In the current film and television dramas, the peach wooden sword is a standard tool for Taoist priests to catch ghosts and monsters, which has a miraculous effect. As long as ghosts see mahogany, they dare not go near it; If you are stabbed by mahogany, the serious injury is difficult to heal, but you will be knocked unconscious. It can be seen that ghosts in ancient books and TV dramas are really afraid of peach trees. Then why is this? Because of the influence of ancient myths in China.
Legend has it that there is a ghost world, and there is a mountain in it. There is a big peach tree covering 3000 miles on the mountain, and there is a golden rooster on the treetop. Whenever the golden rooster crows in the morning, ghosts wandering at night will rush back to the ghost domain. The gate of the Ghost Domain is located in the northeast of Taoshu District. There are two immortals standing beside the gate, namely Shen Tu and Lei Yu.
If the ghost does something unnatural at night, Shen Tu and Lei Yu will immediately find it, catch it, tie it with a rope made of mang reeds, break peach trees as weapons, beat them and give it to the tiger. So all the ghosts in the world are afraid of Shen Tu and Lei Yu. Because ghosts will think of being beaten by Shen Tu and Lei Yu when they see peach trees, they are afraid of peach trees.
Later, there was a legend among the people that ghosts were afraid of peach wood, and peach wood became a weapon to exorcise ghosts. In addition to this legend, there is actually a story that can explain why ghosts are afraid of mahogany. The hero of this story is Zongbu God. What is the Zongbu God? In fact, it is the Hou Yi in "The Nine-Day Condor". According to "Huai Nan Zi Yan Quan Xun", it is recorded that "the stick was made of peach wood, so ghosts have always been afraid of peaches".
This means that in order not to lose his archery, Hou Yi accepted Feng Meng as an apprentice. After studying for several years, Feng Meng thought that the only person in the world who was better at archery was his master Hou Yi, so he began to kill his heart. Later, Feng Meng found an opportunity to kill Hou Yi with a mahogany hammer. After the death of Hou Yi, the Emperor of Heaven remembered his hard work, and named him Zongbu God, commanding all the ghosts and gods in the Three Realms.
Because Houyi was killed by peach wood, ghosts are afraid of peach wood. Peach can kill the ghost king, but it can avoid ghosts. He became the Hou Yi of the Sect God, often holding a tiger under a peach tree, and every ghost had to check it out. The god of cloth smells it, and if it is a good ghost, let it go. If they are evil spirits, they will be eaten by tigers.
Because in ancient times, people regarded ghosts as disasters and evil spirits. Since ghosts are afraid of peach wood, which can exorcise and kill ghosts, the ancients naturally thought that peach wood can ward off evil spirits and avoid disasters. Can mahogany really ward off evil spirits? "Zuo Zhuan Zhao Zhuan Gong for four years" records: "Peach arcs and arrows eliminate its disasters". Making bows and arrows with mahogany at home can frighten ghosts and eliminate disasters.
According to the Book of Arts quoted by Taiping Yu Lan, "The peach maker is also the essence of five trees, and the immortal wood is also the ancient one to suppress evil spirits ... So today, the peach wooden sword is made to suppress evil spirits, which is also a magic skill." Even Li Shizhen wrote in Compendium of Materia Medica: "Peach tastes pungent and evil, so it can hate evil." Therefore, in the eyes of the ancients, it is true that peach trees can ward off evil spirits. But modern science doubts this statement.
Because peach wood has such magical effects in the eyes of the ancients, it is called fairy wood, also known as "dragon-descending wood" and "ghost-fearing wood" It is the most widely used material for exorcising evil spirits in ancient China, and plays an extremely important role in China folk culture and beliefs.
There is also a fairy tale about the origin of peach trees-Kuafu chasing the sun. In the process of chasing the sun, he was so thirsty that he ran to the Yellow River to drink water. The Yellow River was short of water, so he rushed to the Weihe River. The water in the Weihe River has dried up, but it still does not quench its thirst. He went to the Great Lakes in the north again. But before I arrived in osawa, I died of thirst on the way.
After Kuafu's death, he lost his crutch, and the place where it fell became a peach grove. Kuafu's body became a mountain called Kuafu Mountain.