中国神话中的“天衣情结”探析——以牛郎织女神话之“天衣情结”为例

Analysis of the Celestial Clothes Complex in Chinese Myth——Taking an example of the Celestial Clothes Complex in The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid

牛郎织女神话中,"偷天衣成亲"自古以来便充满着神秘的诱惑力。在牛郎成年的关键时刻,老牛泄露天机,怂恿牛郎乘天女下凡洗澡之机偷取"天衣",从而促成了牛郎织女一段美满姻缘。牛郎所偷取的"天衣"到底意味着什么呢?透过我国神话世界的重重迷雾发现,原来"天衣"并非一件普通的外衣,而是与中国许多文化信仰有着密切的圣物,这些文化信仰时常通过神话传说以及风俗仪式体现出来。比如补天神话、寻母救母神话、偷衣婚娶认母神话、图腾神话、各种成人仪式、葬仪、祭祖仪式等。它连接着人与神的不同时空,沟通着人与神的隔离。

The plot of stealing the Celestial Clothes to marry the heavenly maid in The Cowherd and the Weaving Maid has been full of mysterious allure since ancient times. At the critical moment of the Cowherd to be an adult, the old cattle leaks the important secret that the Weaving Maid will marry the man who steals her Celestial Clothes when she takes a bath in the river. The Cowherd does as the Old Cattle says and the Cattle facilitates a happy marriage. What exactly is the means of the stolen Celestial Clothes？ Through the mist of myth world in China, the Celestial Clothes is not an ordinary appearance but a holy thing which has a close relation with Chinese culture and religion in some myth and folklore, such as The Goddess Patching the Sky, Orphans looking for their Mother or Save her Mother in Difficulties, orphans marry the heavenly maid or find their mother by stealing her clothes, the mankind regress to the totem, and various adult, funeral and memorial ceremony. In a word, it connects the different space-time between man and the gods and communicates men with gods.