The Chinese dictionary explains: "Ancient people engaged in prayer, divination and astrology, and also used drugs to seek happiness, eliminate disasters and treat diseases."
This explanation is more accurate, but I still want to add three points:
First, witches exist not only in ancient times, but also in contemporary times. Witches exist not only in remote and backward areas, but also in developed cities.
Secondly, the activities of witches are not limited to seeking happiness, eliminating disasters and treating diseases, but also have problems such as prediction and planning.
Third, witches often claim to communicate with ghosts and gods, are sensitive to ghosts and gods, and seek good fortune to avoid evil, thus defrauding people's trust and obtaining property.
In a word, witches are people who specialize in witchcraft in human society. They use mysterious behaviors such as prayer, deification and induction to drive away disasters, seek happiness, cure diseases, express their wishes and seek survival for themselves.
Witches are generally called intellectuals, and in a narrow sense, they are intellectuals who eat ghosts and gods.
Font interpretation
China created Chinese characters regularly in ancient times. The ancestors combined the word "work" with the word "person" for their own purposes. Work, "Storytelling" explained: "Work, clever decoration also. Like men, there are rules. Agree that all witches' workers belong to work. " Xian Kai of the Song Dynasty said, "If you are smart, you must obey the rules and then work, otherwise you will be smart." Witchcraft is invisible and lies in paradox. We should also obey the rules and explain why we agree with witches. The original meaning of "work" has at least two points: one is clever decoration, and the other is ruler. In Living in a Small House and Explaining Work, Yang Shuda, a close friend, decided that the work image was shaped like a curved ruler. Palace, borrowing the interpretation of the word "palace" by ancient writers, represents heaven and earth respectively. Witches are made up of two people. Shuowen explains "witch": "A man who dances like two sleeves". According to Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Jin Wen, modern people think that the word witch is "like two pieces of jade intertwined". The sorcerer's note in Chinese Dictionary Ministry said: "In Shuowen, sorcerers and jade are used to serve the gods. From "Note: Ling" to "Zero" and "Ling". Spirit (note: spirit, the same as "spirit") or from witchcraft. " Ancient wizards used jade as spiritual objects. In ancient times, staggered jade shapes represented witches. "So the shape of the witch word is related to dance and jade, which was not derogatory in ancient times. Phonetic interpretation
In ancient China, there was a subtle relationship between sound and meaning. Textual research scholars in Qing dynasty often spend their whole lives studying the relationship between sound groups and meaning groups. Witch, witch, blare, filth, slander, mistake, evil, fog, parting, reading and nonsense are all dark words. Witches and false communication. In Yang Xiong's The Gentleman of Law in the Han Dynasty, there is a saying that "failure means failure, and people use witchcraft drums". Gui Li noted, "Witch drums are still unbridled. It is better to say that it hurts righteousness than to say it. " Wang's Book of Changes says: "Witches read lies. A fake drum is a fake drum fan. " In addition, witchcraft and dance are homophones, which may be related to witchcraft movements. Wu's first impression was dancing. Witch culture is a primitive culture created by human beings in ancient times to adapt to and transform nature in the process of reproduction and social development. It is also the general name of the culture in animism worship period and an ancient culture of human beings. Witch culture combines astronomy and geography, humanistic mathematics, medical divination and astrology, five lines of gossip and ritual entertainment. It interprets China's traditional Taoism, philosophy, rationality, literature and marriage, and permeates and influences Yin-Yang theory, Zhuang-Lao thought, Qu Yuan's poems and Kong Qiu's benevolence and righteousness. It constitutes an important part of the Chinese nation's multi-culture, greatly enriches the treasure house of China's literature and art, religious philosophy, science and technology, and promotes the growth of China culture. Witches in Oracle Bone Inscriptions's time are the general names of wizards and witches. Witches in later generations are called witches, and wizards are called wizards. Shuowen's explanation for witches is: "Women can do things without dancing." It is said that they can make ghosts and gods possess themselves or see ghosts and gods in other ways. In short, they have the function of communicating with ghosts and gods, which is different from ordinary people. Legend has it that there is a witch who knows the fate of life and death; Before the Yellow Emperor fought, he was asked to use yarrow for divination. According to records, his son Wu Xian became the minister who assisted Wang Yinzu Yi. Theoretically, Zu Ti is far from the