Cowherd and Weaver Girl/Cowherd and Weaver Girl
The earliest recorded beautiful legend of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl Meeting on Tanabata" is The Book of Songs Xiaoya Dadong: "Wei has heaven and man, and the prison also has light. Postscript of the Weaver Girl, seven times a day. Even if the weaver girl is busy, she can't knit a stripe well. Petunia, don't take the box. "
This is the embryonic form of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, and it is the earliest record of putting the Weaver Girl and Petunia together, but there are only simple metaphors here, but there is no story. By the Han Dynasty, the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl had matured. So, where may the origin of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" be? At present, there are mainly Henan, Shaanxi, Hebei, Hubei, Shandong and Shanxi.
Shandong said
According to Li's research, Yiyuan County, Shandong Province is the birthplace of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl". There are Weaver Cave and Cowherd Temple, which were built in the Tang and Song Dynasties. There is a stone tablet in the cave, which completely records the history of 1000 years after the completion of the Weaver Girl Cave. One of them is from the Southern Song Dynasty, and it has a record of this legend, which is almost the earliest written record in China. Cowherd Temple and Weaver Girl Cave face each other across the Yi River. The village where Niulang Temple is located is called Niulangguan Village. The legendary Niulangguan village is named Sun, whose name is righteous, while Niulangguan village is a village with a single surname Sun. Today, the old people in Niulangguan Village still think that they are the descendants of Niulang, and the customs of sericulture, farming, weaving, "begging for cleverness" and "double seven waters" have been passed down to this day.
Xingping said
According to Zhai Chongren's research, Xiaocun Village in Wulizi, northeast of Xingping City, Shaanxi Province is the birthplace of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl". Cowherd's prototype is Yong Dong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Yong Dong's address is Dongjiadian. There is also an ancient pagoda tree, still simple and tall, vigorous and lush. Not far from here, there is Yuxian Bridge. There is a double tomb on the northwest half slope of Yuxian Bridge, which is called the tomb of Yong Dong and the Seven Fairys. In addition, there are the annual Seven Clever Festival, the Seven Fairy Temple Fair and other folk activities.
Xi An said
According to Yu's research, Doumen Sub-district Office in Chang 'an District of Shaanxi Province is the birthplace of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl". There is a stone statue of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl as evidence, and it is pointed out that the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are called "Shi Shifu" and "Shi Po" by the locals in Chang 'an District, and were listed as the first batch of provincial-level key protected cultural relics on 1956.
Henan said
According to Jiangfeng Chen's textual research, the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl originated from Cowherd Village, Lihe Township, Wancheng District, Nanyang City, Henan Province. Through the investigation and analysis of geographical conditions, folklore and ancient literature records, he found that the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl originated in Chu on both sides of the Han River. Zhang was quoted as saying in The Evolution of Classical Myths in the Central Plains: "Cowherd is the best, and he is from Sanglin Village in the west of Nanyang City. The weaver girl came to the world from the sky, married the cowherd, and personally taught the sisters in Nanyang to learn how to raise silkworms, spin silk and weave silk. " The Han Dynasty stone reliefs unearthed in Nanyang can prove it. There is a stone in the Han Dynasty Painting Gallery, which depicts a cowherd and a weaver girl. This stone was discovered in Baitan Village, Dushan Dongpo, the northern suburb of Nanyang in the 1970s. There is an Altair in the upper right corner of the portrait, and a cow is painted under it. In front of the cow, there is a man leading the cow with a whip. There is a weaver girl in the lower left corner, where a woman with a high bun is kneeling. As can be seen from the painting, the legendary old cow is as big as the current Nanyang yellow cow.
Hubei said
According to Du Hanhua's textual research, the earliest recorded love between man and god is the story of "Zheng Jiaofu meets the goddess of Hanshui" in Wanshan, Xiangfan, Hubei Province, which is connected with the blood relationship between man and god described in the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. According to Liu Xiang's "Fairy Biography" and other ancient books in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the gorgeous Hanshui Goddess fell in love with a young man named Zheng Jiaofu when she was playing in Wanshan on the south bank of Hanshui River. The Hanshui Goddess personally took off her pearls and gave them to him. In the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, three factors, such as the "feather coat" worn by the Weaver Girl, the old cowhide and hiding the cowhide in the well, can be found in Xiangfan. For example, there is a reclining Buddha temple founded by Shishi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty in Xianshan, Xiangyang, and there is an ancient well called Tiger Skin Well next to the temple. There is a story about a scholar who hid a feather coat in a well and married a beautiful woman. In addition, Du Hanhua also believes that Xiangfan has a unique "Day of Wearing the Sun" that has been circulating for thousands of years. Its core content is to pierce a perforated stone with silk thread for good luck, just like the "seven-hole needle" on Qixi. The ancient name of the Milky Way is Han, Han Yun, Tianhe and Tianhan, all of which correspond to the Han River on the earth. Leizu, the wife of Huangdi, the earliest "Weaver Girl", once "wandered the Han River and forgot to return", which is the embryonic form of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.
Shanxi Theory and Hebei Theory
According to research, Tianhe Mountain, which borders Xingtai County, Hebei Province and heshun county, Shanxi Province, is the birthplace of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl". On behalf of the thought, it is verified that Tianhe Mountain is named after Tianhe Liang, the main peak. With Tianhe Liang as the center, many villages near Tianhe Liang at the junction of Shanxi and Hebei within 20km of Fiona Fang are named after the story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, such as Tianhe Liang, Magpie Mountain, Nantianmen, Niutoushan, Niulangyu, Cowherd Cave and Tianhe Pool where Weaver Girl bathes, which is surprisingly consistent with the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl.
The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is closely related to the begging custom on July 7. The Story of Jingchu Times recorded the influence of this story on customs earlier: "July 7th is the night when Petunia and Weaver Girl get together. She is a woman of Xijia, wearing seven holes (needles) with colorful threads, or using gold and silver stones as needles. Chen Guaguo is clever in court, and there is a happy subnet on the melon, so it is appropriate. "
There are different opinions about the origin of the legend of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl", but this is not important at all. What matters is the extensive influence brought by this folk story and the spiritual quality contained in this legend. The loftiness and eternity of love is an eternal theme it contains: "the earth is thick and the sky is high, and it is regrettable that the ancient and modern feelings are endless;" Finding an object to marry, it is difficult to pay off the poor debt. "