tang Guangcheng's record of immortals in Yucheng, Yao Ji, a goddess, traveled wildly in the East China Sea, crossed Wushan Mountain, and saw the flood raging, so she "helped Yu to cut stones, disperse waves, stop floods and guide Eritrea downstream". When the flood was too normal, Yao Ji prayed for a good year for the people, sailed safely and stood on the top of the mountain for a long time, so she became goddess peak. Now we can see a beautiful stone pillar on the summit, which looks like a slim girl. She welcomes the morning glow at the earliest and sends the sunset glow away at last, so she is also called "Wang Xiafeng". In some versions of the legend, she also gave Yu a "heavenly book" and helped Yu kill the dragon in the staggered canyon. The deeds are very rich.

The affair between Yao Ji, the goddess, and the king of Chu is the brightest chapter in the series of Three Gorges Goddess. According to Song Yu's "Gao Tang Mi", the king of Chu was sleeping when he was inspecting Gao Tang. In his dream, he saw a beautiful girl coming to his bedroom and was very enthusiastic about him. I am the daughter of Wushan. I heard that you came to Gaotang to play, so I rushed over to sleep with you. " Of course, the king of Chu did his duty and had a good time. Before leaving, the girl told him again: "I live on a platform near the top of the mountain at the southern foot of Wushan." The morning is a colorful morning glow, and the night is a drizzle floating in the wind. Early in the morning and late at night, they are all near that platform. " The next morning, the king of Chu went to see it specially, and sure enough, he saw an unusually gentle early cloud. To commemorate this goddess, a temple named "Chaoyun" was ordered to be built on that platform. Song Yu vividly described Yao Ji in Shen Fu, saying that compared with Yao Ji, she was just a sallow and emaciated woman. Song Yu's two poems are the first of its kind in China's poetry and have a far-reaching influence on later generations. Cao Zhi's Songs of the South is an example.

Yao Ji is not only a well-known goddess in the Three Gorges area, but also has great influence in the whole country, shaping the classic "image of sex and rain" in China literature.

4. Shan Gui

Although Shan Gui does not have Yao Ji's national influence, she is a witch with local characteristics in the Three Gorges area, which better reflects the witch culture of the Three Gorges. She is between man and god, smart, beautiful, lively, cunning, energetic and naked. On her beautiful figure, slender female vines are entangled, covered with green branches of Manglietia, leaves of gladiolus and fragrant Du Heng grass. She likes singing and dancing, appearing in people's sight from time to time and playing love games. Shan Gui, Qu Yuan's famous poem, describes Shan Gui in detail through the story of a witch welcoming Shan Gui.

Shan Gui represents a large number of witch images in the Three Gorges area. In the ancient Three Gorges, witch culture prevailed, and many beautiful girls were witches. They take coitus with men and engage in witchcraft activities as their profession and enjoy a high status in society. According to Shan Hai Jing, these witches are called female corpses. "Female corpse" means "corpse girl", and Shuowen says "corpse, Kerwin Chen, looks like lying." In other words, the original meaning of the body is used here. Yuan Mei's "Essays on the Garden and the Dead Woman" said: "Probably on the day of society, all witches will come out enchanting." From these records and the local legends of the Three Gorges, we can imagine the lively scenes of many witches in the Three Gorges area at that time.

5, the goddess of salt water

The goddess of salt water is the goddess in the myth of Ba in the Three Gorges area. She is the leader of the salt water tribe, and Tujia people respect her as the queen. One day, Lin Jun, the leader of the Ba tribe, led his troops to develop along the map of the northern Qingjiang River and across the sun. The goddess of salt water fell in love at first sight, stopped Lin Jun's clay carving boat, and still said enthusiastically and sincerely, "We have a vast sunny region and are rich in fish and salt. I hope you can stay and live together. " Considering the survival interests of the tribe, Lin Jun disagreed. In the evening, the goddess of salt water came to Lin Jun's boat and stayed with her. At dawn, Lin Jun insisted on going north, and the goddess of salt water turned into a flying insect, gathering thousands of similar people, covering the sun like a cloud on the river, making it difficult for Lin Jun to distinguish things in the north. So after seven days and seven nights, Lin Jun finally had a plan, and sent someone to give Salt god a ray of blue silk thread as a promise, so that she could tie it in the body, indicating that the two would get along forever. Salt god readily accepted the promise. Lin Jun stood on a sunny slope and shot an arrow according to the moss, which hit Salt god right in the middle. Salt god lay by the river under the sharp arrow of his lover, and slowly closed his eyes. Lin Jun led his people to continue northward, and finally realized his dream, unified the ministries of Qingjiang River and became the king of Ba people. Later, he died in Wuluozhong, turned into a white tiger, squatted on the top of the mountain, and looked at the direction of the upstream salt sun every day, which was hard to let go.

From these myths and legends of goddess, we can see two points: First, the Three Gorges area is deeply influenced by matriarchal society, from the legend about Lei Zu to Tu Shanshi's Waiting for People, Yao Ji's Wish to Recommend a Pillow Mat, and Bittern Goddess's Wish to Stay * * *, all of which reflect the cultural characteristics of matriarchal society; Second, witch culture is extremely prosperous. The images of Shan Gui and his dead women vividly reflect the unique witch culture characteristics of the Three Gorges. It is precisely because of these two reasons that the Three Gorges has become the fertile soil and cradle of the goddess and a great wonder in the myth system of our country.

