Myths and legends related to the moon [general expansion]

The story of "the king who wants to touch the moon"

Once upon a time, in the distant Caribbean, there was a kingdom. Like Taiwan Province Province, this kingdom is an island country, surrounded by green forests and blue sea water, with a warm climate all year round. The leader of this kingdom is a proud king. He is always taken care of in trivial matters of life, and his family is always respectful to him and dare not disobey his demands. In fact, the king lacks everything. However, one night, when he was standing on the windowsill of the castle enjoying the cool evening breeze and looking up at the night sky, he was deeply attracted by the bright moonlight and suddenly had a desire to touch the moon.

Once the idea formed in his mind, he immediately called the minister and posted the news that he wanted to touch the moon, asking the minister to realize his wish. The minister knew that the king had a bad temper and was too worried to sleep. Finally, the next morning, he put forward a plan: mobilize the whole country and build a tower, on which the king could climb and touch the moon. The king accepted this suggestion and immediately asked all parts of the country to contribute wooden boxes, large and small, and put them at home, one after another, piling up higher and higher, just like piles of wood. However, when these wooden boxes were used up, there was still a long way to go from the moon, so the king ordered the people of the whole country to cut down all the wood in the country and use it to build wooden boxes. Those who refuse to obey will be put in prison because the king said, "In my country, there is no' no'." When all the trees in the kingdom were cut down, the tower almost reached the sky, so the king happily began to climb the tower layer by layer. However, when the king reached the top of the tower and reached out to touch the moon, he found that it was still a little short. So he shouted to people far from the ground, "Give me another wooden box."

People answered him helplessly: "There are no more wooden cases." . The king, who just wanted to touch the moon, ordered, "Pass the wooden box at the bottom." . As soon as people heard it, they knew something was wrong and responded, "But …". The king said angrily, "There is no such word in my kingdom." People knew they couldn't disobey the king's orders, so they pulled out the wooden box at the bottom. Just then, all the wooden boxes shook and scattered all over the floor. The king who wanted to touch the moon fell from a height and died.

Aboriginal people in Taiwan Province Province

The moon in aboriginal oral literature is simply an individual with a fresh breath of life; In Ami mythology, the sun and the moon are a couple, and they often visit the gods who descended from the sky as human ancestors.

Another Ami myth is that the moon taught the surviving brothers and sisters how to get close to each other before giving birth to normal children, because the brothers and sisters listened to the advice of the sun and got married, but gave birth to some strange creatures; The moon told them, "Because you are brother and sister, you shouldn't get married, so you should dig a hole in the mat and put it between you so that you can have good children." Later, the brother and sister really gave birth to four children, that is, the ancestors of mankind; Another story tells a girl who is often abused by her stepmother. In order to prevent people from seeking justice for her, she would rather go to heaven. Five days later, people really saw the girl on the moon.

The myth of shooting the sun in many nationalities regards the moon as the result of shooting the sun; For example, the story of the Atayal people tells that there were two suns in the sky in the past, and there was no difference between day and night, so human life was extremely bitter. So, three young people took their babies on a distant journey to shoot the sun, and once the babies on their backs were all adults, they arrived at the place to shoot the sun. One person shoots an arrow and hits the sun. The sun bleeds, so it loses light and heat and becomes the moon. Shadow is the mark of arrow wound. The myth of the Zou nationality is similar to this. Furthermore, the red stones seen on the ground are all stained with the blood of the sun. The stories of some ethnic groups have undergone some changes. The content is that there used to be only the moon, but it didn't appear every day. Besides, there are shadows on the moon. Every night, the earth is dark and vegetation can't grow, which makes people feel extremely inconvenient. So they sent two young soldiers to shoot at the moon. Decades later, one of them shot an arrow at the moon and removed the shadow, and the earth was normal.

The story of the people in the north and south tells that once the earth was flooded, even the sun and moon in the sky sank into the water, and the five surviving brothers and sisters floated on the sea and finally found a piece of land; Because the earth is dark, a man and a woman are sent to the sky as a new sun and a new moon in order to find other humans. In the creation myth of the northern and southern nationalities, the moon and the sun brought children to the world. The first one is a man, followed by monkeys, horses, deer, fish and birds. Later, the ancestors of northern and southern people spread that planting sweet potatoes should be based on the changes of the moon. You can't farm when the moon is full, but you can only farm when the moon is short. If the moon is like a sickle, don't cultivate it. Another Ami legend mentioned that the two brothers and sisters did not feel happy dancing because they comforted their father in the spirit of heaven after finishing their mother's explanation; Three people jumped and gradually entered the ground. They said with one voice, "We have done everything we should. Tonight, the moon is my brother, tomorrow morning, the sun in the eastern sky is my brother, and the shining stars in the dark sky are my sisters. We will always benefit mankind. Bye, mom. These plots clearly show that these peoples believe that the sun, moon and stars are man-made. The connection between the moon and indigenous people 18-year-old farming can also be found in some stories, such as the story of Beinan nationality mentioned above; Because millet (millet), which was originally the staple food of aborigines, was harvested in autumn, the moonlight in autumn night was particularly bright. Harvest ceremonies or songs and dances of all ethnic groups are mostly held in the bright moonlight. The sharing of the new valley and the new wine made the members of the tribe reunite their thoughts and get emotional relief, looking forward to the same food and clothing in the coming year. Therefore, the perfection of the autumn moon also symbolizes the ardent hope of the people.