age of the Yellow Emperor, and their father and son have a really long life. But since it is a legend, there is no need to be so true; However, one thing is certain, witches had a high status at that time, because they were the most educated people at that time, and they could report human events to ghosts and gods and bring back instructions. But the responsibility is also great. For example, if it doesn't rain, he will take off his clothes and put them in the sun, and even set them on fire, thinking that this will alarm ghosts and gods to rain and save him, and as a result, he will burn a lot; During the Warring States Period, when Ximen Bao was in power, he would swindle witches who harmed the people in the name of the river god and throw them all into the river, saying that it was the application of this ancient law to let them inform the river god. Treating diseases is also a profession of wizards. I thought I was possessed by something. Ask the witch to exorcise evil spirits. Exercise magic by singing and dancing, or muttering strange body movements; Sometimes give the patient some medicine. Witches often take some drugs to get excited before they show their possession of ghosts and gods, because they have to show different madness. These drugs are their accumulated experience from generation to generation, and only they have and dare to use them. It is also necessary to burn cracks in tortoise shells or animal bones during divination. Most people don't burn it, but witches can eat it quickly. They do have some skills that others don't have, so they become professional households who "recruit gods, drive away epidemics, eliminate disasters and eliminate ominous". Witch is their last name. Yin people especially worshipped ghosts and gods, killed many animals and sacrificed prisoners and slaves, but they were all destroyed by Zhou people in the end. Compared with Zhou people, they didn't believe in ghosts and gods, and doctors began to treat diseases. Witches are not that important. Medicine is differentiated from witchcraft, and it is said that Wu Peng is the founder of medicine. Witch culture-characteristic witch culture Witch and dance are also homophonic. According to the editor's explanation of Ci Hai, China's witch culture is "a man who can dance down the ancient gods". This statement originated from Xu Shen's Shuowen in the Han Dynasty. Xu Shen also believes that from the perspective of word creation, witch characters "dance like two sleeves of people, and work together." "Dancing down the immortals" can be said to be one of the main characteristics of ancient witches. Whether it is the shaman of the Tungusic clan in the ancient north, the teacher of the Yao and Zhuang nationalities in the ancient south, or the Bimo and Moba nationalities in the ancient southwest, their main function is jumping. What is jumping? Whether to greet good ghosts and gods with dance or to expel evil ghosts and gods with dance. As a secular representative, "dancing to God" is actually just one of the functions of witches. On the other hand, wizards are representatives of ghosts and gods on the other side of the world. In ancient times, "witch" and "spirit" were synonymous. Witches are "souls" and "souls" are witches. And "spirit", it goes without saying, is synonymous with god and ghost. This is particularly evident in Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, whether it is Zeus, Apollo or Athena, the goddess of wisdom, etc. Their "divination" was conveyed by the priests in this temple of God. This priest is an ancient witch in China. Witch is such a complex character with duality. It should not only represent the secular world, but also tell the gods what to say and what to ask; But also on behalf of the gods, what to show the world and what to warn. Therefore, to be more accurate, witches are "matchmakers" between human beings and gods, or, in modern terms, intermediaries. As a special intermediary, witches are very strict with society and themselves in the initial stage in order to accomplish a special mission. Its quality must be a model for the public, and its words and deeds must be a model for the public. This situation still exists in Jingpo nationality at the end of primitive commune not long ago. The clan explicitly asked the wizard "Dongsa": "It must be a role model for people, and you can't rob people, steal people, string girls, or eat dead cows, pigs and other meat." (1) If the wizard misbehaves, the public will think that his jump is invalid and will be deposed in time. If the wizard's large-scale jumping activities are ineffective, for example, it doesn't rain when asking for rain, it will also be considered by the public as a secret act, so it is likely to be executed by the public to thank the gods. There are many records in ethnography of Africa, America and Australia, as well as in China's Oracle Bone Inscriptions and pre-Qin literature. In order to accomplish a special mission, a wizard not only needs to set an example, but also must master a set of mysterious skills. This number system is very complicated, including both general witchcraft and so-called witchcraft and magic. Scholars