In hot summer, cicadas can be heard from time to time. The unique creature "cicada" has many names, such as cicada, cicada, cicada, cicada and so on. There is also a very interesting saying: cicada. "cicada-cicada-"cicada thinks he knows everything, so he has been singing cicada?

Cicada lived in muddy water and underground for most of its adult life, forbearing and lurking, ranging from three to four years to more than ten years. It was not until it hatched that it could see the light of day and sing loudly. However, the life span of cicadas is very short after they are unearthed, and they can't live for a summer.

In Records of the Historian Biography of Qu Yuan and Biography of Jia Sheng, it is written: "Cicadas shed in filth and stay away from floating dust." The ancients called this kind of behavior noble, divorced from human fireworks, emerged from the mud without dyeing, and had the meaning of rebirth, so it was highly respected and became a symbol of the ancients' pursuit of new life and nobility. The significance, position and use of cicada have become more and more profound images of human beings.

Xia Chan

Cicada is of great significance.

1, rebirth and immortality are the same as Buddhism and Taoism.

Because cicada can emerge in its life cycle, the ancients thought it was an endless, endless and immortal creature. After the Han dynasty, people used the unearthed cicada to symbolize the rebirth of mankind, and also represented the infinite love and persistent pursuit of life.

Cicada-shaped jade retort is an important funerary object in ancient times, which means that people put the jade cicada in the mouth of the deceased for protection, symbolizing the eternal wish of the soul. At the same time, Taoist thought regards cicada slough as the doorway to immortality, and cicada is famous as a spiritual thing in Taoism. Post-Buddhism and Taoism influence and absorb each other. The spirit of cicada accords with Buddhist meditation. At the same time, "cicada" and "Zen" are homophonic, so the statues of Buddhism and Taoism are also deeply influenced by cicada. For example, the cicada pattern on the Buddha's crown is a famous symbol, which means reincarnation.

Bodhisattva cicada crown

2. The mystery and sacredness of walking with appliances

As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, cicada patterns, which played a certain decorative and aesthetic role, had been carved on bronze wares such as Ding, Jue and Pan. Cicada, which feeds on dew, is endowed with the meaning of clean diet by people, especially the upper class aristocrats.

Cicada only eats dew for a living, eats wind and drinks dew, and there is no dispute, and its life trajectory is not easy to be detected. The ancients did not know life and death, so that people deified cicada, thinking that only virtuous fairies could survive in this way, so it was generally considered a mysterious and sacred god.

Jade is also extremely mysterious in China's funeral customs. In addition, people combine some natural characteristics of jade with people's moral cultivation, so the custom of "jade cicada" representing gentleman's integrity and nobility has been handed down. Cicada is often used by the ancients as a metaphor for its immortal roots and its lofty expression. Yu Shinan's "Cicada" says: "Drink it, clear the dew, sound it, and be clear. It's not the autumn wind that makes you afraid to speak loudly. "

Ancient jade cicada

3. Multiple meanings in the same direction as life.

First of all, cicada is also called cicada, which means "contentment is always happy". In "Fude Zen": "The drink is unclear, and the intellectual man is easy to be satisfied." Cicada, drinking the dew of Mulan early, eating autumn chrysanthemum late, aiming high, different, not contaminated with the secular; I'm a clean and honest official because I know I'm satisfied.

Secondly, ancient students often wore cicada carved jade on their chests, which was taken from Lu Guimeng's poem "It was spring and March, and we were reunited around Guo Hua." You can make amazing achievements, and the meaning of "re-election" and "blockbuster" makes students expect to be on the list of high schools.

Furthermore, according to the ancient Yin and Yang experts and metaphysicists in China who have been circulating for thousands of years, cicadas have foresight, and they can know things earlier, know what others don't know and feel what others don't know. Then, "cicada" and "entanglement" are homophonic, often keepsakes between lovers, intended to become a lasting friendship. Also, cicada "song" and "name" are homophonic, and wearing cicada at the waist means wealth, fame and name; Cicadas lie on green leaves and are called "golden branches and jade leaves".

Waist ornaments in Qing dynasty

Listen, cicadas are singing about their status.

1, the aesthetic culture of combining cicada and jade

The image culture of cicada prevailed in ancient times, and it was one of the insects familiar to the ancients, especially on some jade articles. Cicada, as one of the most common and oldest insect images, often appears in ancient jade carvings, especially as a common theme of ancient jade carvings, which is highly respected in ancient jade culture.

Cicada is revered by the ancients, a sacred object and an indispensable friend in life. Throughout the ages, literati have different feelings for cicadas, and they often use poetry and painting as metaphors. So it is more appropriate to put cicada and jade together. According to textual research, cicada-shaped jade articles appeared as early as Hongshan Culture.

Hongshan Culture Yuchan

The bronze wares of Shang Dynasty are engraved with the image of cicada larvae. Most of the jade cicadas before the Han Dynasty were carved from jade and jasper, with delicate texture, clean and white color. They pay great attention to sculptors, striving for symmetrical and clear outlines, simple and rough lines and beautiful and fine descriptions. They use classical and simple shapes, and the patterns are simple and clean, simple and smooth, smooth and easy to play.

