What is the origin of witchcraft?

Witchcraft is an attempt to influence or control some people and things with the help of supernatural mysterious forces. In ancient times, female performers were called witches and wizards. Witchcraft should begin with the worship of nature by ancient Tibetan ancestors. Because nature often gives people a sense of fear. The ancestors also wanted nature, not only to worship and support the god of nature for help, but also to make nature obey their own will through their own words and deeds, thus producing a kind of "fantasy and action to change nature." One of the concrete manifestations of these fantasies and behaviors is witchcraft.

Second, the classification of witchcraft:

From the nature of witchcraft, witchcraft can be divided into black witchcraft and white witchcraft. Black witchcraft refers to witchcraft used when framing others; White witchcraft is used when praying for good luck, so it is also called auspicious witchcraft.

Judging from the means of witchcraft, witchcraft can be divided into two categories, one is imitation witchcraft and the other is contact witchcraft.

Imitation of witchcraft: a witchcraft method in which something similar is used as a substitute for good luck or disaster. If you hate someone, take a human form and write down that person's birthday, or burn it, or splash water, or stab it with a knife and let that person die. In nature, this belongs to black witchcraft. Another example is that children often fall into wells. In order to avoid disaster, they often make a puppet instead of a child and throw it into the well. This kind of behavior is called breaking the evil spirit. In ancient production customs, rice began to blossom, and men and women met in the fields to promote rice heading. If people get sores, they can get rid of the patients by painting the sores on plant leaves or yellow paper. This is also called imitating witchcraft. The custom of tying dolls in Baiyun Temple, and the folk custom of "stealing melons" and so on.

Contact witchcraft: it is a kind of witchcraft means, which uses some things or things related to things to seek good luck and frame bad luck. This kind of witchcraft can achieve its goal as long as it touches a part of someone's body or someone's equipment. If someone is sick, put a coin or something more expensive where the patient is sick, and then throw it on the road for anyone to pick it up, so that the patient is transferred to the picker. Putting a bowl, Jiang Yuan plays a great man, and getting drunk and abandoning Zhou is all about witchcraft. In the past, black witchcraft used to collect hair, beards, nails and beloved things of people who were at odds with each other in order to hurt each other. Children's names can't be told to others casually, otherwise they will be controlled by others.

In Liangshan Yi people, when the slave owners found that the slaves had escaped, they not only sent people to look for them, but also invited wizards to practice witchcraft. The method is to bring the rags left by slaves and put them in a stone mill for grinding. Because cloth is not easy to grind down, they think that slaves will inevitably wander in the mountains and find no way to escape. In order to escape from the jaws of death, slaves also fought against witchcraft. Generally, when they escape, they carry a small stone mill on their backs and put it on their heads, so that the cloth ground by the slave owners will fall off quickly and they can escape successfully.

Third, the application of witchcraft.

1. Begging for help: refers to people deceiving and praying for natural forces or ghosts and gods to help them achieve a certain goal in some way. Han people pray for rain and worship the dragon king, but worship fails to achieve witchcraft, forcing the dragon king to beg for rain. For example, carrying the Dragon King around the street, uncovering the Dragon King, draining the well water and so on.

2, evocation: bring back the lost soul with witchcraft. Not only for people, but also for animals and plants. For example, Jinuo people call for the spirit of the valley god, Miao people call for the spirit of the cow god, and Han children are sick and often think that their souls are lost outside the village. Mothers had to take their children's clothes and shout their children's names outside the village, shouting for their souls. Yi people also have the custom of evoking spirits, that is, evoking spirits for elders who have been away from home for many years or died in a foreign land. Hosted by wizards, they often stand on high mountains, looking at the direction in which the deceased leaves, calling the names of the deceased, and pretending to occupy the souls of the deceased with hemp ropes. Zhuang, Maonan and other ethnic groups also have witchcraft of evoking souls and lovers. Generally, young men invite wizards, who cover their heads with sheets and ask the gods to possess them. Soon, she fell into a coma and declared that her soul was possessed, so the witch sang with the man on behalf of his lover and poured out her feelings.