have many classifications of witchcraft. According to the classification of thinking basis, it can be divided into "contact witchcraft" and "simulated witchcraft" (also known as "homeopathic witchcraft"); Or it can be divided into sympathy for witchcraft, imitation of witchcraft and resistance to witchcraft. According to the nature, it is divided into "white witchcraft" and "black witchcraft". According to the purpose, it is divided into "healing witches", "harming witches" and "loving witches". Witchcraft refers to harmful witchcraft such as casting spells, so some people call it "black witchcraft". Magic refers to climbing a knife ladder, walking hot coals, fishing for oil pans and other magic. The main functions of witchcraft, witchcraft and magic are to make the production harvest, the war victory, adequate food and clothing, the family (clan, tribe, village society) safe and sound, and personal desires satisfied. Undoubtedly, in the era of extremely low productivity, it has played a positive role in calming people's hearts, boosting morale and defeating nature. Therefore, in a sense, witchcraft is a reflection of the ancients' fantasy of controlling nature with supernatural power. It is true that witches are also quite conservative. Its conservatism is mainly manifested in two aspects: first, its rituals, classics and tricks are often known only by insiders, but kept secret from outsiders, and even have the taste of "the secret cannot be revealed". Second, rituals, Buddhist scriptures and magic numbers blindly emphasize "purity" and "no distortion", thinking that witchcraft activities will fail if they are distorted. On occasions such as sending souls, if you say the wrong spell, you think that the undead will lose their way and become wandering souls. Therefore, East Village, West Village, South Village and North Village often use the same set of Buddhist scriptures and spells, which will not vary from place to place. The same set of Buddhist scriptures and incantations is used by grandfather, father, son and grandson, and does not change with the world. There are two views on the earliest appearance of the two witches in academic circles: one was born in the primitive hunting era, and the other was born in the primitive farming era. The author thinks that the former view is correct. Why do you see it? In European prehistoric cave murals such as Nivo, altamira and Lascox, the images are often overlapping animal images, and some animals have obvious marks of being poked with long sticks or sticks. Deer bones engraved with fish, eels (or snakes) have also been unearthed in Montaguete, southwest France. Portraits of prehistoric wizards wearing antlers have also been found in other places. Experts believe that these are all witchcraft used for fishing and hunting. Similarly, in Huashan Mountain, Ningming, China, there are many ancient rock paintings, including a group of pictures: an animal in the center of the picture, and the rest are dancers. Obviously, his paintings are also hunting witchcraft activities. It can be seen that in the primitive fishing and hunting era, witchcraft and witchcraft have already emerged. Witches appeared in the primitive fishing and hunting stage for many reasons, the most important of which is the animism concept. As we all know, since humans entered the stage of fishing and hunting, food has changed from flowers, fruits and grass leaves to fish, insects, birds and animals, so the development of the brain has made great progress. People began to think and explore the surrounding environment, production, life and people's own problems. However, at that time, the thinking ability of early people was still very low, such as why the sun and the moon rose and set? Why do the four seasons change? Why is there terrible thunder and lightning in the sky? Why are there mountains and rivers on the ground? Why are there grotesque vegetation, birds and animals on the mountain? Why do rivers drown people? Why was there a lot of fishing and hunting yesterday? Why is there less fishing and hunting today? Why do people die? Such natural phenomena, production phenomena and physiological phenomena can't be explained, and there is a feeling that God is manipulating them. This gave birth to animism. This animism is still strong among the Wa, Anger, Dulong, Lahu and brown people in southwest China. Fairy, at first people just wanted to express their wishes in this way, which is very simple. Only with the continuous development of human society, people have to solve more and more problems. Coupled with the level of human society and the types of work, people are endowed with all kinds of immortals. Therefore, immortals can also be regarded as another reflection of the current social situation. [2] Witchcraft culture-boundary divination witchcraft culture-It is said that Fuxi invented the Eight Diagrams in Zhou Wenwang, and took the Eight Diagrams as sixty-four hexagrams, resulting in the Book of Changes, which is a classic of Confucianism and Taoism, which contains rich knowledge of prediction, geomantic omen, meteorology and dialectics, and has been valued by scholars at home and abroad so far.
