The tradition of sharing red eggs exists in many ethnic groups all over the country. The main viewpoints are: the myth of egg laying, the theory of auspicious things, the theory of totem worship, the theory of reproductive worship and the theory of exorcising evil spirits and eliminating disasters.
1. Oviposition myth theory:
Our ancestors traced the formation of heaven and earth and the origin of human beings in their imagination, and the influence of Oviposition myth can be summarized by synthesizing ancient books. The story of the ancestor Pangu's epoch-making was first described in the "Three-Five Calendar" written by Xu Zheng in the Three Kingdoms: "The heaven and the earth are chaotic like a chicken, Pangu gave birth to its order, and it was 18, years old, and the sky was sunny, and the earth was cloudy ..." There is also the origin of the merchant in the Historical Records: Judie, the daughter of Wa's family, "saw the bird drop its egg, and Judie took it and swallowed it. The origin of Qin people is also described: when Zhuan Xu's granddaughter, Nvxiu, weaved silks, "the mysterious bird fell eggs, and the female xiu swallowed them, giving birth to a great cause", which was the ancestor of Qin people. It is this hazy primitive worship of "eggs" that has formed a traditional culture that connects eggs with birth and family inheritance among the people. And red is regarded as a festive and auspicious color among the people, so it is mostly red-skinned eggs.
2. auspicious things say:
red eggs are not only eaten alone, but there have been handicrafts of "carving eggs and painting eggs" among the people since ancient times, and many historical records can be found in customs materials. In the Southern Dynasties, Liang Zonggu recorded the custom of "carving chicken eggs" in the Chronicle of Jingchu's Age, and noted the cloud: "An ancient noble family, eating is called painting eggs. Today, I am still dyed with the miscellaneous colors of Lanci, and I still add carvings, hand over the legacy, or set it up. " From this, we can know that "carving chicken eggs" or painting eggs is a good gift and food for friends after dyeing and painting eggs. There is also a record in Ye Zhong Ji quoted from Volume 15 of Song Chen Yuanliang's "Guang Ji at the Age of Years", which shows that this custom has been circulated among the people, and has gradually matured into a traditional folk craft, becoming a good gift in various festive occasions, and the color has gradually evolved into a single red that can best render the festive meaning. Up to now, carving eggs and painting eggs is still a folk handicraft. People have developed from the worship of "eggs" to the love of red eggs and regard them as auspicious things.
3. Totem worship:
From the archaeological point of view, we can find that a considerable proportion of primitive culture in China is the totem worship of "birds", and there are a large number of bird patterns in Hemudu, Liangzhu and Majiayao cultures, while the so-called "mysterious birds" of the ancients, including Phoenix, which later became one of the representative totems of the Chinese nation, are all based on the original chickens that have not been domesticated. Therefore, "chicken" has become the support of people's primitive totem worship in reality. Historical Records? In Qin Benji, there is a female disciple who swallowed eggs, and her descendant Da Lian is "a real bird and a vulgar family". "The body is a bird and can speak. There are also clouds and hands and feet like birds. " This shows that the Qin people also take pheasants as totems. From the admiration for chickens, it has gradually developed into a folk custom of red eggs, which is permeated with rich historical information.
4. Reproductive worship theory:
The custom of red eggs is a legacy of human reproductive worship culture in primitive society. Eggs can hatch chickens, so people can have children if they eat eggs, so the ancients used "chicken" as a substitute for eggs. This kind of thinking based on the understanding of the function of eggs can be deduced from a series of specific behavior patterns. Bai young women in Heqing, Yunnan often go to the river pond to beg for education before spring ploughing. The beggars take two boiled red eggs in their hands, bathe in the pond, rub their bodies with them, and share them with their husbands when they get home. This kind of behavior of the red egg rubbing against the body is very similar to the folk song "Red egg with a string of faces" sung at the beginning of this article. Then, why should eggs, which have the function of incubating children, be dyed red again? In this regard, the "theory of reproductive worship" has also made a different explanation from the "theory of egg-laying myth" that red is the color of celebration, and that this is the inheritance of the concept of menstrual blood worship of the early people. This view is evidenced by China's Historical Manuscripts: "It is understood that among some clans and tribes that are still in the primitive social stage in modern times, some think that red represents blood and is the source of life and the parasitic place of the soul" (The Historical Manuscripts of China, edited by Guo Moruo, Volume I, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1976, p. 31).
5. The theory of exorcising evil spirits and avoiding disasters:
The custom of red eggs also originated from the application of witch doctors to exorcise evil spirits and avoid disasters. The ancients regarded chicken as the length of hundreds of birds, and thought it had the function of subduing demons. For example, in the Spring and Autumn Period, the cloud says, "Yuhengxing is a chicken"; The spring and autumn commentary says: "The chicken is a product of yang, the image of the south, and fire yang is a fine thing, so the yang crows", etc., all of which reflect the ancient people's understanding of the divinity of the chicken. The chicken comes from the egg and the egg is born by the chicken, so it is natural that the egg also has divinity. In the old days, the custom of divination with eggs was still popular among the people; The ancients also thought that whenever there was a festive event, there would be evil spirits interfering with each other, or there would be diseases invading people in certain solar terms and hours, so take precautions against eating eggs. For example, the custom of "eating eggs on March 3rd" in some areas in the Central Plains and Southwest China today, and the popular folk tradition of sharing red eggs on the wedding night, can be inferred that the custom of red eggs is actually derived from the witchcraft of eggs to ward off evil spirits.
To sum up, red eggs are auspicious things among the people in China, and they have the meaning of blessing and happiness. The folk song at the beginning of this article is the best blessing of all relatives and friends for the new person's life's peace and happiness and the family's children and grandchildren before marriage or ceremony.