3. Curse: It uses the magic of language to hurt each other. The most common form is face-to-face curse, such as natural death, pieces and so on. More is to achieve the purpose of witchcraft by cursing each other's names. The Dai people have a kind of witchcraft of "letting Luo", the purpose of which is to provoke other people's husband-wife relationship so that they can get involved. The practice is to take two bamboos from the fence of the couple's grave, carve them: "You have thorns on your chest, you can't hug each other, you can only face each other across the river", and then put them downstairs, thinking that husband and wife will lose harmony within three days. In the Han and Manchu areas of northeast China, there was once a curse of steaming cats. If the loser finds that someone has stolen his property and refuses to admit it, he will write the thief's birthday and name on paper and cook it in a steamer with a cat. The cat struggled and screamed in the cage, and the loser cursed the thief for dying like a cat.

4. Exorcism: It is an aggressive witchcraft against ghosts. It is often used in production, construction, treatment and funeral. This is the main job of folk wizards. When Bimo, a Yi nationality in Liangshan, treated a patient, he asked the patient to sit at the door with a bamboo dustpan on his head. Bimo shouted "Catch the evil ghost, catch him quickly", and ordered his assistant to sprinkle the ashes of the fireplace on the patient's head with a shovel and drive the ghost away with ashes. Another Yi wizard, Su Ni, placed many tributes of branches beside the fire pit when exorcising ghosts. He walked around the fire pit and knocked on the sheepskin drum, inviting all the gods down. Then he suddenly opened the mouth of an earthenware pot and said, "Catch the ghost quickly and put it in the earthenware pot." Then he immediately shut his mouth and shouted, "Ghost, I will burn you!" " After that, Suni poured the ghost in the clay pot into the fireplace and said, "Ghost, wait until the bamboo basket can hold water." There are also: paper boats burning bright candles, shooting at the bride with arrows at the wedding, carrying braziers and so on. Many exorcism witchcraft of Han nationality was later inherited by Taoism. Symbols, swords, seals and mirrors are the main exorcism tools of Taoist priests. Exorcism also applies to the dead. Li people are most afraid of killing people, so complicated ceremonies must be held at the funeral: a winding road must be taken to make it difficult for the soul of the dead to return to its place, and the body must be crushed with boulders or nailed to death with stakes when buried, so that the soul of the dead can never return home, otherwise it will disturb the family.

5. Avoidance of evil spirits: It is a negative witchcraft to use something to stop evil spirits from coming. Evil spirits are generally decorated on buildings, vehicles and production tools, and some are worn on the body. Pumi people print many lime handprints on doors or walls. It is said that this is a ghost gesture, and ghosts dare not answer it. Hanging knives, swords, saws and horns on the lintel can also ward off evil spirits. Oroqen people hang wild boar's teeth and bear's nose on fairy pillars; Dong people hang dog heads on doors and protect their homes with dogs. Miao people hang rice screens and fishing nets on the doors. They think that the rice screen symbolizes many eyes and can see through the whereabouts of ghosts, while the fishing net is a tool to catch ghosts, and ghosts will avoid it when they see it. Totem is also a kind of exorcism. Yi people often draw a tiger on the door. Horseshoe is often hung in northwest China and Europe. The amulet of the Han nationality and the sword of the door god town house are all evil spirits.

Fourth, the method of witchcraft.

1, what is the method: it is a kind of witchcraft that uses poison to pest people. It is an ancient mysterious and horrible witchcraft, which is mainly popular in southern China and some ethnic minorities. Method, from the point of view of glyph, is to put many bugs in a container. Confucius and Ying Da said in Notes to Thirteen Classics: "Treating people with poison, I don't know what it means, and this method is called poison." "Compendium of Materia Medica, Insect Department IV" defines poisonous insects for human consumption. "Take a hundred insects into the Weng, and after years of opening, one insect will eat it all, which is called the law."