Medicine-Volume 22 of Biography is quoted from Wuyuan: "Shennong began to study pulse, distinguish medicinal properties, make acupuncture and witchcraft." Talking about Diamonds, Volume 31, Private Records of Non-success Merchants: "In Shennong, Bai Ni entered veterinary drugs, and when people were ill, they were taught the words of beasts. Words are like Baini's biography, and I don't know what to say. It has been said that animals are like a grass in the wild, and the more you eat, the more you cure it. After the Yellow Emperor ordered Feng Ji Cao, what disease did he get? It took a long time. " In addition, Huangdi Neijing is also an important medical work. Music-"Road History? 6? 1 Play II quotes "Huan Tan's New Theory": "Shennong then ruled the world, so he began to cut the tung tree into a piano, with a rope as the string, connecting the virtues of the gods and the harmony between man and nature." "Zhou Li? 6? 1 Drummer: "Sacrifice the gods with thunder drums; Sacrificial drum club; Enjoy ghosts with drums. " Song Shi? 6? 1 "Biography of Barbarians": "Cave-dwelling barbarians are sick, playing bronze drums and sand gongs to worship ghosts and gods." Song and Dance-Shan Hai Jing? 6? 1 wild south classic: "Wuyi surname food valley. Without performance, there is no service; Without crops, there would be no food. There are singing and dancing birds, phoenix birds singing and phoenix birds dancing; There are all kinds of wild animals and hundreds of valleys. " "Songs of the South" again? 6? 1 Jiuge is an art that wizards welcome and entertain gods through the trinity of song, dance and music. Wang Guowei's textual research on Song and Yuan operas holds that the Nine Songs of Wushu is the bud of later operas. "Painting-Zhu Tianshun's Primitive Religion" said: "All social activities of primitive human beings are inseparable from religion and witchcraft. "For example, Salcio Lake Hunting Map, a rock painting north of Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang, depicts a man shooting bison with a bow and arrow. Primitive people painted this rock painting, thinking that it would produce inductive magic and gain something from hunting. Other rock paintings in Cangyuan, Yunnan, Huashan, Ningming, Guangxi, Matangba, Gongxian, Sichuan, etc. Are all rock paintings related to primitive people and witchcraft? Witch culture-aesthetic connotation Witch culture is a primitive culture created by human beings in ancient times to adapt to and transform nature in the process of multiplying and promoting social development. It is also the general name of the culture in animism worship period and an ancient culture of human beings. Witchcraft culture combines astronomy and geography, humanistic mathematics, medical divination and astrology, five lines of gossip and ritual entertainment. It interprets China's traditional Taoism, philosophy, rationality, literature and marriage, and influences the theory of Yin and Yang, the thought of Zhuang and Lao, Qu Yuan's poems and Kong Qiu's benevolence and righteousness. It constitutes an important part of the Chinese nation's multi-culture, greatly enriches the treasure house of China's literature and art, religious philosophy and science and technology, and promotes the growth of China culture. On the basis of fully understanding the significance and historical background of ancient witch culture, this paper tries to make a deeper analysis and research on the aesthetic connotation of witch culture and art. Among them, taking sculpture art and landscape art as examples, and combining the series of works of witchcraft culture created by the famous artist Professor Jiang Bibo, we can enrich our understanding of the aesthetic connotation of witchcraft culture and art. Based on the above thinking, this paper takes the aesthetic connotation of witchcraft culture and art as an argument and focuses on six parts. Because the aesthetic connotation of witch culture and art exists in the background of ancient witch culture, the first part of this paper needs to make a clear discussion on the meaning and historical context of witch culture, including primitive philosophy, cosmology and its influence on art. Secondly, the artistic thinking mode and aesthetic thought of human beings are also developed after human beings have aesthetic consciousness. In order to further illustrate the significance of witch culture to the occurrence and