What kind of existence is ancient witchcraft?

Witchcraft is an ancient quasi-religious phenomenon, which originated from the barbaric period of human beings. In the long history of human development, it was once a naive form of human culture. Before the formation of religion in primitive society, human beings began to have witchcraft beliefs and witchcraft activities. In the long life practice, mankind has gradually developed the belief in nature and surrounding things and the primitive witchcraft thought of animism, and appeared the worship of gods and totems to celestial phenomena, the earth, rocks, fire and water, animals and plants, believing that fish and turtles in the water, birds and animals on the land, and even ancient trees and household appliances on the roadside can all become monsters. Primitive people fantasize about using supernatural mysterious forces to influence or control some people, things and things in order to achieve their wishes. This extremely vague concept of gods at that time was primitive witchcraft. Primitive people believed that witchcraft could regulate inanimate nature. People who master witchcraft among the people are called wizards. Wizards are familiar with people and ghosts, and their familiar method is witchcraft. Witchcraft is an extremely mysterious means and method practiced by wizards, who mystify and sanctify themselves through witchcraft. According to the purpose of witchcraft, it can be divided into three categories: healing witchcraft, harming witchcraft and love witchcraft. In the past, in Xiangxi, beautiful young girls often married a hunchbacked husband, or even a mountain god or a cave god, or these beautiful girls dressed up as brides nervously and madly, singing and dancing, shouting that so-and-so god is coming and worshiping heaven and earth with her. It is said that the media wizard secretly enchanted her and lured her soul to the abode of men or God. It is said that media wizards can grow herbs. As long as this herb is put into the food that women eat, women will fall madly in love with the medicine vending machine, no matter whether it is pitted or lame.

Witchcraft is mysterious and sacred, and it is forbidden to spread abroad, especially to foreigners. If it is leaked, it will be invalid, and even the leaker will be punished by his ancestors. In the past, it was very strict for Xiangxi wizards to teach their disciples. When they are apprentices, they must swear in front of the master. If they reveal the secret, they need to tell their master what kind of punishment they will get. Legend has it that when learning witchcraft from a teacher, a man vowed to squat down with a knife to die. The man thought to himself, how could he kill himself with a sickle for cutting wood and grass in his hand? As a result, he leaked the witchcraft handed down by his teacher and made a fortune. As a result, the sickle handle was loosened once. When he squats tight, his head bends down. He forgot to put the sickle mouth outward. As soon as his body squatted down, the sickle mouth cut off his head and vowed that if he told the secret, he would be punished.

Witches practice witchcraft in temples and villages. The objects of execution include praying for ghosts and gods, treating diseases and evoking spirits, catching the essence and subduing demons, hunting birds and beasts, begging for rain, etc., which have been circulating in western Hunan. According to the level of witchcraft, Tujia wizards can be divided into two types: one is a wizard who presides over large-scale sacrificial activities, and the other is a wizard with a slightly lower status, called a teacher-assistant wizard. From ancient times to the present, it has been passed down from generation to generation and passed down from mouth to mouth. They are folk religious professionals in Tujia areas who are not completely divorced from production and secularism. They were invited to practice witchcraft from one village to another. They are the hosts of primitive religious activities such as offering sacrifices to gods and ancestors, exorcising ghosts and evil spirits, evoking souls to treat diseases and praying for rain. Tujia people also play an indispensable role in farming, fishing, weddings and funerals, childbearing, immigration, festivals, songs and dances, etc.

