In the last article, we talked about the earliest known Chu Silk Manuscript which mentioned the creator god Fuxi, and along with him was a goddess - Nüwa. The Chu Silk Manuscript records that Nüwa and Fuxi had four children who later became the gods representing the four seasons.
Besides this, are there any other legends about Nüwa herself?
Of course, there are, and they are many and great:
Nüwa Creates Humans.
In a legend, one day Nüwa passed by the banks of the Yellow River and recalled that since the beginning of the world, she had created mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, as well as birds and beasts, transforming the originally silent world. However, Nüwa always felt that the world was still missing something, but she couldn't think of what it was for a while. When she looked down in contemplation and saw her reflection in the Yellow River, she suddenly realized. The world was missing beings like herself, "humans". So, Nüwa modeled the appearance of humans after her own and shaped clay figures from the Yellow River's soil, then applied divine power, and the clay figures turned into humans.
This method of creating humans was too slow, so she soon came up with a brilliant way to create humans. She pulled down a withered vine from a cliff, dipped it into a mud pool, stirring it into a muddy yellow paste, and with a flick of her hand, wherever the mud splashed, many humans appeared.
Nüwa created both women and men, and she thought that as humans, they would one day die. What to do after death? Making a new batch was too troublesome. So Nüwa pleaded with the heavens to arrange marriages between men and women, and thus marriage came into being, and she is also seen as the goddess of marriage and love.
Nüwa Mends the Sky
After Nüwa created humans, people lived peacefully for a long time. Suddenly one day, one of the four great pillars supporting the sky fell, and many holes appeared in the sky. Rainwater poured out of these holes, causing a flood. Even monsters took advantage of the chaos to commit atrocities. People were displaced in the disaster, and many lost their lives.
Seeing the suffering of living beings, Nüwa decided to mend the sky and save people. Nüwa smelted five-colored stones to repair the sky, cut off the feet of a giant turtle in the sea to make new pillars to support the sky, killed a black dragon to save Jizhou, and used reed ash to block the flood.
The sky was mended, the pillars of the world were re-erected, the floodwaters receded, and peace returned to the Central Plains; the fierce birds and beasts died, and the kind-hearted people survived.
《淮南子·说林训》：黄帝生阴阳，上骈生耳目，桑林生臂手，此女娲所以七十化也。
（东汉高诱注：“黄帝，古天神也，始造人之时，化生阴阳；上骈、桑林，皆神名；女娲，王天下者也。七十变造化，此言造化治世非一人之功也。”）
**《太平御览》引《风俗通义》：**俗说天地开辟，未有人民，女娲抟黄土做人。剧务，力不暇供，乃引（牵、拉）绳于泥中，举以为人。故富贵者，黄土人；贫贱者，引縆（绳）人也。
Nüwa's Sacrificial Ceremony The legend of Nüwa itself has a strong cultural vitality. After a thousand years of feudal rule, it has not only not been dissolved or subverted but has become more and more fresh with the evolution of history.
After the Tang and Song dynasties, Nüwa's tomb and temple appeared, and folk beliefs began to spread. Although there were phenomena of Nüwa and Fuxi sharing sacrifices in official sacrificial activities, the two have always appeared side by side and equally.
As a creator god and the independent divine status of the mother god, Nüwa is obviously irreplaceable.
Well, that's the story for today, and tomorrow we will continue to explore China's creator gods.
If you have anything to say, remember to comment. See you tomorrow.
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