development of art, this paper analyzes the significance of witch culture to the occurrence of human aesthetics. In order to enrich and deeply understand the connotation of witchcraft culture and art, this paper discusses and analyzes the hidden spiritual connotation in ancient human plastic arts, which mainly includes three parts: symbolism, daily experience and practicality. Because the aesthetic connotation of witch culture and art is always associated with China's aesthetic thought, in order to analyze its aesthetic connotation more deeply, the fourth part of the article adopts the method of comparative analysis and induction, which is carried out at the horizontal and vertical levels, and makes a comparative analysis of the thinking characteristics of ancient witch culture and art, the thinking characteristics of ancient China humanistic art and the aesthetic thought of China art, summarizes their similarities and differences, and focuses on their continuity. This is the highlight of the article. Through the analysis of the artistic expression and creative context of the series works of witchcraft culture by the famous artist Professor Jiang Bibo, the aesthetic connotation of witchcraft culture and art is richer and more vivid. The last part of the article summarizes the significance of studying witchcraft culture and art, and puts forward the important value of exploring witchcraft culture. Witch culture & its influence on traditional art in China.
Witch consciousness in witch culture affects the whole culture and spirit of China, which is manifested in the way of thinking, that is, it emphasizes the simple overall concept and melts people into nature. China sculpture, as a concrete form of materialization of national spirit, also reflects the influence of this national spirit and culture on it. China's sculpture is an art closely related to nature, with great emphasis on nature and integration, which fully embodies the idea of "harmony between man and nature". The so-called "harmony between man and nature" means harmony between man and nature. For thousands of years, this proposition has been continuously developed and enriched, and gradually formed a profound system, which is the greatest contribution of Chinese culture to mankind. In the long years, China sculpture art has gradually merged into the cultural spirit of China, and found the basic point of survival and development. The outdoor mausoleum sculpture in China sculpture has remarkable characteristics. The stone statues and beasts in front of the tomb are superb, exquisite, detached, bold and free. They have always maintained a certain natural form, and with a little carving, they are swaggering, magnificent and have the power to be compatible with heaven and earth. The stone carving in front of Huo Qubing's tomb in Han Dynasty is a classic. These stone carvings in front of the tomb are simple and natural, with great boldness of vision. Among them, the shapes of some stone beasts show the beauty of being integrated with nature. At that time, the masters of the Western Han Dynasty only carved the original stone according to its natural shape, which made it come alive. The representative work of the stone carving group in front of Huo Qubing's tomb, Horse Treading on Xiongnu, shows a horse holding its head high, serene and alert, and its majesty contains infinite power. Its thick legs, like four pillars, are integrated with the horse's body, and its shape is rich and simple, and the line, face and body are integrated, adding a freehand and straightforward artistic conception and interest. All these are related to the romance, exaggeration and boldness of Chu style in Han Dynasty, and Chu culture was influenced by the prevailing witchcraft style in Chu at that time. China's sculptures attach great importance to the harmony between modeling and surrounding landscape. For example, in the process of creation, they don't pay attention to the similarity of the appearance of objects, but pay attention to the creation of artistic conception and verve, so that viewers can feel the rhythm of life through the appreciation of works, and realize the realm of harmony and unity of all things in the world from the coordination of artificial sculpture and natural environment. All this is entirely the result of the spirit of "natural harmony" that witch consciousness of witch culture permeates into China culture.