2. Generation and types of tricks: Most tricks are women, which is their specialty. Yunnan southern magazine: "Yunnan people keep magic ... people try to hide them, and children worry about food." Magic guards, don't be locked in a secret room, let women feed them. Seeing that men are defeated, they gather in pure yin. " Zhou Qufei's answer to the generation outside the ridge: the ancient poison is a "night sacrifice for women" and the "new theory of southern Yunnan" is to please foreign women. There are many methods, such as gold silkworm method, malnutrition method, epilepsy method, swelling method, loach method, stone method, scorpion method and snake method. Among them, the gold silkworm method is the fiercest. In the past, superstitious activities of raising gold silkworm were very popular in some counties and towns in Fujian. It is said that gold silkworm is an invisible worm who can do things for others and is the most diligent and hygienic. Generally, people who have clean rooms are considered as people who support gold silkworm. The production method of gold silkworm is to select snake, centipede and other 12 poisonous insects, bury them at the crossroads, take them out and store them in the incense burner after 49 days (or another mysterious day), and make gold silkworm. In the eyes of people who believe in gold silkworm, gold silkworm is spiritual and can make breeders rich, but the owner of a rich family should also tell gold silkworm how much money he owes, otherwise gold silkworm will ask for money to buy food, otherwise it will cause trouble. If the gold silkworm family doesn't want to keep it, they can pass it on and say "marry gold silkworm". The method is to wrap silver, pollen and incense ashes (representing gold silkworm) on the road, and greedy people will naturally pick them up. Gold silkworm can kill people, usually due to abdominal swelling and bleeding. Malnutrition law, also known as "laying eggs, releasing malnutrition and releasing bees", is popular among people in Guangdong and Guangxi. The method is to catch centipedes, small snakes, dragonflies, ants, poison bee, cicadas, earthworms and so on. Adding hair at noon, drying it in the sun, grinding it into powder, and offering it in front of the statue of athel Loren has become a method over time, which can poison people in the diet. Epilepsy hub is popular in Dong nationality, and many snakes are buried in the soil with epigenetic fungi, which causes epilepsy. Swelling makes people's abdomen swell; Misgurnus anguillicaudatus poisoning is to soak Misgurnus anguillicaudatus with powder and bamboo leaves. As for the stone method and the thin slice method, they are both made of soaked medicine, which is harmful on the road. It is said that they can enter people's bodies and cause evil diseases.

3, the application method is often put into food. Most curses are put in food. In Chiya, the curse is put in the food first, and the taste is increased a hundred times. In addition, they are placed on the first piece of food. Under the method, there are many insects themselves, which have the advantages of insect feces and saliva foam. Sometimes you can do magic without eating. Talia Liu's "Huang Miao's Notes": "Miao is so poisonous that you don't need to eat it specially. Anyone who boos it with anger and looks at it with his eyes can spread it to people; Those who use grain will also take advantage. "

4. Symptoms and verification methods of patients with gonorrhea: Liu Xifan "suffers from gonorrhea, or has a sore throat and cannot swallow; Or the face is green and yellow, and the day will be barren; Or when you have something on your chest and cough; Or fullness of chest and abdomen, numbness of limbs; Or days, or months. "Verification method: You can let it chew raw soybeans, and it will be poisoned without fishy smell. In ethnic minority areas, put a piece of duck egg white in your mouth and insert a silver needle on it. If duck egg white and silver needles turn black, they will be poisoned. Prevention and solution: any cobweb dust house is suspected of being a strange house, so avoid contact; Anyone who eats like a host, knocks a cup and bowl with chopsticks before serving, is suspected of playing tricks, so pay special attention not to eat or expose; People who go out to eat and carry garlic with them can be prevented, but it is difficult to treat when drinking, and it can be prevented when going out without drinking. Solution: Take Realgar, Garlic and Acorus calamus decoction, or pomegranate root water to detoxify; It is also said that gold silkworm is most afraid of hedgehogs and can be treated with drugs. Many ancient medical books have medical methods and remedies, which are varied. The way to break the magic: tell the truth. In autumn, Miao women sell thorn pears to their children in cloth bags. Those who suffer from magic have long been seen through by the group. When they bought it, they called first and asked, Is there any magic? Answer: No, it won't be harmful. Then you can buy it. In addition, it is also said that they are afraid of being called, and they are called into the home of raising the law, and their laws are tackled. The purpose of releasing tricks is mostly to relieve grievances and sometimes as a protective measure. For example, among the Zhuang people, some people are afraid that others will steal vegetables, so they will release vicious tactics and kill those who steal vegetables. On the contrary, "killing many people is good for the spirit and family." "

