--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Raymond Goh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear Ronni, Margaret, and those interested in Hai Dee,
Here is my summary of the remarkable study of Prof Kang Bao Cheng treatise on opera gods. It is a 136 pg treatise written in Chinese. I am going to summarize in various part, and try to put together the pieces. Those part that you need more explanation, I can check more from the references. So let us start at the very beginning : of a beautiful love story of the cowherd and the weaver girl. --------------------------------------------------------------- The following adapted from wikipedia: Qi Xi (Chinese: ä¸å¤; pinyin: qÄ« xÄ«; literally "The Night of Sevens"), sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day or Magpie Festival, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar; thus its name. It also inspired Tanabata in Japan and Chilseok in Korea. . It is also known by the following names: The Festival to Plead for Skills (ä¹å·§ç¯; qÇ qiÇo jié) The Seventh Sister's Birthday (ä¸å§èª; qÄ« jiÄ dà n) The Night of Skills (å·§å¤; qiÇo xÄ«) In 2008, this festival falls on August 7. The story of Cowherd and Weaver Girl In late summer, the stars Altair and Vega are high in the night sky, and the Chinese tell the following love story, of which there are many variations: A young cowherd named Niulang (Chinese: çé; pinyin: niú láng; literally "the cowherd", the star Altair) happens across seven fairy sisters bathing in a lake. Encouraged by his mischievous companion the ox, he steals their clothes and waits to see what will happen. The fairy sisters elect the youngest and most beautiful sister Zhinü (simplified Chinese: ç»å¥³; traditional Chinese: ç¹"女; pinyin: zhÄ« nÇ; literally "the weaver girl", the star Vega) to retrieve their clothing. She does so, but since Niulang has seen her naked, she must agree to his request for marriage. She proves to be a wonderful wife, and Niulang a good husband, and they are very happy together. But the Goddess of Heaven (in some versions Zhinü's mother) finds out that a mere mortal has married one of the fairy girls and is furious. (In another version, the Goddess forced the weaver fairy back to her former duty of weaving colorful clouds in the sky because she could not do her job while married to the mortal.) Down on Earth, Niulang is very upset learning that his wife is gone. Suddenly, his cow begins to talk telling him that if he kills him and puts on his hide, he will be able to go up to Heaven to find his. With tears flowing, he killed the cow, put on the skin and went to Heaven to find Zhinü. The Goddess found out he had come and was very angry. Taking out her hairpin, the Goddess scratches a wide river in the sky to separate the two lovers forever (thus forming the Milky Way, which separates Altair and Vega). Zhinü must sit forever on one side of the river, sadly weaving on her loom, while Niulang watches her from afar and takes care of their two children (his flanking stars β and γ Aquilae or by their Chinese names Hè Gu 1 and Hè Gu 3). But once a year all the magpies in the world take pity on them and fly up into heaven to form a bridge (éµ²æ©, "the bridge of magpies", Que Qiao) over the star Deneb in the Cygnus constellation so the lovers may be together for a single night, the seventh night of the seventh moon. --------------------- Young girls traditionally demonstrate their domestic arts, especially melon carving, on this day and make wishes for a good husband. Other activities in the olden days as follows: Song Dynasty - The girls will practice their skills in embroidery and see who can get the qiao (skill) The girls will put a spider in a box. the girl who has the spider with the most beautiful web means she can get the qiao (skills) Buying Mo Hou Lou In Song Dynasty, Qi Xi is a very important festival, and there were many shops and buildings catering for the "night of skills" In particular, some vendors will sell a kind of clay dolls. This is believed to bring fertility to the girl. Prof Kang said that the meaning of Qi Xi does not necessary mean the night of skills and he quote some references whereby Qi Xi means to pray for a son. In the spider web game mentioned above, it was previously played by the emperor and his concubine. Next he relate æ`©ä¾¯ç½ (Mo Hou Lou) to be that of æ`©è¯è¿¦ç½ This æ`©è¯è¿¦ç½ is none other than Mahakala (or Daikokuten - evolved from Shiva) At the Song and Tang Dynasty, Mo Hou Lou does not appear as a form of doll in opera yet. At that time in opera, Prof Kang has given examples whereby Mou Hou Lou has been portrayed as : 1) one that can be used to make a child more intelligent 2) can be playtoy for the children Kang believed that the concept of a doll as an opera deity only arises during the Yuan Dynasty and not during the Tang and Song Dynasty. End of Part 1 of Kang treatise (this is only one part of his treatise) - I only give a brief sketch of this theory of Mahakala here. Prof Kang has given some other examples of this Buddhist link. However, lets take a look later of what he says about the other opera deities first. --------------------------- Back to our modern world, in the 50s and 60's at Chinatown, people still celebrate Qi Xi. Here the woman make paper dolls, dresses, shoes, embroidery work etc. Different regions of woman will compete for their hand skills then. Qi Xi in Whampoa District, Guangdong All Hai Dee pictures by Ronni I have came across only one reference when mentioned 3 puppets. (Most mentioned one puppet) The reference to the 3 puppets can be seen in the book 广ä¸æ°`ä¿å¤§è§ (Observations of Guangdong FolkLore) pg 115 - 116 , on the topic Teochew opera It is also available in the web : http://www.chaofeng.org/article/detail.asp?id=3021 The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is very similar to another story, that of Dong Yong and the Weaver Girl. When the play, "The fairy give the son" is finished, Dong Yong will carry a big wooden red plate, containing the "lord prince", the scholar hat, and two slogans taken from one of plays "Jumping for success", and passed to a village elder. This "lord prince" is the puppet doll which the fairy carried in her arms when handing over to Dong Yong. But in the show, there is only one puppet, but for this ritual for sending the prince, sometimes there is a set of 3 puppets. TEOCHEW WAYANG ACTORS IN PRELIMINARY RELIGIOUS CEREMONY PERFORMED AT THE ALTAROF THE TEMPLE KNOWN AS THE CHONG YUAN HOO GIN, A STORY ABOUT A MARRIAGE BETWEEN A HEAVENLY PRINCESS AND A MORTAL AND THE CHILD FROM THEIR UNION. - Picture by Ronni from PICAS archives A village elder carries Hai Dee (given by Dong Yong and wife) together with the scholar hat For the teochew opera video of the receiving of Hai Dee http://img.ku6.com/common/V2.0.baidu.swf?vid=FBMvxLQ-09cNVxbz&c=b351 In folklore, people explained the set of 3 as the 3 sons of Li Jing : Kim Zha, Mu Zha and Ne Zha.. Two of them would wear sandals, while the 3rd is barefooted. Also they must have male genital organs. After the village elder received the puppets, he put it on the altar opposite the opera stage, for people to pray. This ritual of receving the "lord prince" has many connotations : one is to able to increase one offspring, and even so when given by heavenly beings, and also multipe offsprings, the slogans and the blessings usually mean that the offspring will be successful in work and study etc. As for the sandals / barefoot, the meaning may be related to "all seasons". As you know, in the Spring Cow Diagram explained earlier, both foot with sandals mean little rain, barefooted mean heavy rain, while one foot bare and one foot with sandal mean adequate rain. So this may mean success/fruitful harvest for all seasons, rain or shine. ---------------- More to follow as we examine further Prof Kang treatise on the various opera gods (Er Lang Shen, Tang Huang, Lao Yeh etc), and how he connect the various pieces in the jigsaw puzzle. ----------------- Raymond PS : going to Pakistan for one week this Sat, may not post Part II soon. --- End forwarded message ---
