The myth of human birth

There are mainly two kinds of creation myths: the creation myth of heaven and earth (including the formation of the world and everything) and the myth of human origin (including the origin of nations). There are three myths about the creation of heaven and earth: the first is to create the world with God as the main body. This image, title and way of creating heaven and earth are all different. The creative god of Yao nationality is called Miruotuo; Yi people have four creative gods: Bagg, Dianni, Zhige Aru and Jiezhi Jialu. The second category, the giant metaplasia myth, tells that everything in the world is transformed from various parts of the giant's body. For example, the myth of Pangu of Han nationality, the myth of "Shepama and Shemima" of Achang nationality, and the myth of "Nizhi Xiajin, the giant who created everything" of Yi nationality, etc. The third category, the myth of natural evolution, tells the process of natural formation of heaven and earth in imagination, which is neither the creation of the god of land reclamation nor the metaplasia of giants, but completely natural evolution. For example, Buluotuo and his sisters in Zhuang mythology, and the ancestors' love in Naxi creation mythology. These myths are preserved in the epics and ancient songs of ethnic minorities. There are two kinds of myths about the origin of human beings: one is to explain the birth of human beings in the world, to tell the process of creating human beings and to explain the origin of nations; The other is related to the flood myth, which explains the process of rebuilding human beings through the combination of brother and sister after the flood. In the myth created by the country, people come from eggs, gourds, stones, caves or Woods, but it is more common that people are made of mud. Such as the myth of Nu Wa.

In the myth of creation, the contents that explain the origin of human beings and nationalities are often combined, and the origins of nationalities and human beings are considered to be simultaneous. The creation process recorded in the Yi epic Meige is that brother and sister get married, give birth to strange gourds, and eight kinds of people appear, indicating the origin of eight nationalities. The myth of creation is worldwide, and it is the ideology of human primitive period, which has important historical value and certain literary value.

(2) The myth of the sun, the moon and the stars. Myths that explain natural phenomena such as the sun, moon and stars. The myth of the sun, moon and stars first put forward the origin of the sun, moon and stars. China has five myths: fertility theory, limb metaplasia theory, egg birth theory, casting theory and God creation theory. In addition, there is another saying that the sun is a heroic god and a celestial emperor. There are also some myths that explain the origin of some constellations.

The regular movement of the sun and the moon is one aspect of the explanation of natural phenomena in the myth of the sun and the moon. Ancient myths in China described the daily life schedule of the sun and the moon as having work and rest like human beings. The shadow in the middle of the month and the change of full moon and short moon are another aspect of this kind of myth to explain natural phenomena. In Han mythology, the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon turned into a toad, WU GANG chopped laurel, and Jade Rabbit pounded medicine. There are also many myths among ethnic minorities to explain the shadow in the middle of the month. Regarding the relationship between the sun and the moon, people think of them as husband and wife, brother and sister, sister and menstruation. There is also a magical explanation for the phenomenon of solar eclipse in mythology. For example, the Han people have the saying that Tiangou swallowed it. The myth of shooting at the sun is an indispensable part of the myth of the sun and the moon. The basic content it describes is that there are many suns (or moons) in the sky, and strong light irradiation has caused serious consequences. The hero's archer shot down the redundant sun and moon. This kind of myth reflects the ancient people's desire to control the sun and conquer drought.

The myth of the sun, the moon and the stars reflects the simple understanding of celestial bodies by ancient humans, and some show the desire to control celestial bodies by witchcraft, which has primitive science and certain practical significance. However, due to the infiltration and integration of various primitive concepts, they finally combined into a myth full of naive fantasies, which was taken as the creative theme by literati.

(3) the myth of the origin of animals and plants. A natural myth. It is an explanatory story of primitive people about the origin and characteristics of animals and plants. In the primitive era of fishing, hunting and gathering economy, the level of human productivity is extremely low, and it is still impossible to distinguish between itself and nature. People often think that the animals and plants around them have the same perception, feeling and life history as themselves, especially those that have a direct interest in people's life and production, and then use visual fantasy to explain their sources and characteristics, which has become the myth of the origin of animals and plants.

In China's mythological works, there are few separate myths about the origin of animals and plants, and most of them exist as original myths and local plots in the epic of creation. For example, in the Buyi myth epic "Creation of the Earth", it is said that the forest and rare birds and animals are all changed by Weng's family. According to Kuafu mythology, Taolin was transformed from a cane that Kuafu abandoned after dying of thirst every day. This kind of myth holds that animals and plants are changed by a certain part of God's body or God's instruments.

In addition, some myths believe that animals and plants were created by the creator God. For example, the Yi epic Le Aoteyi tells the story of Otsu who helped the gods create creatures on the earth, planted three trees on the ground, and then there were trees. Put the deer in the forest, and there were animals from then on. There are also some myths that god, man, animals and plants are interactive.