Yue Lao
Yue Lao ( Chinese 月下老人 , Pinyin Yuè Xià Lǎorén ) is a deity of marriage and love in Chinese mythology . He is a Xian of Taoism . He appears at night as an old man under the moon and unites the married couples who are destined for each other with a silk cord, according to which nothing can prevent their coming together. He is immortal and it is said that he lives either in the moon or in the obscure regions (Yue Ming), the Chinese equivalent of Hades . The corresponding Kami of Shinto is Musubi-no-Kami, the god of marriage brokerage , love and marriage . In Taiwan, offerings are made in temples to Yue Xia Laoren on Qixi , Chinese Valentine's Day.
Legend
There is a Chinese legend about the old man under the moon. During the Tang Dynasty , there was a young man named Wei Gu (韋 固Wéi Gù ). As he passed Songcheng City, he saw an old man leaning against his bundle, reading a book in the moonlight. As he was amazed, Wei Gu came closer and asked him what he would do. The old man replied, “I read the book of Marriage, which lists who is supposed to marry someone. In my bundle there are red silk cords (Yīnyuán hóngxiàn, 姻緣 紅線 / 姻缘 红线 ) with which the feet of husband and wife are connected ”. When Wei Gu and the old man were walking to a market square together, they saw a blind old woman carrying a three-year-old girl in her arms. The old man said to Wei Gu, "This little girl will be your wife in the future." Wei Gu thought this was too strange to believe, and he ordered his servant to stab the girl with his knife.
Fourteen years later, Wang Tai, the governor of Xiangzhou , married his daughter to Wei Gu. He had difficulty finding a suitable superior husband for his daughter, even though she was a beautiful young woman, because she had difficulty walking and a large scar on the sacrum of her back. When Wei Gu asked how this happened, he was told that she was stabbed there by a man with a knife fourteen years ago.
After ten years with three children born, Wei Gu looked for the old man to find suitable spouses for his two sons and daughter. The old man refused to find spouses for his children. In later years Wei Gu tried to find spouses for his children himself, but was unsuccessful.
Appearance in fictional stories
Yue-Laou appears as a character in Robert W. Chambers ' short story The Maker of Moons in the short story collection of the same name from 1896. He is the leader of the Kuen-Yuin, a sect of Chinese wizards, and is called the "Maker of Moons". He had corrupted the Xin, the good Genii of China, and turned them into monsters. In this short story, it is revealed that he is Ysonde's stepfather and is linked to a horde of gold makers. Although he is obviously killed, his body is never found.
Web links
- Yue Lao: The Matchmaking God , theworldofchinese.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Julie Cheng, Gernot Prunner: Wegweiser zur Völkerkunde, issues 37-39 self-published by the Hamburgisches Museum für Völkerkunde, 1990, p. 90 [1]
- ^ A b Yue Laou in: E. Cobham Brewer, "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable", 1898.
- ^ A b East India Company The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany Vol. XXVII Published by Wm. H. Allen & Co., 1838, p. 25 [2]
- ^ John Renard: The Handy Religion Answer Book, Visible Ink Press, 2012, p. 464 [3]
- ↑ 七 夕 - Chinese Valentine's Day in Taiwan , Radio Taiwan International , August 9, 2011
- ↑ "Legend of Yue Lao, Old Man under the Moon".
- ↑ Ning Huang, Roman Retzbach, Knut Kühlmann: China Knigge: Chinakompetenz in Kultur und Business, Walter de Gruyter, 2015, p. 256 [4]