Miao (Hmon) Creation Epics

Miao (specifically, Hmub) Creation Epics

[texts in a humorous style, publicly sung for popular entertainment : each (short) section being introduced by a quaestion]

__________________________________________________________

pp. 113-156 Part IV = "Song of the Butterfly Mother"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(pp. 136-40 – IV.5 Searching for the Sacrificial Drums)

p. 136 similes for beings

*the __*	*were plump as __*
swine	door-planks
fishes in paddies	crossbeams
babies	melons

p. 136 guests who were invited to sacrifices to the antient child Got Dol [the "ball of flesh" {cf. Hun-Dun?} birthed by Janx Vanb and by his sister after the deluge (p. 205, n. 2) {so do sections IV.5-8 properly occur after part V, which is the epoch of the great deluge?}]

*guest*	*who brought a __*
Lil [who is Janx Vanb’s 2^nd brother-in-law (p. 206, n. 4)]	big knife
Lion	long sword

p. 137 the 3 sorts of cymbals. each personified as an animal

*animal*	*at __*
chicken	corner of house
fish	corner of pond
frog	paddy-banks

pp. 138-139 groves encountered on the way to Jiu-li mountain-forest

p.	*grove*	*its utility*
138	bamboo	plaited into grain-drying pans
	qin-gan	to make molds for baba cakes
	sweet gum	ladder for tying buffalo-horns onto (p. 194, n. 25)
	horse chestnut	for making cattle-pens
139	tea	boiled for the ancestors to drink

p. 140 "the wild pig danced backward and stepped on Jang Vang’s gown".

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(pp. 140-6 – IV.6 Searching for the Sacrificial Ox)

p. 140 tending farm-animals

*the __*	*were told to tend the __*
boys	geese
girls	oxen

pp. 141-142 how farm-animals departed to the East : promises to return

p.	*departing __*	*said to __*	*‘I shall return in order to __’.*
141	Horse	Saddle-packs	bring silks and satins
	Ox	Hemp	twist thee into ropes
141-2	(141) Pig	Bamboo-Shoots	(142) "use you as offering poles"
142	"Yellow Cow"	Ga Ga tree	use thee as a plough-shaft

pp. 142-144 while journeying Eastward toward "the hometown of the waters and the Sun", in payment for use of plants as fodder for Ox, agreements were made to sanctify various objects (owned by the gardeners of those plants) by using those objects thenceforth in sacrificial caerimony

p.	*plant-leaves as fodder*	*object used*
142	cotton bamboo	strips of cotton-bamboo to fasten ox-horns to the centre-post
142-3	(142) indigo	(143) "bucket with nine bands on it, used to carry water to raise the sacrificial fish."
143	white gum tree	"the yoke to lead the sacrificial bull"
	banana	the 3 fish
144	?	squirrel [a black one (p. 206, n. 5)]
	cogon grass	"pheasant plumes ... to be put in the crowns of the sacrificial hats."

p. 206, n. 4 "two women (an aunt and a niece) were required to carry water for the sacrificial fish. The niece would hold the bucket while the aunt poured water into it." {cf. [Ijo mythic] sacred talking fish kept in aquarium by heroine, who herself became the sacrificial victim}

pp. 144-145 providers of accoutrements for Ox

p.	*provider*	*accoutrement*
144	uncle Ban Xan Ye’s "pond water"	4 whorls of hair (1 each on 4 shoulders)
145	Butterfly Mother	2 horns
	"red-pebbled bluffs"	cloven hooves
	"pine needles"	clothing

p. 145 Walking Westward, at Nan-men-dan & Nana E, Ox "trampled on Crab’s home."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(pp. 146-52 – IV.7 Searching for the Sacrificial Vestments)

pp. 146-149 Janx Vanb’s 9 daughters (ah ‘sister’); their husbands; bride’s dowry (instead of profane object which they had intended for her to take, she absconded from her parents’ house with a sacred object owned by them {cf. bride’s stealing of her parents’ sacred object when departing with her husband, in B-Re>sit 31:19})

p.	#	*daughter : "Ah __"*	*husband : "Yu __"*	*his city*	*instead of __*	*bride’s dowry was __*
146	1^st	Nian	Lion	Wen-lao [in Ron-jian county (p. 206, n. 3)]	clothes-drying pole	offering-pole
146-7	2^nd	(146) Ni	Li	(147) Wen-lao	indigo-crock	brine-vat
147	3^rd	Mai	Hnian	Wen-lao	plates for guests	sacrificial bowls
147-8	4^th	Lie	Ve	On Lo Van Niu & Dli Don Bi Di [in Ron-jian county (p. 206, n. 5)]	shuttle of loom	(148) lu-s^en
148	5^th	Yu	Ju	On Lo Van Niu & Dli Don Bi Di	(gave birth in her parents’ house)	ham-hock & duck
	6^th	Gi	Lionx Tonb	[lionx tonb is ritual messenger (p. 207, n. 8)]	--	--
148-9	7^th	(148) Diub [‘foolish’ (p. 207, n. 9)]	?	she was sent away "as a maidservant; then she became the son’s wife."	--	--
149	8^th	Ge ["Ghe" on p. 151]	?	she divorced, later marrying another man	--	--
	9^th	Ju	?	she divorced, later marrying another man	--	--

p. 150 approach by Lion Hlie and Janx Vanb to the abodes of Janx Vanb’s daughters’ husbands’ relatives

"Arriving at a fork in the road,

they came upon a little herd boy

and gave him a string of yimi beads."