Carved jade cicadas after Ming and Qing dynasties pay attention to the perfect appearance and mellow patina of jade, but they also add many auspicious patterns such as palindromes and gouyun patterns around the cicada body. The cicada patterns on different utensils contain different meanings and aesthetic artistic conception, so the cicada patterns have strong aesthetic, ornamental and decorative properties.

Jade cicada in Ming and Qing dynasties

Ancient craftsmen carefully carved thin cicada wings and tiny cicada feet with high hardness and high quality jade from beginning to end. The shape of cicada is vivid and detailed, supplemented by exquisite carving patterns, as if it were coming to life soon.

The change of the image of ancient jade cicada has also gone through a process from simple to complex, from abstract to concrete. Until the Han Dynasty, the development of Chinese jade culture came to an important turning point. Under the influence of "a gentleman is unreasonable, jade can't go away" and "a gentleman is better than jade", jade produced a classic "theory of jade virtue" in the Han Dynasty, among which Yuchan was more prominent, which reflected the extensive and far-reaching cultural influence of Yuchan.

You can become immortal with a jade cicada in your mouth.

Cicada is a symbol of purity, status and spiritual status. The image of cicada appeared on bronze wares in Shang Dynasty. From the weekend to the Han Dynasty, there was a cultural custom that the dead had cicadas in their mouths. Jade cicada has a history of about seven or eight thousand years, which has been passed down to this day and is precious.

Bronze cicada pattern

A jade cicada with cicadas used in ancient funerals. In ancient times, people thought that cicadas would never die. When a person dies, it's like a cicada turning a cocoon into a pupa, and it will come back to life the next year. This is a reflection of the ancient people's mentality of dying. They hope that they or their relatives and friends can degenerate and be reborn like cicadas, and they will still be the best creatures in the world-people after reincarnation. Therefore, cicadas are generally small in size, with simple carving patterns and no holes. In the mouth of the deceased, cicadas were used as funerary objects to suppress the tongue.

Moreover, cicadas are pure and spiritual, and cicadas in the mouth of the dead can protect them from evil spirits, their bodies from decay and their souls from immortality. In Shuo Wen Jie Zi: "Shedding, snake cicada sheds its skin." The cicada-shaped jade coffin was given a specific meaning by the ancients with the help of cicada's physiological characteristics, hoping that after death, people could be reborn, innocent in the world and fly high.

From the point of view of human spirit, the ancients used the life of cicada to compare human life passed down from generation to generation in nature, which is the spiritual sustenance left by people after death and has certain religious significance.

Cicada in Han dynasty

3. It is also indispensable in the hymns of poetry books.

As a representative of rebirth and immortality, cicada can be said that people's longing for life has never changed since ancient times. "I don't know the fate of auricularia auricula, I don't know the spring and autumn" in "Zhuangzi Xiaoyao Tour" In Xunzi: "He who drinks without eating is also cicada." In "Yu Lin Ling": "Cold cicadas are sad, and it's too late to wait for a long time."

The ancients knew that cicadas' lives were short, and they would enrich every moment of their lives. The ancients understood the lofty and self-purification of cicadas and regarded it as their own character pursuit; When the ancients mourned the cicada's summer, they lamented the impermanence of the world and questioned life. Cicada also occupies a place in China's ancient poetry culture.

A pleasant hike

Cicadas in ancient times were not used for eating.

1, Yuchan three uses

Jade cicada is not only the accessory of strangers, but also the burial jade of the dead. The uses of ancient jade cicadas are generally divided into three types, except for funeral cicadas, decorative cicadas and crown cicadas. There are dazzling ornamental cicadas on the top, which can be worn on the body for decoration or evil spirits, which is conducive to family wealth and longevity.

Crown cicada is a kind of hat decoration, which is decorated on the hat. As a symbol of the owner's identity, it can not only show its status, but also show its loftiness. A gentleman crowns a cicada to compare with the quality of jade, and a noble crown cicada is a symbol of identity, power and status. The cicada ornaments with a long history not only appear on people's clothes, but also on sachets, silk fabrics and jade articles. They are not only beautiful representatives, but also cultural inheritance and rich development process.

Guanchan

2. The ritual vessels with cicadas are becoming more and more noble.

Etiquette is a bit old-fashioned for modern people, but in ancient times it was a code of conduct that everyone should abide by. Rites also appear in all aspects of people's lives. The ancients carved cicadas on bronzes and jade articles, or directly carved cicada-shaped objects, expressing their love and understanding of cicadas on various objects in different forms. Jade cicada with obvious natural color is a noble ritual vessel recorded in history.

Cicada ritual vessel

abstract

With the changes and development of the times, the idea of using cicada's metamorphosis as a metaphor for human rebirth has long since ceased to exist, but the literati integrity derived from the character given to cicada by people has condensed the essence in poetry and songs.

From ritual vessels to accessories, from funeral culture to jade culture, cicada has always been in a rebirth, resurrection, mystery, holiness and lofty character. This inner spiritual value system, totem symbol and moral representative have been integrated into the blood of every China person. As a result, cicada has become an indispensable auspicious thing, favored by ancient people and even modern people, which is also the charm of China traditional culture.