Origin

Chinese legend has it that in remote antiquity a goddess named Nv Wa created man and woman by clay. She also gave the law of marriage to keep human behaviors within bounds and invented string instrument such as Sheng and Huang.

Later, two deities, Gong Gong, the God of Water and Zhu Rong, the God of Fire were in battle. They fought all the way from heaven to earth, causing turmoil everywhere. Finally Gong Gong was defeated that he struck his head against Buzhou Mountain, a mythical peak that support sky. The mountain collapsed and half the sky fell in, leaving a big black hole. The earth cracked open, forests went up in flames, floodwaters sprouted from beneath, it was an unprecedented disaster.

Nv Wa was grieved that human would undergo suffering. So she decided to mend the sky and end this catastrophe. She melted together the five colored stones and with the molten mixture patched up the sky. Then she killed a giant turtle and used its four legs as four pillars to support the fallen part of the sky. She caught and killed a dragon and this scared the other beasts away from the land. Then she gathered and burned a huge quantity of reeds and with the ashes stopped the flood from spreading, so that the people could live happily again.

The only trace left of the disaster, the legend says, was that the sky slanted to the northwest and the earth to the southeast, and so, since then, the sun, the moon and all the stars turn towards the west and all the rivers run southeast.

Sacrificial Ceremonies

March 18th of the lunar calendar is the birthday of Nv Wa, so every year from March 1st to 18th of the lunar calendar; people from Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan Provinces come to She County on a pilgrimage to Nv Wa.

This pilgrimage gave birth to the Wa Emperor Palace temple fair, which has been practiced for at least 1,000 years.

The sacrificial activities focus on praising Nv Wa's virtues of creating human, mending sky and so on. The legend of Nu Wa created much special folk custom in marriage, etiquettes, and festivals. In She county, many places and villages are named according to Nu Wa's legend.

The protection and promotion of Nu Wa culture play an important part in promoting national reunification. In addition, is the Nv Wa celebrations are highly valuable in studying mythology, sociology and religion. Recently awareness of the festival is on the decline, and it needs to be protected.

Source: chinaculture.org