Mazu, born in Song Dynasty, is a goddess widely believed in coastal areas. Do you know that?/You know what? Do you know that?/You know what? As early as the Tang Dynasty, there was a goddess in the southeast, and her belief is still widely spread in the southeast coast and Southeast Asia. She is fourteen-year-old Chen.
Among the many land gods in China, the southeast goddess Mrs. Chen Fourteen is the protector of women and children with special charm.
The formation of belief from man to god.
According to textual research, Chen Shisi was originally from Xiadu, Min County, and his ancestors were witches. She was born on the 14th day of the first month in the second year of the Tang Dynasty (AD 767), so she was named Chen Fourteen. He died in the sixth year of Tang Zhenyuan (AD 790) at the age of 24. According to legend, when she was young, she was extremely clever and miraculous. At the age of 65,438+04, she went to Lushan to learn law, astronomy, geography and martial arts. After she went down the mountain, she ran around Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, killing people to ward off evil spirits, expelling epidemics and plagues, and praying for rain to ward off evil spirits, which was deeply loved and admired by the people. When she was 24 years old, there was a drought in Fujian, and the seedlings dried up. In order to save the common people from the mire, regardless of her pregnancy, she decided to do it, praying for rain and dew, and died of excessive blood loss and cold invading her six internal organs. When I died, I left an oath: "I will be a god after I die and save people from dystocia." People benefited from it and felt its kindness, so they built a temple to worship it. During the reign, he was named as the Empress Dowager Cixi by the imperial court, and the temple was named Shunyi. During the Yuan You period, it was named "Shu Jing"; In the seventh year of Qing Yongzheng, the "Fairy Virgin" was sealed; During the Xianfeng period, "Mrs. Shuntian" was sealed; During the reign of Daoguang, she was called "Empress Chen Linshui". Later, it was sealed with the words "Notre Dame de Bi Xia Yuan Jun". Due to the recognition and seal of the imperial court, Chen XIV was promoted from a local god to a national god and entered the national sacrifice ceremony. After several generations of sealing, his deity and rank reached the peak, and his position and influence among the people were greatly improved.
After the belief was introduced into various places, there were different honorifics for her, including court titles such as Mrs. Shunyi, Mrs. Tzu Chi, Lady Fairy, Mrs. Shuntian, Mrs. Shunmu and Mrs. Linshui, as well as common names such as Chen Jinggu, and folk titles such as the Fourteenth Empress Chen, Nanny, Mrs. Big Milk and Empress. Chen Shisi has won the admiration and admiration of countless people because of his spirit of compassion and compassion for Tzu Chi, helping the poor, giving up children in the forest, caring for children, eliminating epidemics, praying for disaster relief, protecting the country and the people. Incense flourished in the mid-Tang Dynasty and was popular in the southeast coast, especially in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Guangdong, which was earlier than the Mazu belief born in the Song Dynasty. Since then, Chen XIV's faith has followed the footsteps of Chinese people across the ocean, covering Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, as well as Southeast Asian countries and European and American countries where Chinese live in concentrated communities. Fujian Gutian Linshui Palace is the ancestral temple of Mrs. Chen Fourteen. There are more than 4,000 temples in the world with more than 65,438+billion followers.
As a multi-faith god who integrates Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and witchcraft, Chen XIV's beliefs involve many fields such as life etiquette, local customs, regional culture and so on. In terms of customs, there are prayers for children, fetal protection, labor, childbirth, parenting, marriage and so on. The creation of folk literature in the past dynasties greatly promoted the spread of this belief culture, and various forms of folk interpretation in various places made Chen Fourteen belief one of the most widely influential folk cultural phenomena in Southeast China.
Colorful interpretation of faith
The folk culture with the theme of the miracle of Chen Fourteen has profound implications, and the mythological and artistic deduction forms of the story of Chen Fourteen Gods are rich and colorful, including folk oral literature, fairy tales and novels, local opera and folk art, witch dance of She and Han folk songs, sculpture murals, temple architecture and other art categories.
(1) oral literature and written literature. The literary styles that take the miracle story of Chen XIV as the main clue include storytelling novels, essays on literature and history, local chronicles and so on. Such as "A Bie Ji", "A Water Demon", "Travel Notes at Sea", "Biography of Spiritual Scripture", "Legend of Fourteen Chen" and "Fourteen Treasures of Chen". It also appears in local chronicles and local chronicles, such as Du Minzhi, Fuzhou Zhi, Changle County Zhi and Taiwan Province County Zhi. Chen XIV in Farewell My Concubine is a multi-religious, localized, multifunctional and practical goddess image. The fairy tales describing her are bizarre and colorful. Chen Fourteen's beliefs are mainly passed down orally from generation to generation, forming a strong circle of beliefs, accompanying and influencing the lives of generations.
