What does snake turtle mean?

Snake-wrapped turtle, also called Xuanwu, is an ancient god beast. The original meaning of Xuanwu is Xuanming, and the ancient sounds of Wu and Ming are interlinked. Wu means black; Ghost means yin. At first, Xuan Ming described the turtle divination as follows: The turtle's back is black, but does the turtle divination want the turtle to go to the underworld? Bring the answer back first and show it to the world in the form of divination. Therefore, the earliest Xuanwu is the tortoise. Since then, the meaning of Xuanming has been expanding. Turtles live in rivers, lakes and seas (including turtles), so Xuan Ming became a water god; The tortoise lives long, and Xuan Ming has become a symbol of immortality; It turned out that the underworld was in the north, and the divination of Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty was' its divination will be in the north', so Xuan Ming became a northern god again.

Xuanwu, like other three spirits, is also derived from the 28 stars on earth: bucket, ox, female, air, danger, house and wall. However, people after ancient times have the following explanations for Xuanwu. Xuanwu' is a tortoise. "Book of Rites. "Quli Shang" says:' Zhu bird before departure, then Xuanwu ...'' Xuanwu' is a tortoise and snake. Supplementary Notes on Hong Xingzu's Songs of the South. Travel far:' Xuanwu is called tortoise and snake. Located in the north, it is called Xuan. With a scale, it is called martial arts. Xuanwu is a combination of snakes, turtles and snakes.

"Selected Works" Volume 15 Zhang Heng's "Four Fu Xuan" said: "Xuanwu leaves its shell, and the snake bends and corrects itself." Shan Li notes the cloud:' When a turtle meets a snake, it is called Xuanwu.' Wang Liangchuan in the History of the Later Han Dynasty: "Hong Fu Nv" says: "Wang Liang is the Lord of Xuanwu." Li Xian pointed out: "Wu Wu, the God of the North, is a combination of tortoise and snake." Xuanwu is the god of water and the god of the north. Wang Liangchuan in the later Han Dynasty: "Xuanwu is the name of the water god." "Rebuilding the Integration of Weft Books" Volume 6 "The Emperor of the River Map":' Born in Xuanwu, North China, ... The town is in the north, mainly due to wind and rain.

However, Xuanwu was upgraded to the "Zhenwu Emperor" in the north by later Taoist priests. Different from the other three spirits. Other green dragons and white tigers only became the gatekeepers of the mountain temple, and Zhu Bird became the Xuan Nv of another day.

Xuanwu gained value in the Song Dynasty and was personified. This is inseparable from the help of the emperors of the Song Dynasty. In the early Song Dynasty, Zhenwu and Tian Peng were legendary generals in heaven. In the first year of Tianxi, something happened in the military camp. In "The Original" for seven years:' Someone saw a snake in the camp, and the sergeant built a real martial arts school because of it. In April of the following year, the spring was inexhaustible, and the sick people drank more. When Zhenzong heard this, he wrote a letter and built a landscape there, named it' Xiangyuan'. This is probably the earliest Zhenwu Temple in China. I hope this answer is helpful to you.