Hunan Meishan fortune teller _ Who is Hunan Meishan fortune teller?

Exploring Meishan Culture —— Zhang Wulang

In Loudi, Xinhua, Anhua and other places in Hunan Province, there is a strange idol hanging upside down at the entrance of many villages. Some people say that it is Hua Fu, and others say that it is a disciple of Taishang Laojun. I will reveal who it is one by one!

? Meishan culture originated from the indigenous tribe "Meishan Neanderthals" more than 900 years ago. It is a unique regional culture formed and developed in a special environment and an important part of ancient Huxiang culture. The ancient Huxiang culture, together with other regional cultures in China, has built a splendid culture. Brilliant Chinese civilization. Meishan Cultural District is mainly distributed in parts of Longhui, Wugang, Dongkou, Xupu, Xinshao, Lianyuan, Lengshuijiang, Anhua and Xinhua in Hunan Province. Meishan culture mainly includes folk religion, folk literature and folk culture in these areas. Among them, witchcraft, a folk religion, is deeply rooted in the broad masses of people in this area and embodies the tenacious vitality of Meishan people. It is deeply loved by the villagers and has been flourishing for a long time.

What is witchcraft?

? When it comes to witchcraft, we can't help but mention Zhang Daoling, the founder of Taoism. He studied Taoism in Bashu, and set eight ghost generals in a forbidden city. The story of establishing a road in Hemingshan, Dayi County, Chengdu, Sichuan Province is widely circulated. With the rise of Taoism, witchcraft gradually faded out of public view. In fact, witchcraft originated in ancient times, mainly responsible for divination and sacrifice, but it has no founder. Most people respect the emperor and the virgin Mary. The emperor is Pangu, and the virgin is Nuwa, who advocates nature and pays attention to animism. In a blink of an eye, witchcraft has gradually merged with local customs in China for five thousand years, and Meishan witchcraft is one of them.

Zhang Wulang and Meishan Witchcraft

Zhang Wulang, also known as Chen Shiwulang, is the only god in Meishan religion in southwest Hunan who is enshrined by woodcarving gods. People often call this god "pour the altar" and "pour the altar and open a hole". Zhang Wulang is an inverted god, with his hands on the ground and his feet facing the sky. Craftsmen who make folk idols carve them with vines of wild grapes or domestic grapes. The height of idols is generally 20 to 25 cm. When carving, the head of the idol should be carved with the part near the root. After the statue is carved, a square hole is opened in the back, and a pair of Chinese herbal medicines are placed in the square hole, representing the internal organs and bone marrow of God.

One legend is that ...

In southwest Hunan, there are two legends about Zhang Wulang:

Legend one

Zhang Wulang, a hunter, went to the Taishang Laojun to learn the scriptures, which was deeply loved by Taishang Laojun, but Taishang Laojun did not know that his daughter Ji Ji had a crush on Zhang Wulang. Gigi declared his love for Zhang Wulang to his father. The old gentleman strongly opposed this marriage and ordered the expulsion of Zhang Wulang. Ji Ji had no choice but to invite Zhang Wulang to elope. In order to ensure the safety of Zhang Wulang, Ji Ji has been protecting him under the protection of God. When the old man learned of this, he flew into a rage, chased him to the road, released his flying sword and tried to get rid of Zhang Wulang. One sword and two swords were turned back by Ji Ji's umbrella, and the old gentleman released the third sword that could not be stopped by the umbrella. Ji Ji saw that her sweetheart was in danger and used her quick wits. She threw the menstrual cloth on the cloud and defiled her father's flying sword. Zhang Wulang's life was saved. In order to stop Zhang Wulang from being injured, Gigi turned his body upside down, with his head on the ground and his feet facing the sky, which made him unrecognizable and escaped the old man's pursuit. Later, Zhang Wulang spread spells widely among hunters, and these spells were the folk methods of Meishan. Zhang Wulang was embraced by hunters, and he also became the Meishan god worshipped by hunters. Therefore, Meishan religion consecrates an inverted Meishan statue. The red "cloud cloth" covered on the altar of Meishan and wrapped around the head of a tiger craftsman in Meishan turned out to be Ji Ji's menstrual cloth.