["Yimi (a Chinese name) are the seeds of a plant known in English as Job’s Tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), related to maize." (p. 207, n. 11)]

"By the door ... a big tree was planted,

and in the tree was a magpie’s nest,

and at the foot of the tree crouched a dog ... .

At the ... home, the lintel was hung with a black lacquer plate".

p. 150 how Lion Hlie and Janx Vanb were seated when they visited Janx Vanb’s daughters’ husbands’ relatives

*guest*	*sat on a __ chair*
Lion Hlie	wooden
Janx Vanb	leaden

p. 151 patterns for making (by Janx Vanb’s daughters’ husbands’ relatives) of the vestments and the hats

*pattern*	*for __*
horse-leg	vestments
chestnut-burrs	hats

p. 206, n. 1 "A xi (xib) is a special kind of ceremonial vest said to be made of sheepskin."

p. 151 accoutrements given to Janx Vanb by his various daughters

*his daughter __*	*gave to him __*
A Diu	a string of yi-mi beads
A Ge	a hat
A Ju	a set of sacrificial vestments

p. 151 those with whom Lion Hlie and Janx Vanb spent holidays while returning westward

*at __*	*they spent the holiday with __*
Cogon Grass Bluff	Golden Pheasant
Je Hsan Van	Lion Ton

p. 151 the vestments were put onto a long table by Din Hsai

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

(pp. 152-6 – IV.8 Ancestor-Sacrifice Hunt)

p. 152 sending off the Drum

"After each Ancestor Sacrifice,

the Drum is sent back to the mountains.

... the Drum is escorted to the Silver Cliffs;

the Lead Mountain Hollows ... one likes them.

[p. 207, n. 1 "The sacrificial drum is kept inside a cave or under a cliff to protect it from the bad weather".]

The Drum should live there for eleven years,

and on the twelfth year return."

p. 153 musical sounds during transportation of the Drum to the mountains

"The rattling of the carrying poles resounded through

the Silver Mountain Hollows.

When Butterfly Mother heard it, she rose

and quickly left for home."

"Pheasant ... was collecting chestnuts in the mountains

when an avalanche of rocks and stones rolled down.

The big stones ...

struck against the drum-head with a "dong.""

p. 153-155 acquisition of horns by nanny-goat

p.	*theft and fleeing by thiefess*
153	Nanny-goat and Bitch "were sisters born of the same mother. Their legs worked together grinding grain and pounding rice." {cf. [Cherokee myth] theft of maize-meal by hound}
	Nanny-goat stole Bitch’s "horns" :
154	Nanny-goat "fled through the back door, then leaped into the vegetable patch. The vegetables ... cried out when touched. Hearing the noise, the goat was frightened. ... It escaped along the waste-water trench. Mountain Goat fled, fled to the forest on Jiuli Mountain."
	Bought for "seventeen silver ingots", "quail"-hunting hounds "chased Mountain Goat to Je Wang." [p. 207, n. 4 "in Taijiang County"]
155	Lion Ton gave a hunting-hound to Janx Vanb "for free".

pp. 155-156 pursuit and capture of female Mountain-Goat

p.	*female Mountain-Goat*
155	"Din Hsai ... urged everyone : "Everyone stop grinding grains; ... Mountain Goat will be frightened by the noise, the beast in the mountains will flee!""
156	Janx Vanb, crawled, and as "he crouched at Crib Door Saddleback [p. 207, n. 6 "in Taijiang County"], Mountain Goat came up the mountain."
	When Lion Ton "pointed his finger," Janx Vanb "struck with his fist; Mountain Goat ... was captured in the fish grass." [p. 207, n. 7 "Locals like to raise fish in their paddies ... . During winter they put branches ... in the center of the paddies to allow the fish a place to congregate ... . this shelter is called hse nai (hseb nail)."]
	*"A wubei* wood carrying pole and a dry birch timber were used to carry it."**

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jin Dan ("Jenb Dangk" in Miao; compiler and translator from Miao into Chinese); Ma Xueliang (editor of the Chinese version); Mark Bender (translator from the Chinese) : Butterfly Mother : Miao (Hmong) Creation Epics from Guizhou, China. Hackett Publishing Co, Indianapolis, 2006.