论汉代民间的兔信仰

A Look at the Folk Worship of Rabbit in the Han Dynasty from Pictures Chiseled in the Han-Dynasty Stone Relief

汉画中有很多悬挂兔肉的画面,也有很多捕猎兔的画面,说明汉代兔信仰是因兔有食用的价值。汉画中的捣药兔成为一个固定的形式,陪伴在仙人西王母身边。这说明兔有药用价值;可以说,捣药兔是汉代人对于远古发现中医药部族的怀念和记忆。汉画月中兔形象既表现了汉代人的天文月相知识又表现了汉代人的养生修炼观念和长生成仙的愿望。北京地区的兔儿爷崇拜,正是汉代兔信仰的现代依存和活化形态。

There exist a lot of scenes in the Han-Dynasty stone relief depicting hangings of rabbit meat and rabbit hunting,which illustrates that rabbits were highly valued as food by people in the Han Dynasty.Besides,scenes of a hare pestling medicine alongside the Queen of the Western Heaven（the moon goddess） were a fixed representation in such depictions,which illustrates that rabbits were regarded as having reputed medicinal properties in the eyes of people of that era.To some extent,the medicine-pestling rabbit,to the Han-Dynasty folks,is a token loaded with their memories of and tribute to the immemorial tribes who had discovered the traditional Chinese medicinal herbs.The rabbit image chiseled in the Han-Dynasty stone relief not only vividly manifests ancient people＇s knowledge and understanding of astronomical phenomena such as the phase of the moon,but also reveals their outlook on health preservation and physical exercises as well as their wish for being immortal.At present,the worship of the Lord of Rabbit widely observed in Beijing and its contiguous areas is the modern version and living proof of the practice of folk worship of rabbit in the Han Dynasty.