Obviously, the weaver girl was forced to marry the cowherd, so how did it become a story of pursuing free love？
Judging from the origin of the story and folklore, the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl is not a model of positive love story. Only under the influence of Western Valentine’s Day, many people call Tanabata the ancient Valentine’s Day in China because of the story of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl Meeting". The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has now become a well-known love legend, which has something to do with being selected into Chinese textbooks for primary and secondary schools for a long time.
Special Stamp "Cowherd and Weaver Girl-Meet at the Magpie Bridge"
Ancient origin: Cowherd and Weaver Girl are all negative images.
Limited by the underdevelopment of science and technology, in the eyes of the ancients, the sky is supreme and the stars are personalized. The stars in the vast universe have also become gods with personality consciousness, worshipped and believed. Vega has always been personified as the image of "Bai Fu Mei". "Historical Records Tianguan Book": "Weaver Girl, Goddess Sun Ye." "The History of the Later Han Dynasty and the Chronicle of Heaven": "Weaver girl, the son of heaven is a true girl." The Samsung across the Milky Way from Vega is called River Drum Star. The three stars of the river drum are arranged in a straight line, and the middle one is extremely bright. The whole image is like a cowherd carrying a son and a daughter, so the people are also called the shoulder pole star, which is more like a cow. Therefore, it was later equated with Petunia, such as "Er Ya Shi Tian": "The North Pole is called Beichen, and the drum is called Petunia."
stellar map
The origin of the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl can be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty. In The Book of Songs Xiaoya Dadong, it is said: "There is a Han in Wei Tian, and there is light in prison. Three of the three, Vega, seven times a day. Even though the weaver girl is busy, she doesn’t weave a good Stripe. Give him a cow, not a box. " Among them, there are records about the Weaver Girl and the Petunia Stars, which have always been regarded as the germination and embryo of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The images of "Weaver Girl" and "Petunia" in the poem are quite negative: Weaver Girl doesn’t weave, Petunia doesn’t drive, and emphasizes that Petunia and Weaver Girl are in name only, thus satirizing the behavior of nobles in the Western Zhou Dynasty who get something for nothing.
The further clarification of the relationship between the legend of Niu Nv and Qixi in the Han Dynasty is inevitably related to the advocacy of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to train the water army, Kunming Pool was dug in Doumen, Chang ‘an. On both sides of the pool, there are statues of cowherd and weaver girl, and Kunming pool is used to symbolize Tianhe. Ban Gu’s "Xidu Fu" "There are two stone people in Kunming Pool, who are like cows and weaver girls." During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the two stars were further personified, and there was an unfortunate plot of the marriage of the Weaver Girl. Nineteen Ancient Poems in the Han Dynasty wrote: "The Altair is far away, and the Jiaojiao River is a Chinese woman. ….. The river is clear and shallow. How much difference does it make? Ying Ying Yi Shui, the pulse is speechless. " By the time of Liang Wudi in the Southern Dynasties, Yin Yun wrote the first complete version of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in the Novel, "There is a Weaver Girl in the east of Tianhe, and the son of the Emperor of Heaven is also there. Every year, the loom labors, weaving into a brocade dress, and the appearance is too messy. The emperor pitied him for being alone and promised to marry a cowherd in Hexi. After marriage, he abandoned weaving. The Emperor of Heaven was angry and ordered to return to Hedong, but it was held once a year. " The story explains the tragedy of their marriage, and the annual meeting has become a model of faithful love.
However, according to the text data of Yunmeng Qin Bamboo Slips unearthed in Hubei, the original prototype of the touching love story between Cowherd and Weaver, the daughter of Tiandi, is the marriage tragedy that Cowherd abandoned Weaver many times. "Wu Shen, Ji You, pulling the cow to take the weaver girl, failing, three abandonment." "Wu Shen, Ji You, pull the cow to take the weaver girl and fail. If you are not three years old, you will abandon it." Different from the legend of later generations, their separation was not caused by external interference, but by the man’s change of heart. People look up at the starry sky, and two bright stars twinkle on both sides of Tianhe, so they imagine that these two stars may be a couple. The husband abandoned his wife, and the wife looked at the "ungrateful person" on the other side of Tianhe affectionately. Why does the separation of Altair and Vega in the sky become a symbol of the tragedy of marriage between men and women on earth? Looking through the Book of Songs, we will find some social tragedies that reflect the change of heart of men and the abandonment of their wives in a patriarchal society, such as Ye Feng Gu Feng, which "turns an Jiang Le to a woman" and "turns an Jiang Le to a legacy"; "Wei Feng for self-protection", "the banquet of the general angle, laughing and laughing, swearing, not thinking about the opposite."
