Introduction and legend of crows

Crow is a general term for several black birds of passeriformes. It is the largest individual among passerine birds, with a body length of 400 ~ 490 mm; Feathers are mostly black or black and white, and Kuroha has a purple-blue metallic luster; Wings are much longer than tails; The mouth, legs and feet are pure black. There are 36 species of crows, which are distributed almost all over the world.

The Cultural Significance of Crow

Crow Image in China Traditional Culture

Before the Tang Dynasty, crows were auspicious and prophetic birds in China folk culture. There used to be a historical common sense legend that "the crow gives good news, and Zhou Xing begins". In the Spring and Autumn Period, Dong Zhongshu quoted Biography of Shangshu: "When Zhou will be prosperous, there will be a kind of big red and black valley, which will gather on the Wangs. Wu Wangle, the doctors are happy. " Ancient history books Huai Nan Zi, Zuo Zhuan and Historical Records are also recorded in famous articles.

After the Tang Dynasty, crows were said to be ominous. In the Tang Dynasty, Youyang Miscellanies said: "There is no good sound on the ground in Wu Ming. When people leave, they follow the crow's voice. They are so happy. This old occupation is unstoppable. "

No matter good or bad, "the crow feeds back, and the lamb kneels and suckles" is the consistent statement that Confucianism uses animal images in nature to educate people about "filial piety" and "courtesy". Therefore, the image of crow as a "dutiful bird" has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. "Compendium of Materia Medica Birds" said: "This black beast was born, and its mother ate it for 60 days, and its mother ate it for 60 days, which can be described as filial piety." But whether crows really have this habit remains to be confirmed by modern research and observation.

In modern times, crows are endowed with the color of a freedom fighter, which is lonely and brave. They report good news without worrying, and they specialize in exposing and attacking unreasonable phenomena. Such as Hu Shi's vernacular poem "The Old Crow":

I get up early in the morning,

Standing in the corner of someone else's house, crying speechless.

People hate me and call me unlucky; ──

I can't! I am mumbling to please others!

The cold wind is tight and there are no branches to live in.

Flying around all day, cold and hungry all day. ──

I can't wear a sheath to fly for others

You can't get married, make a handful of millet!

The Crow Cultural Image of China's Regions (Nationalities)

Northeast China:

Crow is the national prediction god XiShen and protector of Manchu, an indigenous ancestor in Northeast China, and it is also recognized by Shamanism and most Tungusic nationalities. There is a legend that "the crow saved the ancestors" (Qing Taizu), and it is also recorded in the literature of the Qing Dynasty. After generations of Emperor Yongshun in Bukuri, "his descendants were tyrannical and rebelled. In June, they conquered Ordos and killed their descendants, including a son. The descendants of Manchuria all regard magpies as gods, so they don't harm people. " There is also a mountain hunting tradition of "offering meat and wine to crow" in the northeast.

When I arrived in the Qing Emperor Taizong, a "Soren Staff" was specially set up in front of the Qing Palace in Fuyang Palace to worship crows, and a special place was set up in the west of Fuyang City to feed crows. No harm was allowed. See "Anecdotes of Historic Sites in the Three Eastern Provinces": "On the west side of Shengjing Palace, feed the crows. It was when crows gathered, flying, perching, pecking, combing feathers, flapping their wings, flying dumb, and millions of them, and the roof of the palace was almost full. " After the emperor shunzhi entered the customs in the Qing Dynasty, he also set up the Soren Staff in the Forbidden City to maintain the highest standards of crow worship.

Southwest China:

In some areas of China, Tibet and Sichuan, crows are also worshipped as a kind of god bird, which can be proved by the unearthed Tubo documents and the custom of hanging coffins and celestial burial in southwest China.

Central plains region:

Wudang Mountain is a Taoist ancestral temple. Crows are regarded as "spiritual crows" and there is a crow temple on the mountain. "Crows catch food" is one of the eight scenic spots in Wudang. Even tourists who enter the mountains should carry some food with them and give it to crows for pecking.

In a word, the image of crow is indecent, but it is limited to the psychological gray influence of people in China culture, and there is no special exclusion for him.

The image of crow in Britain

Although the modern image of crows in China is mostly negative, they are regarded as treasures by the British royal family. This is because there is a British legend that if all the crows in the Tower of London leave, the British Kingdom and the Tower of London will collapse (crows leave the Tower, as the saying goes, buildings and monasteries will collapse).

Fall down. )。 In order to respect the ancient legend, the current British government still pays for raising crows in the tower. It is said that as long as there are crows in the tower, England will not be invaded, otherwise, the country will be unlucky. In order to ensure that these crows don't all leave the Tower of London, they have actually lost the ability to fly because they have cut off some feathers, but they are taken care of very carefully.

