5. Associations related to birds, animals and plants
“The ancestors of humans lived in the dense forests in the very ancient times. They lived by gathering shoots or fruits, and by fishing and hunting, they built a very close relationship with animals and plants.”8 Even today, we can#39;t live a single day without eating vegetables, grains and meat from animals and we begin to realize the importance of building a good relationship between human beings and animals and plants living with us in the same planet.
In their daily life, people have a lot of different associations to the animals and plants according to their colours, shapes and characters, then there are abundant phrases about animals and plants in human languages. But differences exist in the different societies. Sometimes they share the same association to a certain animal or plant, but mainly they have different associations to the same animal or plant, occasionally, they may have the same association to different vehicles, or vehicles and objects with connotations only in one culture, because of the different living environments and habits.
5.1 Various associations of the dragons
There are many pools, lakes and streams all over Yunnan: Dianchi, Erhai, Jianhu lake and other countless pools and springs. A lake, a pool, even a very small spring is considered to be the dragon#39;s residence. Dragons are legendary or mythological creatures, whom the Bai people have been regarding as a symbol of power, strength and auspiciousness. And Bai people would like to call a dragon the dragon king, considering it the god of water and the dragon is thought to have the spirit of water. Bai people live in a agricultural society, their life is mainly dependant on water and rain, and the dragon is the creature taking charge of water and rain. So Bai people have dragon worship in their religion. In ‘the legend of Jiulong’, the following story is told:
“A maid named Shaye lived in the Anlao Mountains. One day she came to catch fish in the river, and was touched by a piece of wood in the water. She got pregnant and ten months later, she gave birth to ten baby boys. One day, when Shaye and the ten boys were resting at the riverside, the piece of wood took the shape of a dragon, rose from the water and asked her, ‘where are the sons you#39;ve given birth for me?’ Nine of the boys were so frightened to see the dragon that they ran away very quickly, only the youngest son had no time to escape and he stayed and lived with his mother. They are thought to be the ancestors of the Bai people, and Bai people are proud of being the descendants of a dragon.”9
In Jiangchangdu Village, Jianchuan, people consider the dragon king named Ma to be the Guardian God of the village. Every year, on the dragon king#39;s birthday, people come to the village#39;s temple, make sacrifices to him, and pray for good weather and a good harvest in the coming year. Another story has been spread widely in Jianchuan: “Guanyinmu, the Goddess of Mercy, took on the shape of a poor old lady, and sold dried rice paddy eels, each for several silver coins at the market. Nobody bought her eels and laughed at her as a mad woman. But an old lady from Lijiping village shared her pie with the poor old woman for lunch. To thank her, the goddess gave her a dried eel. When the old woman got back to the village she wanted to wash the dry eel in water, and a miracle happened, the eel changed into a living dragon as soon as it touched the water. The dragon stayed in the pool near the village, spewing out water for people, and the villagers benefited from this dragon for generations.”
The Bai people divide dragons into two kinds, good and evil. In some low-lying land near lakes or rivers, people often suffered from flooding. The floods damaged the crops and houses severely, and Bai people thought that this was the work of the evil black dragon. So there are lots of legends of the good white dragon defeating the evil black dragon. The very famous one is the gold rooster killing the black dragon in the legend of ‘ten brothers, ten sisters’ told in Jianchuan.
To westerners, however, the dragon is often a symbol of evil, a fierce monster, with fire in its mouth and wings on its body; that destroys and therefore must be destroyed. Several stories of saints or heroes deal with straggles against monsters, which in most cases are all slain in the end. The most notable perhaps is the story of Beowulf telling how the hero Beowulf defeats a monster called Grendel, but is eventually killed in slaying a dragon. St. George and the Dragon (England) is another famous one.
5.2 The Gold Rooster, a holy bird to the Bai people
Another outstanding figure in Bai culture is the Gold Rooster, actually it#39;s not a real bird. Gold Rooster was said to be a divine bird who could tell the seasons and brought good weather and harvest to people. The legends of Shibaoshan tell us how the Gold rooster killed the evil black dragon with the help of ten sisters, and how he teaches Bai people to sing Bai tunes. At the beginning of the song festival in Shibaoshan Bai people look on Gold Rooster as the most beautiful bird with a throat of jade, who always brings them good luck. It resembles the position of the phoenix in Chinese culture. However in western mythology, the phoenix is associated with rebirth and resurrection.
5.3 The tiger
The tiger is good and is connected to courage, vigour and decisiveness. In the Nanzhao Kingdom, only those brave soldiers who have brilliant achievements in war can wear tiger skins as the symbol of power and bravery. In earlier times, the tiger was also a symbol of a Bai tribe. One legend tells it like this: “a great flood took place in Bai history. At that time there were two young children, the brother named Ahpudi and the sister named Ahyidi. When the flood came, their parents hid them in a big calabash dropping from the sky. The calabash floated on the waves for several days and nights. Then the water subsided, the brother and the sister came out of the calabash, but found there were no other people in the world. They had to marry each other when they grew up. And the wife gave birth to seven daughters, who grew to be seven beautiful women. One day, a tiger with white flowers on his back came to their house, and threatened the parents to give him one of the daughters to be his wife. The elder sisters dared not to be the tiger#39;s wife. Only the youngest daughter accepted this marriage to prevent any harm coming to her parents. And so Bai people regard the tiger as one of their ancestors.”10
But the white tiger is usually associated with superstitious belief in Bai culture. The spirit of the white tiger is thought to bring quarrels and misfortunes especially danger in childbirth.