(The above data source: Aboriginal Moon Myth Pu Zhongcheng/Associate Professor of Taipei Normal University)

The Moon Myth of Bunun Nationality

In Archaean, there were two suns in the sky, which shone on the earth in turn, resulting in no distinction between day and night. Hot weather brings great inconvenience to human life. A couple worked hard in the farmland, putting the sleeping baby firmly beside the stone pile in the shade of the tree and covering it with palm leaves. Unexpectedly, he was still burned alive by the cruel sun and turned into a lizard hiding in the crack of the stone pile. The father was very angry when he knew it, and vowed to shoot down the sun to avenge his children.

Before embarking on the journey, my father planted an orange tree in front of his house and set out for the place where the sun rose, ready to seal it before the sun took off. My father, who was an accurate marksman, really hit one eye of the sun, and the light of the sun suddenly disappeared into the moon. The moon closed its eyes and reached out to grab people at random. Father escaped through his fingers because his palm was too big. Because one sun was shot on the moon and the other sun dared not take off to shine on the earth, the earth was dark and everyone could not go out to work, let alone find food. Life was very difficult. If people have to go out, they must first throw stones, and judge whether the road or the abyss lies ahead by the sound of the stones falling to the ground. A mountain Qiang who was out foraging was hit in the head by a stone thrown by someone, bleeding profusely. The mountain Qiang was in pain and gave an angry roar. At this moment, something strange happened. The hidden sun was scared away by the roar of Shanqiang, which made the sky shine on the earth again, and people resumed their normal lives, but Shanqiang left a beautiful scar on his forehead.

Later, the moon taught the father who shot at the sun all kinds of rituals and taboos, such as: don't be greedy for sweets when hunting and sowing sacrifices, otherwise you will starve or miss your prey; The child's sacrifice should be held at the full moon, otherwise the child will get sick and die. After my father returned to the tribe, he began to teach his people how to deal with sacrifices. When everyone has learned all the sacrificial ceremonies, the orange tree has grown into a big tree. Therefore, several communities of Bunun nationality will use orange leaves as sacrificial vessels when performing sacrificial ceremonies.

Legend of Gypsies-Children of the Moon

Once upon a time, there was a gypsy woman who had been married to her husband for many years and had no children. One night, she prayed to the moon to give her a child. Soon after, she got pregnant as she wished. However, when the child was born, they found that his eyes were gray and his skin was silver, not black skin and dark brown eyes. The gypsy was very angry and thought that his wife had betrayed him and wanted to kill the child.

The gypsy woman couldn't bear it, took the child to the mountain and abandoned him. The moon has taken care of the child since then. When the moon is full, it is the child who behaves well, and when the moon becomes a new moon, it is the child who cries. The moon made him a cradle to make him stop crying. Compare an albino child to a child of the moon.

moon

Artemis, the goddess of the moon in ancient Greek mythology. She is the sister of Apollo, the sun god. She is beautiful and a very good archer. She is in charge of hunting, often accompanied by her beloved bow and hound. She drives a silver carriage through the night sky every day, representing the cold, loneliness and dead road at night. She is also the patron saint of unmarried girls-she herself is unmarried for life, and there is a sad story in it.

Poseidon, the sea king, had a son named Orion. He likes archery very much. He is a good hunter and likes to run wildly on the sea. The moon goddess likes Oreos very much. They know each other and love each other. They often hunt in the jungle together and run wildly at sea. Apollo, the goddess' brother, hated Oreon and disliked the relationship between his sister and Oreon, so he decided to get rid of Oreon. One day, when Oreon was flying on the sea, Apollo covered Oreon with golden light to hide him, so that no one could see Oreon's true face. Then he encouraged his sister, Moon Goddess, who likes archery, to take gold objects in the distance as targets. Of course, the moon goddess didn't know it was her brother's plot, so she shot an arrow and hit Oregon in the head. Later, when she learned that she had shot her sweetheart Olian, she fell into despair and cried day and night. In order to cherish her love for Oregon forever, she asked Zeus to lift Oregon to the sky, hoping that she could see it at any time when she was running in the sky in a silver carriage. Zeus accepted her request and turned Orion into a constellation in the sky. The goddess swore that she would never get married, and that she would stay with Oregon in the night sky forever.