The influence of crow culture in the world

Like China, crow is a contradictory cultural image in the world: 1. Historical legend: negative image: ancient Greek mythology influenced most early civilizations in southern Europe. It is said that Apollo, the sun god, fell in love with Grace and sent a holy bird to monitor her integrity. One day, the Holy Bird saw that Grace was having an affair with another man, thinking that she was having an affair with another man, so she reported it to Apollo. Apollo shot Grace in a rage. Later, it was confirmed that Grace had not had an affair with other men. Apollo angered the bird and turned its white feathers black. This is the origin of crows, and crows are given the notoriety of cheating. In English, eating a crow means hitting yourself in the mouth. Positive image: Contrary to southern Europe, in northern Europe, crows become the embodiment of Hu Jin and Mu Ning. It is said that Odin, the Lord of the gods, can turn a blind eye and observe the whole world forever. When his open eyes were covered by the universe, he sent two crows to stand on his left and right shoulders to inspect the world. Therefore, Odin, the Lord of the gods, knows everything in the world. In North America, there is an old legend in Vancouver, Canada: In ancient times, after a flood that destroyed the world, a crow swimming on the beach found a big shell and made a strange noise. It turned out to be primitive humans, so the crow led them ashore, but they were all men. The crow went to the beach to find a huge stone turtle, and all the women were hiding under it. Crows gather them together, encourage them to communicate with each other, and bring them the sun, moon and stars, kindling, salmon and Chinese fir, teach them to hunt and cultivate, and guide the evolution and development of mankind day by day. Crows in ancient East Asian fishing and hunting areas were also worshipped as divine birds. According to Japanese and other documents, Emperor Jimmu marched eastward to Xiongye and was besieged by the enemy in Xiongye Mountain. The gods sent "eight birds" to lead the way. Later, more than 3,000 Kumano shrines were established throughout the country to worship crows, which has influenced it to this day.

Crow symbol

Most people's views

In ancient witch books, crows, like black cats, are often synonymous with death, fear and bad luck. The crow's crow is regarded as an ominous sign. People think that crows will take away people's lives and souls, so crows are hated by people and regarded as ominous birds.

Crows are considered unlucky birds because of their keen sense of smell and the smell of corruption and death.

Crows are lucky birds.

Birds have a close relationship with human beings since ancient times. The ancients left us countless idioms, fables, poems and pictures about birds, such as "the ambition of a swan", "the cry of blood" and "two orioles singing green willows and a row of egrets flying to the sky" They contain the ancient people's understanding, imagination and attachment to nature. Starting from today, this edition will open a column called "Bird Song Volume". The author, Mr. Feng Yongfeng, reporter of Guangming Daily, is the initiator of the folk environmental protection project "Natural University". This song "Bird's Song" is about our most common crow.

There is a "military writer" who is very interesting. She went to collect wind in western Sichuan and suddenly found many crows. She was surprised to write in the article: "It is said that crows in the world are generally black. Why do I see crow's mouth and feet are red? " Have the crows here mutated? "In fact, she saw the red-billed Jay. If she goes to a higher altitude, she may see the yellow-billed Jay, whose mouth and feet are yellow. If she travels to Xinyang in the south of Henan, if she observes it carefully, she may see a crow with a white neck, whose scientific name is white-necked crow.

If she likes to look at China's ancient calligraphy and painting, she will find that the ancients like to draw a western Western jackdaw after the snow. Some crows on it are wearing small white jackets, and some are as black as traditional crows. The modern scientific name of this crow painted by ancient painters is really Western jackdaw in the west, or some are called "Western jackdaw in the west of Daoli". When the painter painted Western jackdaw in the west, he probably painted a cold crow and a cold Western jackdaw in the west. Most of these paintings are painted in the north, and there is little heavy snow in the south. Even if there is heavy snow on the ground, it is rarely so empty and far away. Even if there are some flat areas, there are not necessarily crows.

Crows like to gather, which is a derogatory term, such as "rabble", used to describe an unorganized and untrained gang, gathering together temporarily like a flock of crows. "The Biography of Geng Yan in the Later Han Dynasty" said: "Riding a mob suddenly is like pushing a dead ear." Crow, magpie and grey magpie are the birds I have ever seen, and they are also the birds that are best at fighting in groups. In the face of any possible danger, they will respond to each other and assemble quickly, regardless of personal safety for common interests.

Thus, crows and magpies are homologous. Crows and magpies belong to the family Corvidae. They often live around humans. Similar to a sparrow, it is a "relative bird". In these years of bird watching, I have often seen crows and magpies form their own legions and compete for territory. Where magpies are piled up, there are generally no crows; There are few magpies in the territory controlled by crows.