Legend 2

Secondly, Zhang Wulang is a skilled hunter who has hunted wild animals in the mountains many times. In the southwest of Hunan, there is a custom called "whoever sees the great event in Shan Ye has a share". In other words, anyone who hunts wild animals can get a piece of the action as long as they are present. Zhang Wulang often hunts wild animals and distributes them to villagers. As he grew older, he became a popular figure. On one occasion, when Zhang Wulang was hunting, he had a life-and-death struggle with the tiger. Unfortunately, he was knocked off a cliff and hung upside down from a tree to die. People miss Zhang Wulang and regard him as the god of hunting. And carved an inverted statue and set up an altar to worship it, which was later the Meishan altar.

? Speaking of the Meishan god "Zhang Wulang", people will think of Meishan culture full of mystery and strange colors. But what is Meishan culture? There are also different opinions in academic circles, and there is no conclusion so far. The author thinks that Meishan culture is an important branch of Jingchu culture and an ancient primitive hunting culture that is still concentrated in central and southwestern Hunan. Anhua is the birthplace of Meishan culture. The biography of Meishan Neanderthals records: "In the old days, Meishan Neanderthals were not connected with China, and their regions were east and tan, south and Shao, west and north, and Meishan lived among them." Meishan is located in the hinterland of central Hunan, where the mountains are steep, the wilderness is vast, the traffic is blocked, and Miao and Yao live together, which is divided into ten caves in Meishan. In that unique environment, Meishan Neanderthals formed and developed a unique culture, which passed on silently for thousands of years, and it was not until Song Xining fell to the Song Dynasty in five years that it merged into the river of China culture. Meishan culture is embodied in three aspects: first, religious belief; Second, living customs; Third, cultural forms, or cultural carriers, reflect the work and life of the Neanderthals in Meishan and express their thoughts.

Meishan cave people worship Meishan religion. It has systematic gods, symbols, performances, associations and doctrines. The male god they believe in is Zhang Wulang, the founder of Meishan. According to legend, he is a man who is good at hunting, a skillful craftsman, a man who builds mountains and roads, and a hero who resists foreign invasion. He walks with a pair of upside-down feet, and all the birds and animals are his messengers. People worship their statues in the shrine, which reads "ancestors of Meimen, Meicheng contributes to God's blessing and justice". On holidays, before going hunting in the mountains and fighting against foreign enemies, people have to make sacrifices and tie a statue of their ancestors around their waists in order to "retreat when the beast sees it, hide when the snake sees it, and flee when the demon sees it" (Meishan curse). This habit has not changed for thousands of years. The goddess they believe in is called Bai Xianniang, the chief god of poultry and livestock. Villagers should raise their young with livestock, or seek to eliminate disasters and turn them into good luck in case of plague, so as to bless the prosperity of six livestock.

There are many legends about the origin of Zhang Wulang. The most popular one is that a long time ago, the Zhang family had five brothers who lived in the dense forest of Meishan, and the people lived by hunting for generations. The five brothers practiced witchcraft from Meishan Kung Fu in primary school, and later learned from the old gentleman, all of whom were miraculous. In order not to conflict with each other in the hunting range, the five brothers divided their hunting areas, one in the southeast and one in the northwest, which was later the legendary commander of the five-party cabin soldiers, that is, "there are nine Yi soldiers in the east, eight in the south, seven jungle soldiers in the west, five Di soldiers in the north, and three Chi soldiers in the middle." Although Goro is the youngest of the five brothers, he has the highest martial arts and the strongest mana, so he naturally becomes the leader of the group.

Tigers often haunt Meishan, and people who hunt in the mountains often never come back. The five brothers discussed to get rid of this scourge together. Brothers show their magical powers, some set traps, some cooked poison arrows, and some led dogs to ambush. When the tiger appeared, various methods still failed to subdue the tiger. At this time, Goro stepped forward and fought the tiger with a mountain knife. After a scuffle, Goro was forced to the edge of the cliff and the tiger pounced on him. Goro saw the situation and dodged in time, only to stumble over a branch and fall off the cliff with the tiger.