Themis, the goddess of the moon, likes oak trees very much and always takes her oak stick with her when hunting. People think she is the goddess of oak. In ancient Greece, when people offered sacrifices to the goddess of the moon, they lit oak torches. Later, they provided cookies and lit candles. Finally, it evolved into a way to celebrate children's birthdays-insert candles on the cake at night, blow out the candles and make wishes. The moon goddess will bless the wish come true. Even today, people still celebrate their birthday in this way.

The Goddess Chang's fly to the moon

According to legend, one year in ancient times, ten suns appeared in the sky, which made the earth smoke and the ocean dry up, and ordinary people could no longer live.

This incident alarmed a hero named Hou Yi. He climbed to the top of Kunlun Mountain, drew his bow and shot down nine redundant suns in one breath.

Hou Yi has made great achievements in the world and is respected and loved by the people. Many people with lofty ideals come here to study and be teachers. The treacherous and cunning Meng Peng also mixed in.

Soon, Hou Yi married a beautiful and kind wife named Chang 'e. Besides hunting, Hou Yi spends all his time with his wife, and people envy this beautiful and loving couple.

One day, Hou Yi went to Kunlun Mountain to visit friends and seek truth. He happened to meet the Queen Mother passing by and asked her for a bag of elixir. It is said that taking this medicine can immediately ascend to heaven.

However, Hou Yi was reluctant to leave his wife, so he had to temporarily give the elixir to Chang 'e. Chang 'e hid the medicine in the dresser's treasure chest, but Meng Peng saw it.

Three days later, Hou Yi led his entourage out hunting, while Meng Peng with ulterior motives pretended to be ill.

Shortly after Hou Yi led the crowd to leave, Meng Peng broke into the backyard of the back room with a sword in his hand, threatening Chang 'e to hand over the elixir.

Chang 'e knew that she was no match for Meng Peng. In times of crisis, she made a decisive decision, turned around and opened the treasure chest, took out the elixir and swallowed it in one gulp.

Chang 'e swallowed the medicine and immediately floated off the ground, rushed out of the window and flew into the sky. Because Chang 'e was worried about her husband, she flew to the nearest moon and became a fairy.

In the evening, when Hou Yi came home, the maids cried and told what happened during the day. Hou Yi was surprised and angry, and drew his sword to kill the villain. Meng Peng has escaped. I was so angry that Hou Yi beat his chest and shouted. The grief-stricken Hou Yi looked up at the night sky and called the name of his beloved wife. At this time, he was surprised to find that today's moon is particularly bright and bright, with a swaying figure resembling Chang 'e.

Hou Yi hurriedly sent someone to Chang 'e's favorite back garden, set up a table sweetmeats, put on her favorite honey-eating fresh fruit, and offered a memorial service to Chang 'e at the Moon Palace.

After hearing the news that the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon became an immortal, people set up an incense table under the moon and prayed for good luck and peace to the kind Chang 'e. Since then, the custom of Mid-Autumn Festival in Yue Bai has spread among the people.

The Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon's story, Chang 'e, praised and praised Chang 'e with a clear posture and gorgeous colors. Comparing the records of Chang 'e in ancient literature, we can see that people have done a lot of processing and modification to the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon's story, which makes Chang 'e's image as beautiful as the moon and accords with people's pursuit of beauty. Contrary to the goddess the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, which was widely circulated in modern times, all the ancient Chinese character series Lingxian in China recorded the story of "Chang 'e became a toad": "Chang 'e married his wife, stole the elixir from the Queen Mother and took it to the moon. Will go, occupy the grave. Zhi said, "Ji, you go back to your sister, and you go west alone." . You won't be surprised or afraid when it's dark, but you will prosper in the future.' Chang 'e entrusted herself to the moon for the sake of toad. "After Chang 'e became a toad, she was punished in the moon palace all day and lived a lonely and miserable life. Li Shangyin once lamented Chang 'e in a poem: "Chang 'e should regret stealing the elixir and stay awake at night. "

V Houyi shooting day v

According to legend, Hou Yi and Chang 'e were both Yao people. According to the myth, during the Yao period, ten suns appeared in the sky at the same time, scorching the land and drying the crops. People are breathless and unconscious. Due to the hot weather, some strange birds and animals also ran out from the dry rivers and lakes and the fiery forests, causing harm to people everywhere.