In Xiangxi, in order to highlight the mystery of witchcraft and the power of wizards, wizards often perform strange and incredible performances when they practice witchcraft, such as climbing knife ladders, crossing knife bushes and stepping on burning shovels. If disasters happen to a family, or family members are ill for a long time, Tujia people will ask wizards to do things. Generally, there are four sacrificial activities: (1) opening the altar. After the wizard made three links with the drum, he asked the prayer man to come to the altar and tell him. (2) release the soldiers. In other words, release the horses led by the "four marshals" to catch those monsters who make trouble, or chase souls for patients; (3) look at the lights. Burn incense and smoke lamp cloth, recite incantations, step on the threshold, and observe monsters or souls from the lamp screen. (4) Overlapping sieve plates. That is, put the troublemakers (mostly grasshoppers) caught in the dish and add scented wax paper grass, grain, salt and tea, spells and so on. , everyone played chicken blood, and then sent to the intersection outside the city gate, put it in the hut, lit, you can eliminate the disaster. From these activities carried out by wizards, we can feel the primitive and mysterious atmosphere.

Witches' unique skills and stunts in witchcraft activities are spells, which are the most mysterious part of witchcraft. In the witchcraft ceremony of wizards, performers need to recite spells and draw symbols. Spells can be divided into white spells and black spells, which are used to prevent and treat diseases, avoid evil spirits and make money. Those that are beneficial to people are called white spells, and some wizards use spells to harm people are called black spells.

Witchcraft activities mainly include the following:

First, divination

That is to ask divination, predict good or bad luck, and understand the will of ghosts. It is said that "the chitose turtle dies with its armor, and divination is spiritual." It is common for wizards to set up altars for divination. The most commonly used divination tools are knives and bamboo divination. After the wizard shakes the knife, there are iron rings of different sizes and shapes, and the quality is judged by the different shapes. Wizards use the shape of bamboo to predict good or bad luck. This method is simple and widely used in funeral, marriage and childbirth, sacrifice, asking gods to exorcise ghosts and production.

Second, the desire of ancestor worship.

Sacrificing ancestors is also called "being a bodhisattva" or "praying to the gods" by Tujia people, and its main purpose is witchcraft activities to eliminate disasters, evoke souls and seek children. Generally, the head of the household asks the wizard to preside over the operation and practice witchcraft on a large scale, and many people participate in the "altar wizard" and "teacher-assistant wizard". Sacrificial activities need a series of sacrifices, generally there are "three sacrifices" (that is, a cow or a sheep, a puppy and a rooster). It was forbidden to kill cattle after the founding of the People's Republic of China, so pigs and sheep were used instead. It usually lasts for three days and nights, and its ceremony is complex and varied. For example, dragging and grinding in the twelfth lunar month is a kind of spiritualism. Its practice is: put a drying pole in the hall, palm the wizard on his back, put a dustpan on his stomach, put a grinder on it, and put a small wooden box on the grinder, which contains "lost soul" clothes handkerchiefs. Put a rope at the grinding hole to help the guide bypass the drying rod.

Third, untie the knot

The main purpose of Jie Jie is to drive away ghosts and evil spirits. Tujia people are regarded as "evil spirits" and "lost souls". When something happens, they feel depressed, have nightmares and remain ill for a long time. At this time, they need to ask a wizard to practice witchcraft to solve Jie Jie. In the process of breaking the knot, only one wizard is usually invited to act, and there is no need to kill a cow at the banquet, only a sheep is needed as a sacrifice. There is no limit to the form, time and place. Any bigger, you will step on the "ground knife". Usually, twelve wooden knives are ground on a millstone. These wooden knives are mounted on tree pipes, or they are lined up by people with their blades facing upwards. After drinking the "Dharma Water" in the bowl, the wizard read a spell, holding the freshly cut sheep's head in one hand and the diviner in the other, and passing it barefoot on the blade. Then he sang songs, practiced witchcraft and drove away ghosts and evil spirits. Another is to ward off evil spirits, that is, wizards use certain objects to perform witchcraft and spells on them to prevent evil spirits from coming. Evil spirits are generally decorated on buildings, vehicles and production and living tools, and some are worn on the body.

Fourth, exorcise ghosts

It is an aggressive witchcraft against ghosts, which is often used in production, building houses, treating diseases and funeral. This is the most important work of folk wizards. Exorcism also applies to the dead. In the funeral of the deceased, complicated ceremonies must be held, and the soul of the deceased must go through a tortuous road, which makes it difficult to return. When buried, the body must be crushed with boulders or nailed with stakes, so that the soul of the deceased can never go home, otherwise it will disturb the family.

