The legend and cultural connotation of the Shibi magic instrument of the Qiang Nationality

Zhang Rongyan

（Sichuan Normal University，Chengdu，Sichuan Province 610000）

Abstract： Qiang nationality has the reputation of "nation on the cloud".Most of the Qiang tribes are located in Sichuan Province.In the long history, Qiang nationality has always been an ancient and mysterious nationality.It was not until the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake that the government protected and rebuilt the Qiang nationality that the mystery of this nationality was really uncovered and the cultural classics of Qiang nationality were truly and comprehensively displayed Come out.The status of Shibi is supreme in the Qiang society.There are many kinds of Shibi tools with different functions, and they are endowed with a variety of myths and legends and cultural connotations with characteristics.

Key words：Qiang nationality；Buddhist instruments；myths and legends；cultural

一、The cultural background of Shibi of Qiang Nationality

The Qiang nationality is one of the oldest nationalities in China.The main groups are distributed in Maoxian, Lixian, Wenchuan, Mianyang and other places in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province.In the unique living environment surrounded by mountains, the Qiang people have also created their own folk customs with their own characteristics.They have their own beliefs and worship.They advocate the polytheism of "all things have spirit", which is the origin of the ideology On this basis, the shaman Shibi of Qiang nationality and the Shibi culture based on Shibi gradually formed and improved."Shibi", also known as "Xu", "Duangong" and so on, has different names in different tribes.In the hearts of the Qiang people, Shibi is a messenger of God.As the leader and guardian of the Qiang people,he has all kinds of culture and ability.Festival sacrifice, geomantic omen divination, eliminating diseases, weddings and funerals, farming and so on include all aspects of life Shibi cultural classics are generally divided into three categories: upper,middle and lower.For the upper category, the main content is to make a wish to the gods; for the middle category, the main content is to pray to the gods for the prosperity of talents; for the forest, village or family, there is no disaster; for the lower category,the main content is to drive ghosts to cure diseases,to exorcise and summon spirits for the murderers.However,due to various factors such as natural disasters and war migration, the writing of the Qiang people has not been left behind, so the Shibi cultural writing of the Qiang people has been preserved by the oral transmission of Shibi from generation to generation.

二、Inheritance of Qiang culture

（一）Internal inheritance of Qiang nationality

First, there are many myths and legends among the Qiang people, such as the legend of flood and tide,the legend of Baishi, the legend of Shibi and so on,These myths have a subtle influence on the folk customs of the Qiang people.For example, the fire pond is sacred to the Qiang people, so the Qiang people can't say some unlucky words or do something against the gods beside the fire pond.Although there is no written record in the early days, these customs have become a habit and ability in front of the Qiang people.Secondly, Shibi is the most important inheritor of Qiang's classic culture and the most authoritative and cultural leader in Qiang village.Shibi culture is the core carrier of Qiang's classic culture.However, Shibi has many restrictions on inheritors in the past dynasties, because the Qiang people have no national characters and can only teach by heart and by mouth.There are hundreds of sutras and hundreds of thousands of words sung by Shibi,Therefore, the heirs of Shibi must have a clear mind and a strong memory, and all the heirs are male.They should be able to bear hardships and stand hard work and have no evil thoughts in their hearts.They can pass on from generation to generation, know all kinds of myths and legends of their own nation and the life skills left by their ancestors, and use their life to maintain the life of the Qiang people.

（二）Strong support from the state

Since the founding of the people's Republic of China, domestic scholars began to explore and study the Qiang people, and gradually involved all aspects of the Qiang people.2008 is an important node.After the "Wenchuan earthquake", the state has increased support and protection for the Qiang people.In order to reach the grassroots, the government also strongly supports the communities, schools and theaters to carry out educational exhibitions Activities, so that the traditional national culture more grounded and be recognized, so that the masses of national culture from the simple perception to understand the depth of rational perception, so as to attract more people to join the Qiang cultural activities, strengthen the sense of identity and belonging to the nation, promote national unity and social harmony and progress.

（三）The folk culture connotation of monkey fur hat and sheepskin drum

The traditional monkey head cap is made of the whole golden monkey skin.The front of monkey fur cap is generally round mouth with flat top and no brim.On the top of the hat, there are three raised hat forks,or Guanfeng, in the shape of "mountain".From left to right, the first point represents black and white, the second point represents heaven, and the third point represents earth."The three raised Guanfeng represent the three gods, the God of heaven, the God of earth,and the God of ancestor.In some areas, the brim of the hat is inlaid with shells, or inlaid with the sun,moon, or Tai Chi style bronze medals, and some Shibi will inlay the animal bones and conch on the hat to show their ability.

Golden monkey head cap and sheepskin drum are the most sacred and commonly used magic tools of Shibi.Now golden monkey is listed as an endangered and rare protected animal by the state, so it is now replaced by sheepskin.The styles and materials of sheepskin drum hat in different areas are different, which reflects the regional differences and subjective differences in the development of Shibi culture, In the process of the evolution of the times, due to the influence of the objective and subjective environment,the classic culture of Shibi in various regions has deviated, which is also the most important factor that leads to the difference of magic tools and deviates from the tradition.

To sum up, the Shibi cultural classics occupy a dominant position in the traditional Qiang culture.The Shibi magic tools formed around the Shibi culture have various forms and natural materials, but they have extremely rich cultural connotations.Nowadays,under the trend of cultural industry, in order to show the Qiang culture more comprehensively, the Qiang Folk Culture is gradually commercialized and performed,losing the original Qiang spirit, which requires us to explore the deeper history and connotation of the Qiang.