民间虎俗与生殖崇拜

Chinese Folk Culture of Tiger and Worship to Women's Reproductio n

中国民间礼仪中有许多关于虎的习俗,从这些习俗来看,虎象征女性生殖崇拜。在母系氏族社会,人们崇拜孕育新生命的母体。在华夏民族的许多创世神话中,都讲到人出自葫芦,葫芦就是孕育人类的子宫。虎从风从地从阴,形体与葫芦相似,类似人的怀孕母体;西王母是传说中的母虎女神,主管生与杀,居住在昆仑山,而昆仑一词也具有"圆"或者葫芦的含义;在彝语中,虎与葫芦的发音相同,都称作"罗"。因而,虎自然被视为女性的象征,具有强盛的生殖力,受到先民的崇拜。考古发现的6500年前的蚌虎,商代青铜器中的"双身虎"造型,以及民间祭祖中的大虎馍,婚礼中的新娘被看作娇虎的习俗,都反映了这种意向。

There are many fol k legends and folk culture about the tiger.According to these legends and folk c ulture,tiger was symbolized as women's reproduction.In matriarchal society,peopl e worship the pregnant female human being or animals.In many Chinese myths about the beginning of the world,they described that human being was from a bottle go urd,which shapes like woman's uterus.And the tiger was believed to bring wind.It was the king of the earth,and belongs to Yin according to Taoist.And,the tiger' s body looks like a bottle gourd,which is like pregnant woman.In ancient myth,We stern Queen was a powerful female tiger and was in charge of life and death.It l ived in the Kunlun Mountain.While Kunlun Mountain means 'round or gourd-shaped' in China.In Yi's language (a Chinese minority),the pronunciation of tiger sound s the same as gourd.Therefore, the tiger is naturally considered as the women or a female who has strong ability of reproduction.That's why people worship the t iger.From the ancient shell-shaped tiger picture that was made 6500 years ago,th e bronze bottle from Shang Density shaped like a twin-body tiger,and the huge st eamed bread shaped like a tiger used in ceremony of worshiping family ancestors, we can see the intention of tiger worship,as well as the fact that in wedding ce remony the bride is usually called 'tender tiger'.