The story of a bald-tailed dragon worshiping the mountain: indicating the birth of the Dragon Mother
The author is fortunate to follow the footsteps of the tourism developers of Daming Mountain and also join the ranks of enthusiasts who decipher the cultural code of Daming Mountain.
The story of "The Dragon Digging its Tail Worships the Mountain" is engraved deep in the Daming Mountain.
In Ma Tou Town, Wuming County, at the foot of Daming Mountain, Uncle Lu, a villager from Miaokou Village who was leading the way, pointed to a tomb-shaped peak east of Longtou Peak and said that it was the famous local "Mo "Mochu" mountain, "Mochu" is a Zhuang place name, translated into Chinese it is "the grave mountain of the mother of the Bald-tailed Dragon". The "bald-tailed dragon" is called "Te Di" by the Zhuang people. The story of "special digging and sweeping of tombs" is widely circulated in the Zhuang area, but there are few specific place names like the Daming Mountain area. In addition to the "Dragon Mother's Tomb", there are many place names in the Daming Mountain area related to the "bald-tailed dragon" story. For example, Luobo Pond in Luobo Town is called "Dragon Cave", and it is said that the "bald-tailed dragon" lives in "Long Cave". "Dragon Palace", the water pool in Buling Village, Luobo Town is said to be the place where "special digging" turns into a dragon, Longtou Peak in Daming Mountain is the place where the "bald-tailed dragon" kowtows to worship his mother, and Longwei Waterfall is said to be the place where the "bald-tailed dragon" sweeps the grave. The silk curtain hung for my mother at that time... Numerous place names related to "Bald-tailed Dragon" and "Dragon Mother" made the reporter think that the cooking of Dragon Mother in Daming Mountain is the original version of the story of Dragon Mother and "Bald-tailed Dragon" in the Pearl River Basin. conjecture.
The outline of the story of "bald-tailed dragon worshiping the mountain" spread in the Daming Mountain area is as follows:
A long time ago, in a village at the foot of Daming Mountain, there was a poor "Ya" "Mai" (meaning widow in Zhuang language) often goes to the wild to dig wild vegetables. One very cold winter, on her way back from digging wild vegetables, she saw a strange little snake with a glowing body, curled up on the side of the road and dying. She felt pity for it, so she took the little snake home, warmed it, and fed it food. The little snake slowly regained its strength.
"Yamai" kept the little snake at home and took care of it like his own son. The little snake gradually grew up, and the hut of "Yamai" could no longer accommodate it, and its tail stretched out a lot. Yamai told the little snake that only by cutting off a section of its tail would it stop it from growing longer. The little snake nodded, and Yamai picked up a kitchen knife and cut off a small section of the snake's tail. The little snake then turned into a snake with a bald tail. In Zhuang dialect, the bald tail is called "dig", so "Yamai" named the little snake "tedig". According to the Zhuang custom, people called "Yamai" "乜dig" ("乜" means mother in Zhuang language mountain). meaning).
Although "Tedou"'s tail is no longer lengthened, its body is growing bigger and bigger. The latrine is almost bursting, and it is eating more and more. It is really difficult to keep it anymore. "Nizu" had no choice but to send it to the river to make a living.
After "Te Di" left, fresh fish and fruits would often appear in front of "Ni Yong"'s door inexplicably, and people guessed that "Te Di" had brought them to his door. "Nie Di" gradually became rich and became a fairy revered by people. Later, "Minju" died of old age, frailty and illness. The villagers were about to hold a funeral for her, but they saw strong winds and thunderstorms, and a golden dragon flew down from the sky with its head and tail swaying, and swept "Mindig" away. He was carried to Daming Mountain for burial. People then called this mountain "Moji" (meaning grave).
After "Ni Chu" is buried, "Te Chu" goes to Daming Mountain around March 3rd every year to sweep the grave of "Ni Chu". There will be wind, rain and thunder in the Daming Mountain area during the "special digging" tomb sweeping. After the wind and rain, waterfalls cascaded down everywhere in the continuous Renming Mountains. These were the white curtains "specially dug" hung high for the mother. At night, the roar of the waterfall is the ceremony held by "Tedig" in memory of his adoptive mother.
This old story is the origin story of the famous Dragon Mother. There are different versions of this story in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, but they are all called "The Story of the Tail-Digging Dragon Worshiping the Mountain". After comparative analysis of these different versions of the story of the origin of the Dragon Mother, the author found that the story of the Dragon Mother in Daming Mountain is the most specific and accurate, and the geographical environment is the most consistent with the background of the story: it is backed by a mountain, and there are deep pools and Tongren River nearby. river. And the most important point is: the story of "special excavation and tomb sweeping" in the Daming Mountain area is the most characteristic of the ancient Yue culture, and its place names and personal names are all Zhuang words.
The national academic community has unanimously recognized that the Dragon Mother culture is the culture of the ancient Yue people. Therefore, it can be determined that the story of "special digging and sweeping tombs" in the Daming Mountain area is the original version of the legend of the Dragon Mother in the Pearl River Basin. In fact, all dragon mother stories, even those spread in Chinese-speaking areas, have distinct Zhuang cultural characteristics. The word "dig" for "dig-tail dragon" is a loanword from the Zhuang language.
Obviously among these different versions of the Dragon Mother story, the Dragon Mother story spread in Daming Mountain is the source of all Dragon Mother stories and the original Dragon Mother culture.