If someone in the family is sick for a long time, the family will also go to the wizard. If it is calculated that they are possessed by ghosts, they need wizards to exorcise them. During the exorcism ceremony, the wizard held a clay pot, sealed the mouth with red cloth, burned a small hole in it with incense, sprinkled rice grains, and then closed the doors and windows. The wizard shook the knife with one hand and patted the token on the table with the other, shouting loudly that he would shake the rice grains such as red cloth.

Fifth, kill the mouth.

It is a witchcraft activity that invites witches to forcibly expel ghost epidemics by fire in the hope that their families will be ill for a long time, or that there will be no peace at home and evil spirits will worship them. The practice is: burn the shovel mouth of the farm with charcoal fire or firewood, while the wizard recites the mantra, he wraps the burnt paper money with a few pieces of toilet paper and puts it under his feet, and the wizard steps on the shovel mouth barefoot. During the performance, as soon as the wizard stepped on the shovel mouth, a wisp of smoke appeared on the shovel mouth and made a squeaking sound. Then, the wizard will spray the juice of corn wine and tung oil on the red-hot mouth and light a flame several feet high. Wizards will run around with burning shovels in their hands and say spells in their mouths.

Sixth, hair and body pairs.

This is a kind of witchcraft that is considered to be carried out by seriously ill patients who are haunted by evil spirits and have not yet died. Besides burning incense and paper, the wizard will also give it to a thatched man, who is body double of a seriously ill patient. After the mage finished reading the spell, the mage walked in front with the thatched man and walked behind with the rooster. The master called the patient's name as he walked. In the mountains, the wizard cut off the head of the chicken and burned the thatched man. This burnt-out thatched man is considered to report to the underworld instead of a seriously ill person.

Seven, evocation

Bring back the lost three souls and seven souls with witchcraft. Spiritualism applies not only to people, but also to animals and plants. When a child is ill, Tujia people often think that part of human soul is lost, so they take the child's clothes and call the child's name outside the village to summon his soul. Sometimes it evokes spirits for elders who have left for many years or died in a foreign land.

If we study witchcraft as a humanized cultural phenomenon and restore its true colors, we will find that it played an important role in the enlightenment culture of ancient ancestors. Witchcraft songs, witchcraft spells and other language means used by wizards in the process of witchcraft have become an important channel to maintain the nation, educate the people, communicate the feelings between people and things, and form important personnel relations. Through this channel, it has achieved economy, history, philosophy, art and so on. Across the whole nation, we constantly encourage the people to fight against heaven, earth and ghosts, so that the people of our nation can show their national spirit of self-existence and self-development

Witchcraft has also played a positive role in human production and life. Witchcraft and witch doctors are interlinked in primitive culture. Nowadays, the baking therapy of traditional Chinese medicine comes from primitive witchcraft and exorcism rituals. Until now, there are still witch doctors in some remote cottages. As for witchcraft and history, witchcraft and singing and dancing, witchcraft and thinking are inseparable, and it is a special culture with social background. Therefore, witchcraft with strong superstitious color is a special humanized cultural phenomenon.

Witchcraft also contributed to the origin of civilization. Astronomy, geography, calendar, arithmetic, military affairs, history, music and dance, medicine and skills are all related to the activities and creation of witchcraft. Song believes that wizards in prehistoric times were not only the hosts of witchcraft and witchcraft activities, but also the organizers of the preservation, dissemination and arrangement of scientific and cultural knowledge at that time, especially in astronomy, medicine, writing, literature, history, music, dance and painting. Although his scientific and cultural knowledge has great limitations, the wizard was the spiritual leader who explained the world at that time and was a prehistoric wise man or intellectual. In prehistoric times, practical knowledge was always inextricably linked with witchcraft, so it was the origin factor of civilization, and the reasonable factor on the other side of its ignorance promoted the emergence and development of science.