Folklore: It is a helpless move for the weaver girl to marry the cowherd.
The embryonic form of the myth of "Cowherd and Weaver Girl" was established in the Han Dynasty, and the myth of Cowherd and Weaver Girl was widely spread among the people through the rendering of scholars in Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the story plot and characters have been deeply rooted in people’s hearts. Since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the family system has become more stringent, and the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has also incorporated these elements.
In quite a few versions, the combination of Cowherd and Weaver Girl is not the true love that most people know now. Cowherd was able to cross the family line and marry the "Bai Fumei" Weaver Girl, which was caused by stealing the fairy clothes under the guidance of the old cow. After marriage, Weaver Girl mostly managed to get the fairy clothes back and escape from the world. There are 18 articles in China Legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl and Folk Literature Volume edited by Chen Yongchao.
Various versions of the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl before the founding of the People’s Republic of China
Legend of China Cowherd and Weaver Girl
These stories often use words such as "had to" and "forced" when describing the marriage of the Weaver Girl to the Cowherd. For example, it is most clearly expressed in The Silly Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, which is circulated in Shijiazhuang. "The Silly Cowherd is in a hurry and says that the Weaver Girl doesn’t love the same flesh and blood, and she is absolutely heartless. Weaver girl even cursed the silly cowherd:’ You are not a thing! Who told you to take my clothes and force me to get married! You have harmed me and a pair of children, which are all your sins!’ "It can be seen that the combination of the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd is out of helplessness. It is in the case that the Weaver Girl was stolen from the fairy clothes and could not return to heaven, and the Cowherd saw the body, so she had to stay on earth and marry the Cowherd. They originally lacked the emotional foundation of mutual consent, which laid a hidden danger for the Weaver Girl to escape to the sky and their marriage broke down.
Special stamp "Cowherd and Weaver Girl-Stealing Clothes and Becoming Attached"
There is also a plot worthy of attention in many stories, that is, the plot of Niu Lang’s "hiding clothes to prevent his wife". This just proves that the weaver girl has no love for the cowherd, and she was forced to marry and have children with the cowherd-the fairy clothes were hidden. There are 20 articles in "The Legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in China Folk Literature Volume" that contain the plot of "hiding clothes to prevent wives". Cowherd’s attitude towards Weaver Girl is more than guarding against theft. He took the initiative, or listened to the old cow’s instructions, and hid the fairy clothes of Weaver Girl in a secret place to prevent her from escaping. Cowherd’s "hiding clothes to prevent his wife" comes first, which has become an important prerequisite for the weaver girl to abandon her husband and children and flee to heaven. For example, in "Meet at the Que Bridge" written by Panshi, Jilin Province, "The Cowherd carries the Weaver Girl on his back and buries her long-sleeved shirt under the stone beside the door". This precaution even lasts into the daily life after marriage. In The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in Shijiazhuang, the Cowherd "guards the Weaver Girl in the dark, always afraid that she will run back to the sky".
Stories of hiding clothes and defending wives in many versions
Judging from the existing literature, the earliest literature record about drawing a river was also drawn by Weaver Girl. Gong Mingzhi’s "Notes on the Middle Wu Dynasty" in the Song Dynasty: "Kunshan County is east, and the place name is Huanggu. From father to father, it is said that there is a weaver girl and Altair descended here. The weaver girl rowed the river with a golden grate, and the river overflowed, so the petunia could not cross it. "
Special stamp "Cowherd and Weaver Girl-Chasing Wife with a Burden"
The pursuit of free love is the theme after the transformation.
