转凶为吉:环境史视野下的古代喜鹊形象再探讨

From Ominousness to Auspiciousness:A Reexamination on the Image of Ancient Magpie from the Perspective of Ecological History

唐以前,喜鹊的主要意向是凶兆,这是时人的主流观念。这一观念发端于汉魏之际的黄河中游流域,此后也由北方传到了南方。唐代,喜鹊的形象发生了巨大反转,由凶兆转变为吉兆,这一转变对后世影响深远。促使这种转变的动因,如果从环境史的视角加以解答的话,便是喜鹊赖以生存的森林资源在魏晋南北朝隋唐时期发生了变化,这一变化直接影响着人们对喜鹊的好恶。

Before Tang dynasty, magpie tended to be ominous and this was the major image of it for the people at that time. This image originated from the Central Yellow River Valley in the dynasties of Han and Wei and had been spread from the north to the south since then. In Tang Dynasty, the image of magpie underwent a complete reversal, changing from being ominous to being auspicious, and such kind of change had great influence on later generations. If we look at it from the perspectives of the ecological history, such kind of change was motivated by the changes of forest resources during the dy- nasties of Wei and Jin, the Northern and Southern dynasties and the dynasties of Sui and Tang, which magpies relied on for their existence. And this change had directly influenced the likes and dislikes of the people.