Second, the impact on landscape art
The landscape of China is very distinctive, which embodies the characteristics of the Chinese nation. His gardening form and aesthetic thought are deeply influenced by China's traditional culture and philosophy, which all come from the "natural harmony" in the witch consciousness of primitive witch culture. There are no neat street trees and manicured lawns in the classical gardens of China. According to the original natural distribution mode, the flowers in the forest are scattered in groups of three or five, with pools or rocks and wild interest. In the whole landscape design, it presents a natural style. Even the architecture itself in the garden, according to the overall trend of the landscape, is dotted with the artistic conception of the natural landscape. The technique of "stone" is a typical example in classical gardens and design, which embodies the spirit of "harmony between man and nature" and "Taoism is natural" Stone was originally lifeless, but China's classical thinking personified it and gave it the meaning of life. Rocks can express rich emotions in a specific time and space of the garden, such as "Spring Mountain is as light as a smile, and Summer Mountain is as green as a drop". Rock has become a bridge between man and nature, making the garden perfect from an orderly architectural space to a natural natural space. It has completed the transition from man to earth and from earth to heaven, thus achieving the harmonious unity of heaven, earth and man. In China classical gardens, mountains, water, plants and buildings are the main landscape elements. The landscape of China requires the integration of architectural beauty and natural beauty, and architecture strives to be organically organized with mountains, water, flowers and trees, which can be coordinated and complementary. Landscape and architecture are arranged according to the spatial order of human activities. Through reasonable function, pleasant proportion, proper layout, unique conception and clever use of colors and materials, the garden can reach the realm of "Taoism is natural". This makes the garden as a whole reach the realm of harmony between man and nature. This pursuit of harmony actually reflects the profound influence of China's traditional philosophy of "harmony between man and nature" and the witch culture of "natural harmony".
Third, the influence on painting art.
Witch culture plays a fundamental role in China's harmonious thought of opposition, complementarity and ups and downs, which comes from the universe, yin and yang and the five elements. China's universe is the universe of qi, and the art of line is most in line with the universe of qi. China's painting art contains the meaning of line. People in China say that calligraphy and painting come down in one continuous line, which means that both are the art of forming lines with a brush. Of the six methods, two are the most important, one is vivid charm, and the other is using a pen in bone method. The vivid image of Chinese painting full of cosmic gas field is composed of lines with endless changes of light and dark, dry and wet. The flow of the center line in the painting is isomorphic with the flow of cosmic gas, and the line has become the life of Chinese painting. China's paintings basically have no focus perspective of western paintings, but mostly adopt scattered perspective. In large-scale landscape painting, the viewer can feel the constant movement of the horizon in the painting, as if someone is walking outside the painting. In many flower-and-bird paintings, there is no background blank, and there is no fixed point between figures and flowers and birds, as if in the void, full of the aura of the universe. The cosmic atmosphere of China's painting art is deeply influenced by China's harmonious thought of complementarity and opposition, which comes from the cosmic atmosphere, yin and yang and the five elements. Its origin should be the primitive world view in ancient witch culture. Influenced by witchcraft culture, Taoism inherits and develops the concept of witchcraft, and at the same time makes its concept poetic. Laozi and Zhuangzi emphasize that yin is more than yang, that is, "weakness is better than strength." This made China's artistic thinking of painting full of flexible spirit at first, but in later generations, he derived a systematic understanding of "emptiness and quietness", "harmony" and "plainness", which was integrated into the ancient painting theory and penetrated into the whole process of China's traditional painting art from intuition, representation and emotion to artistic association and artistic image, making China's fine paintings full of artistic temperament and wandering heart. In a word, witch culture, as an important aspect of China's cultural phenomenon, plays an important role in the formation of China's cultural form. It has a far-reaching influence on all aspects of China culture, especially on the traditional art of China.