The human disaster alarmed the gods in heaven, and the heavenly emperor Chang Jun ordered Hou Yi, who was good at archery, to come down to earth to help Yao get rid of the people's suffering. Hou Yi came to the world with a red bow, a bag of white arrows and his beautiful wife Chang 'e.

Hou Yi immediately started shooting at the sun. He took the red bow from his shoulder, took out the white arrows and shot them at his arrogant grandson one by one. In an instant, nine out of ten suns were shot. It was only because Yao thought that leaving a grandson was useful to the people that Hou Yi was prevented from continuing shooting. This is the story of the famous Houyi Shooting Day.

However, Hou Yi's great achievements were envied by other gods, who went to the Heaven Emperor to spread rumors and slander, so that the Heaven Emperor finally alienated Hou Yi and sentenced him to the world forever. After being wronged, Hou Yi and his wife Chang 'e had to live in seclusion and hunt for a living by Hou Yi.

How did Chang 'e fly to the moon? There are different versions in ancient books. According to Huai Nan Zi, Hou Yi sympathized with his wife who was exiled to the world because of her troubles, and went to the Queen Mother of the West to ask for the medicine of immortality, so that the husband and wife could live in harmony forever. However, Chang 'e is not used to living a poor life. When Hou Yi was not at home, she stole all the pills and fled to the moon. Another way of saying it is that Qu Yuan (about 340 letters? 78) According to Tian Wen, Hou Yi later cheated on Chang 'e and had an affair with Hebo's wife, which aroused Chang 'e's great dissatisfaction, so he left Hou Yi and ran to the sky. After the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, I soon regretted it. She remembered her husband's kindness to her at ordinary times and the warmth of the world. Compared with the loneliness on the moon, she felt desolate.

Regarding the death of Hou Yi, Mencius, a thinker in the Warring States period (about 372 BC? Mencius (89) and Liu An (BC 179? 22) In the book Huai Nan Zi, it is said that he was assassinated by a renegade disciple, Feng Meng. There are different records about the means of ambush, some say that they were killed with mahogany sticks, and some say that they were killed with dark arrows. In short, the hero of the earth died at the hands of a schemer.

Some legends also say that after the death of Hou Yi, the hero's soul lingered and became a ghostly Zhong Kui god. This statement has been verified by Gu Jiegang (1893- 1980), a famous historian in China, according to the records of Huainanzi and other ancient books. This statement actually reflects the infinite nostalgia of the ancient people of China for this unfortunate lost hero.

Five Zhu Yuanzhang Uprising Five

The traditional food of Mid-Autumn Festival is moon cakes, which are round, symbolizing reunion and reflecting people's good wishes for family reunion. Eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival is said to have started in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang led the Han people to resist the tyranny of the Yuan Dynasty, agreed on the August 15th uprising, and put a note in the moon cake to convey the news. The custom of eating moon cakes on Mid-Autumn Festival spread among the people.

Later, Zhu Yuanzhang finally overthrew the Yuan Dynasty and became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Although Manchu people later entered China, people still celebrated this festival, which symbolized the overthrow of alien rule.

Five, WU GANG hair Guiwu.

Legend has it that there is a laurel tree 500 feet high on the moon. There was a man named WU GANG in the Han Dynasty who was obsessed with fairy tales and didn't concentrate on reading. He was banished to the moon to cut laurel, but the laurel in the moon was also cut, and it was cut endlessly, so later generations could see the image of WU GANG cutting laurel endlessly in the middle of the month.

When does a solar eclipse usually occur?

On the fifteenth and sixteenth days of the lunar calendar, the moon runs in the opposite direction to the sun.

Where do moon cakes come from?

Blank moon cakes, also known as Hu cakes, palace cakes, cookies, moon cakes, reunion cakes, etc. It is an offering to worship the moon god in the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival, and the custom of eating moon cakes has been formed since it was handed down.

Do you know the ancient poems about the moon? Please recite one.

Chang 'e (Li Shangyin)

The mica screen was dyed red by thick candles, and the Milky Way gradually tilted towards the morning star. Chang 'e, I must regret eating the elixir, and now I am alone, in the blue sky, singing every night.

This riddle is interesting.

. "Two rows of mountains reflect distant trees, and a leaf of water crosses a canoe" (type a word-Hui).

"A white sail hangs two pieces, and three cold stars reflect the boat alone" (one word-sadness).

Do you know the story of the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon?

The Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon: Under the threat of Meng Peng, Chang 'e decided to eat her husband's elixir of life and fly to the Moon Palace to live a lonely and miserable life.