Longmu Village of Mingshan Mountain, which hides the deep history of people
The Map of Wuyuan County compiled in the Qing Dynasty There is a map marked with the place name "Longmu" in the "Jingyuan". Longmu Village is located near Leijiangwei at the foot of Daming Mountain and is under the jurisdiction of Liangjiang Town in Wuming County. However, on this map from the Qing Dynasty, Wuming County's Liangtingwei has not yet appeared. The current name of Longmu Village is Longying Village. It was the name changed when Longmu Village merged with the neighboring Yingjun Village in the 1970s. Later, the two villages separated, and Longmu Village continued to use the name at the time of the merger, but the villagers near and far still called it Long. Yingcun is Longmu Village. Longmu was once a prosperous fairground city in the Qing Dynasty and was famous in the Daming Mountain area for its Yong opera performances. There are still inscriptions recording Longmuwei in Liangjiangwei and Longying Village in the Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.
The author made a special trip to Longmu Village for an interview and saw the words "Old Dragon Mother of Longying Village" written on the house signs all over the village. It seems that the name of Longmu Village is not false. The most surprising thing is that there is a totem stone with a snake head carved on it at the north intersection of Longmu Village. The totem stone is made of granite and is probably a cultural relic from before the Ming Dynasty. The entire carving style is simple and expressive. Li Min all said with certainty that this is the "Tail-Dug Dragon" and "Ted-Dug", which are the guardian statues passed down from ancient times. The dragon mother "Nie Te Di" is also from their village. The river flowing by Longmu Village is called Longhe, and in Zhuang language it is called "Da Crocodile", which means Snake River. The Long River is the upper reaches of the Wuming River. It originates from the Luda Canyon in Daming Mountain. Its south flow merges with the Youjiang River and then merges with the Zuo River to form the Yong River.
There is a Dragon Mother Temple at the mouth of Snake River Canyon near Longmu Village. Legend has it that in ancient times, the Dragon Mother Temple was on Daming Mountain. It was inconvenient for the villagers to go up the mountain to worship, so they all proposed to build a Dragon Mother Temple at the foot of the mountain. temple. Later, the Dragon Mother appeared and there was a big flood, which washed the monument of the Dragon Mother Temple on the mountain to the current location of the Dragon Mother Temple down the mountain, so everyone built a new Dragon Mother Temple at this location.
There is another noteworthy phenomenon in Longmu Village, that is, the famous Dushan Warring States cave burials are located right next to Longmu Village. This is probably not a coincidence.
Mr. Zheng Chaoxiong, a well-known Guangxi archaeological expert, inspected Longmu Village some time ago and believed that Longmu Village is the only village in the Pearl River Basin named after Dragon Mother and with dragon and snake as its totem. Its cultural connotation It is very profound and deserves further exploration and research.
The folk custom of worshiping the Dragon Mother and Dragon Son integrated into people’s hearts
The Map of Wuyuan County compiled in the Qing Dynasty Volume 3 of "The Classic" records: "Dragon Mother Temples, found in many counties and villages, worship the Dragon Mother Mrs. Wen, the goddess of Qin." This record proves that the Dragon Mother God enshrined in the Daming Mountain area is the same as the Dragon Mother God worshiped in Wuzhou, Guangdong and other places. They are the same person, and it can be seen from this record that the folk custom of worshiping the Dragon Mother was already prevalent before the Qing Dynasty.
The author found during interviews in Liangjiang, Matou, Luobo and other towns at the foot of Daming Mountain that many villages have the ruins of Dragon Mother Temple and Dragon Temple. Now
newly built There are also many statues of Dragon Mother or Dragon God in temples.
The "Wuyuan County Illustrated Book" records about the Dragon Mother Temple: There is a legend at the foot of Daming Mountain. It is believed that the Zhuang language of Wei Jue, the great leader of the Daming Mountain area in the Tang Dynasty, means "surname Jue", " "Jue" is the bald-tailed dragon "Tehori", that is, taking dragon as his surname. Historically, there was a Gaozu Temple beside Qinzhu Spring in Lubo Town to offer sacrifices to Dragon Mother and Wei Jue. This phenomenon shows that many Zhuang people with the surname Wei in the Daming Mountain area believe that they are the direct descendants of the dragon and the descendants of the mother dragon.
The Zhuang people in the small area of ??Ming Dynasty also have a unique folk custom: eating and killing snakes is taboo. Some young people who are influenced by outsiders will be scolded by the elderly if they kill or eat snakes. They say that if you eat snakes, you will suffer disaster, and if you cook snakes at home, you will be poisoned by the smoke. This folk custom is very different from the people in the Pearl River Basin who eat snakes as delicacies. Only the customs of some Hakka people along the river are the same as the Zhuang folk customs in the Daming Mountain area. Therefore, some folklore experts believe that only the Zhuang people in the Daming Mountain area and the Hakka people along the Yangtze River are the real "descendants of the dragon."
The Zhuang people and the Han people in the Daming Mountain area also have different tomb-sweeping times. The Zhuang people use the third day of March as the tomb-sweeping day for "special digging" tomb-sweeping days, while the Han people use the Qingming Festival as the tomb-sweeping day. One day is used as a grave-sweeping festival. The Zhuang people's custom of sweeping graves is to use five-color glutinous rice as a sacrifice. Legend has it that this is because the "special dig" is a five-color dragon.
The folk custom of "special digging and sweeping graves" in Daming Mountain has a great influence on Zhuang culture. According to Professor Liang Tingwang, former vice president of Minzu University of China, in the 1980s, when Zhuang representatives in Beijing were studying the proposal to set up a legal festival for the Zhuang people, they Based on the story of "Special Excavation and Grave Sweeping", it was proposed to make the third day of March a statutory holiday of the Zhuang people. Later, the proposal was approved by the autonomous region government. It can be said that the Zhuang people's March 3rd also originates from the Dragon Mother culture.
It is worth noting that the Dragon Mother worship culture is deeply rooted in the countryside and the masses in the Daming Mountain area. This phenomenon is rare in the Pearl River Basin.