Five, taboo witchcraft taboo

Taboo Witchcraft taboo is a general term for some restrictive concepts and customs about social behavior and belief activities. Its common noun is tabu, which is a Polynesian dialect. Its original meaning refers to people, things and places with supernatural power that ordinary people can't touch. There are two reasons why these things are not accessible to ordinary people. First, they are regarded as sacred, and second, they are regarded as ominous or unclean. Is a very common form of superstition. Taboo witchcraft is a kind of negative witchcraft, which requires people not to touch anything or do anything, otherwise it will bring misfortune. Taboos are diversified, some out of fear of some natural forces, some out of love for the elderly and children, some out of worship of ghosts and gods, and some out of superstition about good or bad luck. If you can't use your fingers to rainbow after rain, your fingers will rot; Respect totems, holy places, ancestral tablets and wizards; Pregnant women should avoid eating ginger and rabbit meat; Men and women are forbidden to get married, singularity is forbidden during the wedding period, and they can't get married during the eclipse, otherwise the husband and wife will not get along, and so on. There are also taboos about animals and plants. Mongolians are not allowed to put chopsticks in the chopsticks bucket when they see that the cat is pregnant, otherwise the cat will abort and sell animals, and cut a pinch of hair to stay, otherwise it will break the money.

Six, God sentenced witchcraft, also known as God cut, God broken, God punished.

Divine judgment witchcraft is a kind of witchcraft that prays to the gods to judge the authenticity and property disputes between people. Trial by God is an ancient trial method widely practiced by all nationalities in the world under certain historical conditions. This is an important stage in the development of folk customary law. In ancient legends, Hao Tao used the method of divine judgment. The method is to touch the suspect with a horn and think he is guilty. Later, the sacred sheep evolved into a symbol of an upright judge, and later judges were crowned with arrogance. For example, the referee of grave robbery: Jingpo people have "fighting snails". The lost man first put a snail in the bowl, and the suspect also caught a snail in the bowl and let the two snails fight each other. Finally, judging theft by the victory or defeat of snails. Achang people light a candle on each side, and the length of burning time determines the right or wrong of both sides. Jingpo people also have an "egg divination", that is, taking a thatch from the roof of each suspect's house and putting it in a bowl. This kind of divination is very dark. Then let the mage recite the scriptures, pour an egg into the bowl and stir it a little. Suspected people also rushed to the scene to see whose straw the egg white stuck to first and who would steal. Burning: There is a divine punishment in Tibet. The method is to burn a stone or iron in a fire pit or a makeshift charcoal fire and let the suspect pick it up by hand. If his hand is not burned, he is innocent, otherwise he is guilty. Zhuang people also use the method of stepping on fire (preparing for fire prevention in advance). It is reasonable that the foot is not injured, otherwise it is unreasonable. Judgment of blood: Under the supervision of the chief wizard, the lost Wa people each stretched out a hand and rubbed against each other. Until a certain point, if both sides bleed or not, the fight will stop. If one party bleeds, it will compensate or apologize according to the price. There are also initial judgments, stabbing hands and so on. In addition, there are oil pans (with vinegar or wax in them), water pans (with millet), diving and so on.

Seven, China Tibetan witchcraft.