Fortunately, Goro was entangled in vines on the cliff and saved his life, but the tiger fell to his death. In the fight, Goro broke his right leg, making him unable to move. From then on, Goro stood upside down and walked with his hands instead of his feet, so he went into the mountains and set out to hunt.

When the tiger died, the people were no longer afraid. The five Zhang brothers, mainly Goro, were regarded as the founders of Meishan by later generations. As long as they go hunting in the mountains, they will invite Goro to have a safe trip and harvest more prey.

Since then, there has been a shrine on the lower floor of every household. The idol is Goro's image of opening the altar upside down, catching chickens and casting spells, and he is honored as "altar god", "turning over the altar mound", "founder Zhang Goro" and "commanding Zhang Goro".

Several groups of interesting wood carvings of Zhang Wulang, after preliminary identification, should be in the early Qing Dynasty, at the latest in the late Qing Dynasty. The highest of these statues is 27 cm, and the smallest is 14 cm high. Most of them are carved from ordinary wood. There were many grapevines carved in the early Qing Dynasty, because Meishan people thought that grapevines saved Zhang Wulang's life and had psychic effects. Generally, the larger ones are placed under the shrine for people to worship, while the smaller ones are worn by hunters when hunting, which is related to walking the altar. The hunters of the older generation said that when hunting in the mountains, they would take Zhang Wulang with them and find a good place in the mountains. After opening the altar, they began to set traps to catch their prey and bring it back. Moving the throne in this way and setting up another zero-time altar are called walking altars. In order to facilitate movement, Zhang Wulang's size is relatively small. These wood carvings of Zhang Wulang are divided into three groups. One group is standing posture, holding the shotgun horizontally with both hands or vertically with one hand, with the left foot in front, or holding your head high or leaning slightly to the left front (Figure1); The other group is an idol who holds a shotgun in both hands or a roll of hunting rope in his right hand, with his left foot as the guide and a vigilant hound under his right foot. The idol's facial expression is rigorous and mysterious, as if to warn wild animals in all directions not to escape and harm human beings (Figure 2); The most typical color group is the inverted Zhang Wulang, known as the statue of "Zhang Wulang fell to the ground", and there are several shapes: one shape is feet up, head down, strong limbs, two hands supporting the ground, while the right hand still holds a knife (the knife has fallen off) and the left hand holds a chicken. The expression of preparing to kill the chicken is solemn and pious, with tight lips, bright eyes and vivid images (Figure 3). The other style is more complicated and vivid, with hands on the ground and feet facing the sky, a bowl of water in the center of the left foot and a censer in the center of the right foot. The downward hands grasp the chicken with the left hand and the knife with the right hand. There are five bowls or wine glasses arranged in plum blossom shape in front of them (Figure 6). The other is also a bowl of water in the middle of his left foot and a censer in the middle of his right foot, with his hands on the ground and his feet facing the sky, but the knife in his right hand and the chicken in his left hand are simplified, and five wine glasses are carved on the wooden base, which is more concise (Figure 4). We think the knife and chicken in his hand indicate that he is going to kill the chicken to get blood to reward the five soldiers represented by those five cups and bowls. There is also a beautiful one carved with vines. This statue has a childish bun on its head, drooping ears, good-natured, serene expression, wearing a double-breasted blouse, holding a shotgun vertically in its right hand (the gun has been cut off), and a hunting dog at its feet looks up at the statue, as if waiting for instructions from Zhang Wulang at any time (Figure 5).

To sum up, among the many gods in China, only Zhang Wulang appeared as an inverted image, and only Zhang Wulang was put in a shrine and was taken with him to set up an altar for worship. There are still many places for us to continue to study, sort out and explore about Meishan culture and the mysterious Zhang Wulang. Through the artistic modeling of these statues of Zhang Wulang, we can feel the aesthetic style of Meishan people, which is simple but not clumsy, natural and not artificial. They showed the mysterious taste of Meishan culture to the public from some aspects, and led us to continue to explore this ancient and mysterious culture.