Some people do not like crows. When they go out in the morning, if they see magpies for the first time, they will be extremely happy. If you see a crow for the first time, especially when you hear it for the first time, you are worried about bad luck. If someone says something worrying, they are ridiculed as "crow mouth". But if we look through the historical materials of China, we may find that crows are actually quite correct birds.

China always talked about "ruling the world with filial piety". In order to cooperate with the tradition of "filial piety", the ancients invented "Twenty-four filial piety maps", listing different types of filial piety behaviors for social reference. But even this would not be enough China's human form and meaning are developed, words are form and meaning, poems are form and meaning, and fables are also form and meaning. For those who like symbols and forms, it is inevitable to attach some special meanings to the common species around them.

Common birds were used by the ancients one by one. Hongyan represents the yearning for people far away, cuckoo represents the homesickness of travelers, sparrows and sparrows represent short-sighted villains, and swans (swans, swans) represent lofty aspirations and powerful talents. However, crows are associated with a beautiful legend. Whether it is a crow with a big mouth, a crow with a small mouth or a crow with a bald nose, it is a general term for "filial piety".

In many Confucian classics and sermons, it is always said that crows "feed back their kindness". Crows are typical of filial piety. When their parents are old, sick and tired of the world and can't find food, young crows, crows of their children and grandchildren will not only find food for their parents, but also make food delicious, just like humans vomit and feed their children. The reason why Shimi's Chen Qingbiao has become a famous work has a lot to do with this passage: "Chen Mi has four in forty this year and grandma Liu has six in ninety this year, which is a long day for me to celebrate your majesty and a short day for Liu. Blackbird has an affair and is willing to raise it. " Personal filial piety is greater than loyalty to the court.

Most ancient literati were people who indulged in imagination. If we persist in correcting it with a scientific attitude, it will appear that we have committed a logical disease and are superstitious about science. Scientifically speaking, there are sunspots and flares on the sun, but ancient people in China called the sun "the sun", and some ancient paintings actually drew a crow sitting on the sun. The ancients thought that there were three feet in the sun and rabbits in the moon, so they used the "flying rabbit line" to compare the movement of the sun and the moon and the passage of time; Literati describe that the sun sets and the moon rises, which must be "the sun sets in the west and the jade rabbit rises in the east".

Crow is also used to describe an official position. The most common is to describe the imperial history, which is also called Wu Fu. It is said that this began in the Han Dynasty. Zhu Hanbo Chuan Shi: "At that time, there were more than 100 areas in the imperial court, and all the wells were exhausted. In addition, there are cypress trees in his home, and thousands of wild owls often inhabit them. In the morning, they arrive at dusk, and they call it' morning and evening'. "

Among China's guqin music, there is a piece that is still being played and sung today, called Night Cry. Zhang Ji, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote An Introduction to Night Cry, in which there was a quotation saying: "Li Mian's Qin Shuo said that Night Cry was written by Yanhe's daughter. At the beginning, Yan was in prison and two Wu stopped at home. The woman said,' If there is no happiness, the father will forgive himself.' So I wrote this exercise. "Zhang Ji's poem goes like this:" "Wu Qin was so dumb that he cried all night in the official's house in Chang 'an. An official who committed a crime and went to prison can make amends if he sells all his property. The young woman cried at night and knew that there was a government pardon. I am very happy when I get up, but I am not awake in class. The young woman speaks very gently, so you should be careful not to fake cry. You can use your imperial tree as a nest, so that you won't hurt your young every year. Yanhe was a metaphysical scholar in the Wei Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms, and Li Mian was a senior official and clan in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that he is also a musician and a piano master. Commentators of later generations pointed out that there was also a poem "Wu Ye Tune" in the Qing Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, which was written by Wang Linchuan in the Song Dynasty, "agreeing with different things".

1998 Ted hughes, the British poet laureate who died, never collected the last book of poetry. It is said that he only collected two-thirds of his poems, and some of his poems were not even finished. Therefore, some literary researchers believe that this shows the poet's pursuit of "blank". In ancient China, crows often entered poetry. Here, find an ancient poem about crows to end. Bai Juyi's "My Night Cry" eulogizes the crow's feedback, criticizes the world and attacks the unfilial people in the world, which is well worth reading:

The second time I lost my mother, I vomited because I was dumb. Don't fly day and night, keep the old forest old. Crying in the middle of the night every night, everyone who smells it will be moved. If you tell me in your voice, you won't give back to your heart. A hundred birds have no mother, but they are very sad. What makes you sad should be your mother's kindness. Once upon a time, there was a Wu Qizhe whose mother died. What disciple, the heart is not as good as a bird. The second thing gives the second thing, and the bird once applied.