We say that Nu Wa's hometown is now Wanrong County, Shanxi Province. There are not only records of the "sweeping altar" built by the Yellow Emperor, but also the Houtu Temple architecture that has been preserved even after several relocations more than 2,000 years ago. 1942 Fuxi and Nu Wa are also clearly recorded in the silk book of the middle and late Warring States period unearthed from the Chu tomb in Changsha. Although this silk book records the earliest and most complete "creationism" myths and legends discovered by China so far, it comes from the written records of the ancients more than 2,400 years ago, so it is more credible.
Since Nu Wa's hometown is on the Fenyin Pheasant, it is logical for the Yellow Emperor to sacrifice the Fenyin Pheasant. It is also understandable that the Yellow Emperor "swept the floor for the altar" in Nuwa's residence, that is, to build a place to worship the Virgin Mary. Why did the Yellow Emperor build a sacrificial ceremony for Nuwa after the defeat of Chiyou? There are three main reasons: first, in ancient times, people had a tradition of offering sacrifices to their ancestors. At that time, there were no myths and legends and gods worshipped by people. They usually offer sacrifices to ancestors and tribal leaders in the hope that their immortal souls can protect people's peace. Second, the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou fought for a long time and had a dream that Nuwa taught him how to break Chiyou. "Chronicle of the Yellow Emperor" said: "The son of heaven won without fighting and returned to Mount Tai. He was miserable and sleepy, and dreamed that the Queen Mother of the West (that is, Nu Wa) sent Taoist priests to put on mysterious fox skin clothes and gave them to the emperor as a symbol. " "Taiping Yulan" quoted "Cheng Tu": "Before the Yellow Emperor traveled to Luoqian, there was a phoenix to establish the emperor, and the Tibetan armor was strange." "Taiping Yulan" quoted "River Map": "When the Yellow Emperor visited Luoyang, he saw that the carp was three feet long, with green scales and was written in red." In short, it was Nu Wa who taught the Yellow Emperor how to defeat the enemy. Of course, this is just a myth. But the ancients could not explain the phenomenon of dreaming scientifically, and often believed it. How can you not report such great deeds? From this perspective, it is also justified for the Yellow Emperor to build an altar to worship Nuwa. Third, Chiyou occupied parts of Hedong at that time. After the Yellow Emperor defeated Chiyou, in order to appease Chiyou's old staff and further stabilize the world, "Xuanyuan sweeps the floor and decides nine places" means this. It can be seen that it is also the best policy for the Yellow Emperor to personally build an altar to worship his ancestor Nuwa on the East Fenyin Pheasant. What kind of altar did the Yellow Emperor build on the pheasant? It may be an open-air square altar. According to Hanshu? "Sacrifice Record" says "square altar, no house, only one wall door".
It may also be a "big house" with a dome and edges. According to the archaeological findings of Anbanpo site in Xi 'an and Dadiwan site in Gansu, our ancestors could build a "big house" of more than 300 square meters at that time. Some people explain "sweeping the altar" in a modern sense, thinking that life in ancient times was simple, and the Yellow Emperor only personally swept a piece of land to sacrifice to his ancestors, which is incorrect. The word "sweep" in ancient Chinese means offering sacrifices, which is what we mean by "sweeping the grave" in Qingming. In ancient times, "the earth is the mother", "the earth" and "mother" can be used universally, and "altar" has the meaning of place. The original intention of the Yellow Emperor should be a sacrificial place built for the sacrifice of the Great Virgin. For thousands of years, the descendants of the Chinese people of Yao, Shun, Yu, Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties have been offering sacrifices to the Virgin Nuwa. According to the ancestral tablet of Houtu Ancestral Temple, "Xuanyuan sweeps the floor for an altar, and the second emperor is divided into eight yuan, and the third king Fang Ze is one year old." Thus, it is an indisputable fact that emperors from the Yellow Emperor to the Zhou Dynasty attached great importance to offering sacrifices to Nuwa. The tradition of ancestor worship of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was carried forward. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was a very successful emperor in the history of China and Qin Shihuang's era, especially his achievements in expanding the territory, which was praised by historians. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty had reached its most prosperous and powerful period.
At this time, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, like the Yellow Emperor of that year, took advantage of the great victory, relied on the pride of starting a business, and was full of reverence for his ancestors, and engaged in ancestor worship activities. In 65438 BC+065438 BC+07 BC, a "big tripod" was unearthed near the site of the "sweeping altar" built by the Yellow Emperor. According to the Ding Lu, this tripod "holds twelve stones", which shows its large size. After reporting to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, I think this is a good omen, because Ding was regarded as a heavy weapon of founding a country and a symbol of political power in ancient times. So Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the name of the country to be changed to "Ding Yuan" and sent someone to repair the Houtu Temple in Deding. We don't ask whether Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty really won this tripod, but there are literature records of Emperor Wu changing the title of the year and repairing the ancestral temple. The most commendable thing is that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was more explicit in offering sacrifices to his ancestors than in the era of the Yellow Emperor. He directly pointed out "Houtu" and used the word "shrine" when the clan offered sacrifices to their ancestors. It can be seen that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also completely regarded the virgin Nuwa as his ancient ancestor. At the same time, Houtu Temple still retains the original position of "sweeping altar", which shows that the historical changes from "sweeping altar" to "Houtu Temple" are in the same strain. There is no detailed historical record about the area and building scale of Houtu Temple built by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, but it is certain that the building scale will not be too small.
According to records, at that time, not only the Houtu Temple was built, but also the palace of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and it was also the place where civil and military officials stayed. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty not only ordered the restoration of the Houtu Temple, but also personally sacrificed six times. It is worth mentioning that during the first sacrifice, he stood at "Dingding's place" and wrote a song named "Song of Baoding" with many thoughts. Song wrote: "The division of sounds leads to the tripod, and the emperor began in Yuan Dynasty. Five tones and six laws, according to Zhao. " "Exaggerated integrity to ning, Feng Kai cut and sparse writing flat. Through God's charity, the soil will become, brilliant at all times in the rich year. "(Han Shu? Lyrics of Li Lezhi describe the excitement of his success, the grand occasion of offering sacrifices to the Virgin Mary after his death, and the great achievements of opening up the territory. At the same time, he hopes for world peace, bumper crops and prosperity. When he went to Houtu Temple for the last time in his later years, he left an epic "Autumn Wind", which started a generation of writing style. In my speech, I wrote: "orchids are beautiful, chrysanthemums are fragrant, and I can't forget my beauty." "There are a lot of joys and sorrows. When will you be young? "That is to say, when he offered sacrifices to Houdi with a very pious heart, a beautiful woman named Hou Di Nu Wa appeared in front of him. She was elegant as orchid and fragrant as chrysanthemum, and vowed never to forget her contribution to the survival and development of future generations and nations. However, his youth is gone forever. Nevertheless, I still hope that the Holy Mother will bless him to create more glories in his lifetime. This not only reflects the infinite reverence of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty for the Virgin of Houtu, but also reflects the heroic feelings of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty in his later years.