How was the hanging coffin formed, and what kind of psychological sustenance was behind it?
I remember that there was a time when I watched a documentary about the Three Gorges Dam. It was said that when the Three Gorges Dam was impounded, many ancient hanging coffins were submerged by water. When I saw the hanging coffin on TV, I couldn't help but marvel. Because the hanging coffin is hung extremely high and in an extremely steep place, it can't help but remind people of powerful martial arts masters or swordsmen. So what exactly is the hanging coffin? Please listen to JAL’s explanation below.
1. What is a hanging coffin?
As you can see from the literal meaning, the hanging coffin is a hanging burial method. That is, several holes are dug on the cliff, wooden boards are laid, and the coffin is hung on it.
The burial custom of hanging coffins is mainly popular in southern China, such as Sichuan Province, Yunnan Province, Guizhou Province, Hunan Province and other places. It is also distributed in the Shanxi region in the north.
We all know that in traditional Chinese funeral rituals, people are buried in the ground for peace of mind. Generally speaking, people are buried in the ground for peace of mind. The habit of hanging a coffin can be said to be contrary to the traditional sense of burial. There are several main explanations for why hanging coffins are used for burial. 1. The pursuit of good luck and comparison
According to ancient records, it is believed that there was a custom in the ancient southern region that believed that the higher the place, the closer it was to the gods. Therefore, they did not bury people under the ground but hung them high. , hoping that people can be as close to gods as possible after death. Moreover, the cliff is a relatively mysterious and inaccessible place. In their opinion, it is the favorite place for gods to come. Therefore, after death, the body is buried in a hanging coffin.
Because of the influence of this concept, everyone thinks that the higher a person hangs after death, the closer he is to the gods, and the easier it is to obtain the protection of the gods. As a result, everyone has a comparison mentality. This custom arose when coffins began to be hung as high as possible to be closer to the gods. 2. Worship of stones
As the saying goes, "There is more drought in the north and more water in the south." We modern people all know that this is actually caused by the instability of the monsoon climate. But the ancient people didn't know, so they attributed the relevant reasons to gods. Every time a major flood occurs, people rush to the rocky mountains, hoping to escape the flood. Over time, people regard the rocky mountains as a symbol of their own protective gods.
Therefore, the custom of hanging coffins is an expression of people's worship of rocks. They hope to protect their own affairs and descendants through the mysterious power of rocks. This is due to the special local climate conditions and the poor ability of ancient people to withstand natural disasters.
In another view, stones represent a symbol of having many children. There are many local legends such as "child mother stone". In the case of ancient population growth rate, people regarded stones as a symbol of fertility. I wish to have many children and many blessings, so I hope to be closer to the rocky cliffs.
2. How is the hanging coffin hung?
I think everyone must be very curious about this issue. When I was a child, I wondered if some kind of expert who could climb over walls and climb over walls would put the hanging coffin up? There is definitely no such thing as an expert, but the hanging coffin is a real reflection of the wisdom of ancient people. Although we modern people have done a lot of experiments, we still don't have a definite conclusion on how to place the hanging coffin. At present, there are mainly several opinions like this. 1. Use the pulley technology
This method is to hang people down with a rope from the top of the cliff, then dig small holes in the cliff, and then nail wood on the small holes to place the coffin in advance. place. The coffin was then suspended from the cliff using a pulley tool (windlass tool), and then placed on the cliff.
This method has been tested by later generations, and I also watched related documentaries at that time. For example, the Fujian Provincial Museum has conducted this experiment, and it has been proven that this method is feasible. However, some people have raised questions, thinking that this is a practice of using the present to judge the past, and believe that it is difficult for the southern peoples thousands of years ago to use winches, pulleys or even steel ropes, so they think there is a lack of strong evidence.
2. Take advantage of the rising water level
We mentioned at the beginning that when the Three Gorges Dam impounds water, many hanging coffins will be submerged. Some people think that when the water level rose, the ancients took boats and placed the coffins in caves or artificial placement platforms. In this way, when the water level dropped, the strange scene of the hanging coffins would occur.
The problem with this statement is that some hanging coffins are located very high. In the absence of dams in ancient times, it was difficult to raise the water level to this height, so there are also questions.