Thus, Raytheon worship became the folk custom of Leizhou ancestors. At the same time, because ancient Leizhou is a place where slang, Liao, Yi, Miao, Li and other ancient Yue nationalities live together, Baiyue tribes have their own worship totems. Folk (wild cats) are regarded as common sayings, while cats are regarded as totems by the Gelao and Miao nationalities, and Pan Hu is regarded as a totem by the Yi people first, and then by dogs. With the constant change of social life, Baiyue people live together. Under the interaction of Leizhou's special natural conditions and diverse social and national folk culture, they experienced the process of retaining, deducing and integrating their original totem worship. The worship of Raytheon by ancient Yue people, slang people and Lao people, and the worship of dog totem by Yi people and Gelao people have gradually become the totem recognized by the ancestors of Baiyue people in Leizhou in production and life, and the worship of dog totem has naturally become the origin of Leizhou stone dog culture.
With the development of social history and the integration of folk culture, Leizhou stone dog is constantly adding new connotations. Originated from the legend of "Nine-Eared God Dog" in the Southern Dynasties (569-582), the birth of Raytheon or Leizu Chen Wenyu was closely linked with the good news of dog ears, which undoubtedly laid the foundation for the extensiveness of Leizhou stone dog culture. According to legend, during the period of Chen Taijian in the Southern Dynasties, there was an Orion named Chen in Leizhou, who had no children and had a strange dog with nine ears. Every time he goes hunting, he gets a beast with moving ears, and the number of animals he gets corresponds to the number of dogs with moving ears. One day, the dog's nine ears moved together, and Chen thought that today would be a bumper harvest. When hunting, the nine-eared dog barked in the jungle and thorns. Chen was surprised. When he was chopping wood, he got a huge egg. When he took it home, it was thunderous and the egg cracked. A man wrote the words "Lei" and "Zhou" on his left and right hands. The villagers think this is a kind of thunder, a kind of god. Chen Feng did it, followed by Leizhou secretariat. After his death, he was worshipped as Raytheon or Leizu by Leizhou people. Dogs can bring good news to their sons, which actually reflects the desire of Leizhou ancestors to pray for prosperity and development, that is, reproductive worship Because of the strong reproductive ability of dogs, there is a halo of "giving good news to your son", and there are also stone dogs carved with huge genitals in Leizhou as a spiritual object to pray and bless reproductive development.
From the Tang and Five Dynasties to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, many Han people in the Central Plains and Minnan people moved to Linghai to Leizhou to escape the war. The integration of ethnic religion and Leizhou folk religious culture brought by them has gradually diversified Leizhou culture. Religious color is more intense, especially influenced by Taoist culture, Buddhist culture and geomantic omen theory. For example, Shi Gandang, Eight Diagrams, Lucky for Treasure, Emperor, Taishan Shi Gandang, etc., combined with the folk function of Leizhou stone dog, the stone dog gradually evolved into the spirit of patron saint and was endowed with new historical and cultural folk connotation. Stone dogs were originally placed at the gate or in front of the ancestral temple, and gradually developed into villages, roadsides and alleys to protect hillsides, rivers and cemeteries. Where people think there are fierce elephants, stone dogs are set up to suppress them. Some stone dogs, influenced by Buddhist culture, also have this effect by mixing lion shapes into plastic arts. Different geographical locations of stone dogs have different social and folk effects.
Although ancient Leizhou belongs to the southern wilderness, it has long been taught by sound. Although the stone dog in Leizhou is the patron saint of exorcism and killing evil spirits, there are few evil images and many smiles, which is undoubtedly the embodiment of Leizhou people's cultural heritage of advocating benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom.
The cultural background of Leizhou stone dog is complex and diverse, with rich connotations and wide uses. The above briefly expounds the main cultural background and uses of Leizhou stone dog. In addition, there are stone dogs whose teeth or legs were knocked out because of the Taoist theory of the unity of man and nature. There are also stone dogs who think they are spiritual, and they lift their tails when they see girls, so people avoid their sexuality, so they damage the genitals of stone dogs who flirt with women, and even have the custom of sprinkling limewater on stone dogs when the bride gets married ... Limited to space, I won't go into details one by one.