In fact, the image change of the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is the result of the continuous transformation of myths and legends by national emotions, and the elements of the times are constantly added. This has always been the case since ancient times. The version we are familiar with at present is more the result of the transformation of operas such as Tianhe Pei after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, which has established the theme of labor, love and anti-feudalism. Cowherd became the representative of working people’s image, Weaver girl became the representative of pursuing free love, and Queen Mother became the representative of feudal parents.
The legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl has now become a well-known love legend, which has something to do with its long-term selection in Chinese textbooks for primary and secondary schools.The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl was first selected as a middle school Chinese textbook in 1955, and was personally adapted from folklore by Mr. Ye Shengtao, then president of People’s Education Publishing House. The adapted legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl still retains the original story form of swan virgin, fairy ordinary man and two brothers in structure, but it has made great changes in thought. The most important change is to eliminate the negative images of Cowherd and Weaver Girl, and to highlight the persecution of young men and women by the old ethics and the old system. The story implies the persecution of lovers by feudal paternalism "parents’ orders, matchmakers’ words", and the persecution of cowherd by feudal hierarchy (the fairy is different) and patriarchal clan system (the old and the young are orderly).
These reservations and adaptations are reflected in the content. The reserved plot includes the persecution of Cowherd by his brother and sister-in-law. "My brother and sister-in-law treated him badly, told him to eat leftovers, wear rags and sleep in the cowshed at night." The plot of returning clothes is an important part of changing the nature of the story. Cowherd not only did not hide his clothes, but also refused to return them. When the Cowherd heard the Weaver Girl ask where the clothes were, he also took the initiative to return the gauze clothes to him. "When the Cowherd heard this, he came out of the Woods and held the gauze clothes in his hands and said,’ Don’t worry, girl, your clothes are here’" … After listening to the Weaver Girl’s words, the Cowherd said,’ Girl, since there is nothing good in the sky, you don’t have to go back. You can work, and I can work. Let’s get married and live together for life. " The weaver girl thought for a moment and said,’ You are right. Let’s get married and live together.’ "In this case, the Weaver Girl took the initiative to stay, belonging to two people with emotional foundation. As for this version of the Queen Mother, it is completely the image of a vicious old lady. "She went to the Cowherd’s house in person, and it happened that Cowherd was working in the field, so she grabbed the Weaver Girl and walked out. Seeing the old woman angrily pulling her mother away, the Weaver Girl boy ran to hold her clothes. The Queen Mother gave a hard push and the child fell to the ground. "
The Images of Cowherd, Weaver Girl and Queen Mother in Comic Books
Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China, most people learned and passed on the legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl by word of mouth, so the versions had different themes. Nowadays, most people know the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl through written texts, mostly based on the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl adapted by Ye Shengtao in Chinese textbooks, which is an important factor affecting people’s cognition of the legend of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Ye Shengtao’s adaptation could have been accepted by the public, which met the social needs of abolishing the old ethics and pursuing equality, especially the pursuit of free love after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and also satisfied the people’s long-hidden dream of a fairy.
Today, customs such as "begging for cleverness" on Qixi, which is closely related to ancient needlework, have lost their original soil. The beautified fairy tale of the meeting between the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is still widely circulated. These make modern people make a wrong judgment-Qixi is an ancient Valentine’s Day. In today’s Chinese Valentine’s Day, merchants take the opportunity to engage in promotion, and the media will not hesitate to report on the layout; On the other hand, matchmaking agencies took the opportunity to engage in friendship, and even local women’s organizations joined the team of friendship matchmaking for fear of being left behind. The reason for this situation is that I don’t know the original custom of Tanabata and the original story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. The reason is probably a series of phenomena caused by contemporary commerce under the influence of Western Valentine’s Day. Have you noticed that even Christmas Eve and Christmas in the west are packaged by China businessmen as the day when men and women meet?
References:
Zhou Yuxian: Inheritance and Evolution of Cowherd and Weaver Girl Literature in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Capital Normal University, March 2009.
Li Chao: Another Probe into the Image of the Weaver Girl —— On the Negative Image of the Weaver Girl in the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl Story, Folk Culture Forum, August 2012.
Qi Lingyun: Gender Conflict and Discourse Power —— On the Evolution of the Legend of Cowherd and Weaver Girl before and after the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, Folklore Research, No.5, 2014.