(2) Folk exhibitions and artistic performances. Chen Shisi's belief custom is a unique national intangible cultural heritage, which has entered the art hall with the belief culture. Folk exhibitions are the main manifestations of this belief and custom, among which "Singing Heart Sutra" in Wenzhou and "Singing Lady" in Lishui are typical representatives. They are classic works of altar carols in Oujiang River Basin, and the lyrics are all based on the story of fourteen gods of Chen, which combines the art of drum words with religious ceremonies and gives people a strong spiritual shock. In addition to the custom exhibition, there are many kinds of artistic works based on the story of Chen Fourteen. Representative works include 224 sentences of Long song's Luoyang Bridge and 260 sentences of Nanny Biography 1. The most common form of opera is Songyang high-pitched opera "Kowloon Corner", such as Puxian Opera "Chen Jinggu", "Blood Snake Essence", high-pitched puppet show "Travel at Sea" and Siping puppet show "The Life of a Maid". There are also Fujian Opera, xiang opera Opera, Gaojia Opera, Ciming Opera and other operas, and many plays have been created with the theme of Chen's 14th birthday, learning to gather demons, praying for rain and killing snakes. There is also the witch dance "Maid Stepping on the Post", whose peculiar dance steps and movements contain many primitive mysteries.
Belief value beyond time and space
With Gutian and Fuzhou as the center of faith, Jiang as the link, history and region as the latitude and longitude, and literati as the driving force, Chen Fourteen's beliefs spread all over southern provinces of China, Taiwan Province Province and Southeast Asia, gradually forming a belief circle radiating from all directions, becoming a national consciousness link connecting cultural identity, ethnic identity and national identity, showing the charm of faith beyond time and space and its contemporary value.
First of all, she shines with the sublimity of human nature and the brilliance of divinity. Her patriotism, charity and self-sacrifice highlight her personality charm. She is honest, selfless, brave and wise, and her pursuit of kindness and love shows her kindness and loftiness. After her death, she went to Lushan to make up the skills of "supporting the fetus, nursing the students and protecting the children". She is busy protecting the lives of women and children, showing her great maternal love consciousness and her sacred glory. She is the indomitable spirit of the Chinese nation and the individual embodiment of the virtue of promoting good and punishing evil. As a kind of culture, the belief in Chen Fourteen has a specific history and time and space accumulation. This spiritual connotation of "dedication, friendship, justice, fearlessness and filial piety" is the requirement of harmonious development of contemporary society and has unique spiritual value. Carrying forward it will be conducive to cultivating socialist core values.
Secondly, she is the "sacred messenger" of the Maritime Silk Road in 2 1 century, and an important carrier and spiritual bond for people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Chen Fourteen's beliefs have a wide influence in Southeast Asian countries and Taiwan Province Province. Promote economic and trade exchanges between Southeast Asian countries through cultural exchanges of beliefs, and carry forward the entrepreneurial spirit of openness, enterprising and struggle. Incorporate belief culture into exchanges and cooperation with countries along the "Hayes" and into the core construction plan of the "Belt and Road", and play its role as a carrier widely distributed around the world, making it a "sacred messenger" of the 2 1 century Maritime Silk Road. Through carrying out folk belief activities with Taiwan Province compatriots, we will strengthen cross-strait cultural identity and exchanges and build a bridge for cross-strait communication and peaceful reunification.
Various interpretations of Chen Fourteen's beliefs contain the idea of life first and the humanitarian spirit of saving lives and protecting the country. Her spiritual quality has aroused infinite resonance in people's hearts and promoted people's physical and mental health, thus building a harmonious and beautiful society. We should transcend the inheritance of its religious culture and elevate it to the height of the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation.
This paper is the research result of the key project of philosophy and social sciences in Zhejiang Province 16NBJC0 12Z "Study on the Belief of Mrs. Chen Fourteen in Zhejiang Province and Its Artistic Deduction Form".
(Author: Tian Zhongjuan, a professor at Zhejiang Normal University Conservatory of Music)