Second, the myth about vanilla.

Ancient beauty is always associated with vanilla. We can see this when reading Dream in the Classroom, in which there are many beautiful women with sachets filled with herbs. The climate in the Three Gorges area is warm and humid, with abundant vegetation, many exotic flowers and herbs, and extremely rich herbs. Vanilla and beauty exist, and they are interrelated and promote each other, thus making the myth of beauty and vanilla in the Three Gorges area, or the beauty of vanilla, the theme of legend. Therefore, in Chu Ci, vanilla beauty is also the most commonly used carrier and material for narrative.

1, Ganoderma lucidum

According to the biography of the mountains and rivers in Xiangyang, Yao Ji said that the king of Chu said, "My daughter of Emperor Ji, also named Yao Ji, died before she went, and was sealed on the platform of Wushan. Spirit depends on grass, which is actually a stalk (spiritual) cheese. If you are charming and serve, it is related to the dream period ... "From the records, we know that Yao Ji's soul is attached to Ganoderma lucidum, which can charm people and make them meet Yao Ji in their dreams.

2. Tussah silk

The Seven Classics in The Classic of Mountains and Seas records: "Two hundred miles to the east, the name is Aunt Shashan, and the emperor and daughter die. It is called a female corpse, turned into grass, and the leaf cover is yellow. In fact, it is like a mound, which is fascinating. " The mound, which is now the bow grass, is commonly used in Chinese medicine and can stimulate men's lust.

3. Three performances

"Shan Gui" said: "Take three shows in the mountains." Wang Yi's note: "The three shows are called Cao Zhi." This may be the same plant as Ganoderma lucidum transformed by Yao Jiling, or it may be another herb plant, but it certainly has similar functions and functions as Ganoderma lucidum.

4. Heather (Orchid)

Heather leaves often grow in the Three Gorges mountain stream, which can make women miss men after taking them, so it is also called "Sinan" leaves. Witches in Shan Gui were "brought to Du Heng by Shi Lan". Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica said: "Women can't take it for a long time, reminding them of men." It can be seen that this is an aphrodisiac and aphrodisiac for women, which can stimulate women's sexual desire.

From these seemingly realistic legends about vanilla that are closely related to the goddess witch, we can see that there is a strong worship of vanilla in the Three Gorges area, which is closely related to the flourishing witchcraft in the Three Gorges area. In sacrificial activities, witches play the role of goddess (beauty), while aromatic plants become the carrier of witchcraft, which can lead to hallucinations and dreams. The witchcraft power of vanilla can not only please the gods, ward off evil spirits and eliminate epidemics, but also stimulate the lust of men and women to achieve the purpose of reproduction.

In addition, the close relationship between the goddess and vanilla can also be seen from the name of the goddess. In ancient Chinese, Yao and Yin were universal. "Wen Ya's Interpretation" said: "Yao and Yin are also." So Yao Ji is a slut. Prostitution is synonymous with fullness, liveliness and vitality, and it is worshipped in the era of underdeveloped human reproduction. Vanilla plants are a powerful god for female prostitution, so they are worshipped together. This concept and custom can still be seen in the mountainous areas around the modern Three Gorges.

Third, the legend about the hero of water control.

Managing water or gorge is another mythical theme in the Three Gorges area, which reflects the strong desire of the ancient Three Gorges people to manage the Three Gorges.

"Water Classic Notes on Rivers" contains: "This gorge (Qutang Gorge) was built by Yu to reach the river." Guo Pu's Fu Jiang says, "If it is the gorge of Badong, Xia Hou will dig it." "There is Qigu Village in the north of Xiabei (Xiling Gorge), and the water between the two mountains is clear and deep ... This is an old rumor: it used to be a big river, and it was a flood control. This river is not enough to flow. Jade opens a gorge today, and the water is rushing together. This river is definitely lost, and it is also broken today. " There are also myths and legends circulating among the people in the Three Gorges, such as the magical ox (Huangniuyan) helping Yukai Gorge.

"Notes on Water Classics and Notes on Rivers" quoted the book Shu Lun as saying: "Wushan Gorge and Shu River don't flow, and the Emperor ordered (that is, turtle spirit) to dig Wu Gorge to pass water, and Shu gained land." Turtle spirit is the national phase of Shu, and had an affair with his wife in summer. When Master Roshi returned to Korea after completing the task of adjusting the gorge, he looked at the emperor and felt ashamed. He thought his virtue was inferior to that of Master Roshi, so he entrusted it to the country and left. Master Roshi ascended the throne, and the enlightened emperor of posthumous title was admired. These legends enrich the myths and legends in the Three Gorges area.

In a word, the Three Gorges area is rich in myths and legends, which take beauty, herbs and heroes of water control as themes and main lines, and profoundly reflect the cultural core of the Three Gorges area from an important aspect, and even can be said to be the root of the Three Gorges literature.