Six strange customs in ancient times
The history of human civilization is a history of slow civilization. Although we follow the principle of compiling history for our ancestors, many times, we can still see those uncivilized customs in ancient times. If we use current Internet terms, I can only say that it hurts the eyes.
1. The "self-dead kilns" of the elderly are left in dense rows along the river in the northwest section of the Han River and Hubei Province. They seem to confirm a strange ancient custom that has a long history of legends: abandoning the elderly. In ancient times, the custom of abandoning the elderly has always existed in many ethnic groups or regions. People over the age of 60 were considered to be no longer useful to society and should be allowed to die on their own, so they would be sent to caves or earthen caves dug on cliffs and sit still. These stone caves or earthen caves are called "Old Man Cave" and "Self-Death Kilns" for the elderly.
According to local folk legend, due to an emergency, the young man had no choice but to rely on the experience and wisdom of an old man who survived by luck to settle it. From then on, people realized that the elderly are treasures and should be allowed to end a good death. The "self-death kiln" may also be the "originator" of hanging burials and hanging coffins. The above-mentioned "abandonment of his mother" should be in line with the strange custom of this old man's "self-death kiln".
2. Eating and abandoning mothers in ancient China farming was invented by women. In order to achieve a bumper harvest, women set many taboos for themselves to avoid offending the gods. In matriarchal clan society, elderly women who have lost their labor force have become a burden on the clan, so a custom of "eating mothers" is popular, using "simulated witchcraft" to transfer the elderly's farming experience to their descendants. Then he "abandoned his mother" and sent the elderly women to deep mountains and forests, leaving them to fend for themselves in nature.
3. Men's "confinement" Since ancient times, there have been strange customs in many areas of our country that after a woman gave birth to a child, her husband "confinement" at home, and the mother went to work in the fields. "Foreign Objects Annals" records that "Liao's wife gave birth to a child, and her husband lay down when she was tired..." The custom of men to "confinement" is called the "owen system" in history. This custom is still popular in some areas of our country and among primitive tribes abroad. "Ownerism" is the product of the struggle between patriarchy and matriarchy in primitive society. The original marriage system of mankind was matrilineal and clan group marriage. People only knew their mother but not their father. After the establishment of patriarchy, men used "pretending to give birth" to convince the world that he was the one who gave birth.
4. Killing the eldest son and offering sacrifices to the god In ancient times, after the new grain matured, people did not dare to eat it first and would sacrifice the "first grain" to the god of agriculture. This custom extends to killing the eldest son and offering sacrifices to the gods. The thinking logic of women in the primitive era was: Only by killing the eldest son to sacrifice to the gods and winning the favor of the gods could she be given more children. Ancient books call this cruel and strange custom "killing the eldest son to treat the younger brother." The ignorance of "God enjoys it first" has also caused some ethnic minorities in the south to regard destroying women's virginity as the biggest taboo, forming that "you can only talk to yellow-haired women." The custom of "not marrying a yellow-haired girl" and the sacred mission of giving a yellow-haired girl a bud can only be exercised by the wizard or the Tusi King.
5. Polyandry was once popular among ancient rice-growing nations. The so-called "Azhu marriage" refers to a form of walking marriage with the characteristics of pairing marriage. The man and woman who establish a marriage relationship do not call each other husband and wife, but are called "Azhu", which is equivalent to today's lover relationship. A woman may have multiple "Ah notes", and the more husbands or lovers a woman has, the more glorious she will be. This may be due to the need of the labor force at the time. Imagine, the more husbands or lovers you have, when the spring plowing and autumn harvests are busy, the lovers will come to help, so you won't have to worry about missing farming. Some Naxi people living in the southwest still have this primitive social form of "Azhu Marriage".
6. Brother and sister married Fuxi and Nuwa were the ancestors of mankind in China myths and legends. Just like Adam and Eve in the Western world, they married and jointly created mankind. But Fuxi and Nuwa are brother and sister. The myth of Nuo Gong Nuo Niang, which is still circulated among ethnic minorities, is also the marriage of brothers and sisters to reproduce human beings. In fact, during the primitive blood commune period, although humans ended "mixed marriage" and prohibited marriage between different generations, brothers and sisters were allowed to intermarry each other. The marriage between Fuxi and Nuwa brothers and sisters is in line with the morality of blood marriage. In unearthed stone reliefs from Han tombs and silk paintings from the Tang Dynasty, Fuxi and Nu Wa often make mating shapes, symbolizing the union of husband and wife.
These customs are the product of the development stage of primitive society and the dross in the historical development of mankind's gradual civilization. With the improvement of human civilization, these customs will eventually only disappear in the long river of history.