To the English, and to most westerners, “the king of the beasts” is the lion. The lion enjoys high prestige, as can be see from such expression_r_r_rs “regal as a lion”, or “ majestic as a lion”. And in Bai and Chinese culture, the tiger shares that same prestige.
5.4 Different or the same associations of some birds and animals
To Bai people, the bat possesses only positive qualities. It is a symbol of good fortune, well-being , happiness and blessing. The reason for such associations is probably because the name of the creature is pronounced the same as the word ‘福’. Bai people borrowed it from Chinese. An art style Chinese character ’寿’ with a flying bat at each corner of the character is a traditional design on the front of a Bai’s coffin.
However, the bat is usually associated with negative qualities in the west: “As blind as a bat”, “as crazy as a bat”, “to be a bit batty”, “to have bats in the belfry”, are typical expression_r_r_rs of the negative associations, and may be even worse. A bat can indicate an ugly woman or a prostitute, and the mention of the bat often evokes the image of an ugly, sinister, blood-sucking creature. This may possibly be because of the vampire bat. The emotions aroused among English-speaking people are similar to those that the dreaded owl arouses among Chinese: fright and revulsion. Crows, owls and magpies: In Bai culture, the crow has generally been regarded as an unlucky bird. It is connected with witchcraft or ill luck. It is said that crows flying near the windows of a house foretell death, and bad news would come to the person who heard the cry of the crows around him. Meanwhile, the Bai people associated the owl with death, and were greatly afraid if they heard an owl crying on the roof of their house. However, it is said in some parts of the UK that hearing an owl calling as a baby is born is an omen that this child will have a life blessed with much joy.
To Bai people, the magpie is a propitious bird. It is believed that sighting a magpie will bring good luck; if magpies are flying and singing around a house, some happy message or things will happen to the family soon. The connotation of the magpie for westerners is just like that of the crow and the owl to the Bai people. But the crow doesn’t have any negative associations for westerners.
Cat, spider, mouse: these common creatures are often to be found in Bai people#39;s houses. For the cat, people shared the same connotation both in Bai culture and in western culture. In both cultures, people believe that “a cat has nine lives”. In ancient Egypt the cat was held so sacred that it is said whoever killed a cat, even by accident, was punished by death. Meanwhile, in Bai society, people mustn#39;t kill a cat, if that was done, the punishment would come upon the doer. But there#39;s no such figurative use, “she is a cat” (means an evil hearted or spiteful woman) in Bai culture.
People also have the same attitude to spiders in both cultures, but different to the mice. Bai people believe the spider is a spiritual insect thought to contain the souls of human beings. Spiders can bring misfortune and it is very unlucky to kill one. There is a rhyme in English that says ‘those who wish to live and thrive must let the spider be alive’.
Even though mice bring damage to household goods and clothes and steal food Bai people still respect them. An old custom is to spread some rice at the corners of the house for the mice to eat on New Year#39;s Eve. It is said in Bai legends, the mouse stole the grain seeds from the heaven and gave them to humans, then there were crops, and rice, wheat, corn and grain. And a white mouse is believed to bring luck to people. It is said the white mouse can show people the treasure underground. However, the mouse always related with death in the western culture. If a mouse utters a squeak by a person who is sick in bed death is said to follow, white mice seen running in a house where someone is ill also foretells death. Both in Bai and western culture, the martin is a harbinger of good luck. It is especially lucky if martins build their nest near to your home, but be warned that bad luck awaits those who interfere with a martin’s nest.
Albatrosses and seagulls are said to host the souls of dead sailors in western culture. It is, therefore, said to be very unlucky to kill a seagull or an albatross. Seagulls seen deep inland indicate rough weather out at sea. But there is no such vehicle, nor connotations in Bai culture, because Bai people live in inland areas far away from the sea, and albatrosses and seagulls are hardly ever seen there.
5.5 Associations of some plants in the two cultures
Plants have many connotations in Bai culture: Bai people look on the cypress as holy wood, as a kind of ever-green plant, they are often be seen around the Bai temples. Bai people like to burn small pieces of cypress on the altar before Buddha and their native gods, the Benzhu, or before their ancestors’ tablets, and it is said that the sweet smell will please the gods and ancestors.
Flower and willows are often the symbol of love affairs in Bai songs; in fact a flower and willow song is actually a love song. The flower and willow disease always indicates venereal disease.
Flowers certainly stand for the youth and beauty of a woman, and willow is said to be the symbol of life and human#39;s reproductive energy. But Bai people also use willow shoots to express their feelings to their dead ancestors by putting willow shoots on their tombs. Here willow has another connotation the same as the olive branch, blessing the soul of their dead ancestors with peace.
In Raosanling, a sacrificial ceremony for good weather and harvest in the coming year, the willow branch and calabash are the lucky objects.
In Bai folk songs about love, these lines are often heard.
Hol yind hhex
Gaip yond hhex pei suanl dad hol
Baifmat peib jienx#39;anx
Jit nox bopdanl pei sopyo
Heinl nox sanlxinl pei baipdot
A Bai person may say, “My love is a fine maiden with a face the colour of peach blossom and the figure of a bean shoot”, because peach blossom and bean shoot are more familiar to a Bai people. But an Englishman might say “My love is like a red, red rose”.论文出处(作者):
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