Sociologists found many relics that should belong to ancient witchcraft when they conducted humanities investigation and field collection in Tibetan areas, such as: avoiding storms and hail in the sky; In order to prevent the attack and intrusion of wild animals and other disasters, people in Xizang invited witches to pull out or cast witches, so as to ensure the safety of people and animals and the bumper harvest of crops. Sometimes lamas in Tibetan Buddhist temples are invited to replace wizards, but even in the busy pulling ceremony, there is still no lack of witchcraft.

Although the witchcraft in these hectic ceremonies is simple and complicated, a large part of it should be said that it originated from the fantasy and action that Tibetan ancestors wanted to make nature obey through their words and deeds. What people think, how to implement it. As far as its content is concerned, most of what it reflects belongs to the category of the relationship between man and nature (mainly in productive labor). Only in the process of inheritance, great changes have taken place.

Judging from the development stage of Tibetan history, these witchcraft should belong to the category of primitive religion, and it should be produced before the Tibetan people stopped Gongzampu, that is, before Xiangxiong Buddhism was introduced into Tibetan areas, that is, during the "Benedictine Society" period as historians said. According to Mr. Liu Liqian's explanation, this kind of "Benedictine Society" originally meant "the native religion that arose naturally in the local area, that is, the native religion-primitive religion". Why is the Tibetan religion born and raised in Tibetan areas also called this religion? There will be a special chapter at the back of this book, so I won't repeat it here. ) After arriving in Gonzam. Tibetan areas gradually changed from primitive society to slave society. In addition, at this time, the "Benedictine Church", which was born and raised in Tibetan areas, was influenced by the primitive religion that had begun to "see the ground" and had also undergone great changes. Except in remote and remote places, most areas of Tubo have been integrated (reformed) or replaced by this religion. At this time, this religion has been gradually reused by the rulers of the Tubo dynasty. There is a record in the Book of Tibetan Officials that "the 27th (Zamba) ruled the country by this teaching". At this time, the content of witchcraft practiced by wizards who appeared as "local wizards" changed from the relationship between man and nature in the Benedictine period to the relationship between people. This is the curse witchcraft that we often mention to hurt each other by cursing the enemy; Exorcise evil spirits to achieve the purpose of human and animal safety; Witchcraft for evoking spirits and getting rid of diseases and divination signs indicating forgiveness.

In terms of its form, this kind of witchcraft is much more complicated than the original natural witchcraft. Only when practicing witchcraft, the wizard's costumes, utensils, prayers and even inheritance are more complicated. Their sacrifices, altars, sacrificial ceremonies, etc. It is beyond the reach of wizards in the Benedictine period.

However, this kind of witchcraft should belong to the category of "artificial witchcraft", because it loses the simplicity of primitive natural witchcraft, increases the artificial component, and of course increases the deception. Although this artificial witchcraft gradually became the mainstream of Tibetan witchcraft in later years, it did not completely replace the original natural witchcraft. Especially in some remote areas, even the two go hand in hand. At the same time, this kind of "artificial witchcraft" was not invented out of thin air by Tibetan wizards, but gradually evolved from primitive natural witchcraft. Through these artificial witchcraft, we can glimpse the remains of primitive natural witchcraft of many ancient Tibetan ancestors.

We know that any kind of witchcraft is based on people's subjective wishes, and these subjective wishes are based on accidental, one-sided and even wrong associations. This world outlook should be idealistic and metaphysical. Therefore, all kinds of witchcraft practiced by Tibetan wizards, whether natural witchcraft or man-made witchcraft, are no exception. If we say that the Tibetan natural witchcraft prevailing in that ancient time is a historical necessity, it only slightly hindered the evolution of human society to civilization. Then the popular artificial witchcraft after human beings entered the class society should be that it worsened the relationship between people. Just like the religious matrix to which it was attached, it eventually became the tool of the rulers.

Just as this religion was attached to the Tubo dynasty during the Tubo period, the witchcraft practiced by its wizards became a tool used by the rulers of the Tubo dynasty to rule their people and attack their enemies. So witchcraft is no longer to satisfy people's simple fantasies, but often brings people fear and disaster.