Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Nuwa- Deity from Ancient China

Nuwa- Serpent Deity from Ancient China
In ancient Chinese mythology the Nuwa was sometimes painted as a beautiful woman. Other times she is
shown as possessing as a woman's head but the body of a powerful snake. And other times she is shown
as a beautiful woman dressed in traditional Chinese styled clothes, on the top half of her body  and on the
bottom is an powerful snake tail which is wrapped around an tradition stylised Chinese dragon. The last
version that I have seen her painted in - Children's books. She is depicted as a lovely child like Chinese
girl on the top portion of her body and on her lower body is an green flowing snake that is friendly looking.
Mythology- 
Nuwa was the creator of humankind and remained a powerful benefactor to the people and all living creatures (many of which were also her own handworks) of the Chinese people.
Myth of Nuwa-
The Story of the Nuwa who in Chinese mythology was the creator of humankind and a powerful benefactor
to the Chinese people and all living creatures-She was one of the first Chinese Gods, that was said to have the lower body of a dragon or snake. She created marriage, the whistle, taught how to make dams and
irrigation. She is also the "stork" of china because she grants children - she was know for doing battle with famous monster or demons. There version of the devil- "Gong Gong".
Her most famous myth is she was in charge of making humans. She would grab a clump of clay from the earth into her hands and then mold the humans out of the clay. She then would grow tried of doing this, so she dipped a long rope in the mud and swung it around and around, sending the mud all over china. The hand molded humans became the noble and wealth people and the mud became the rest of the poor or commoners.
Nuwa existed in the beginning of the world- She was considered creator of the entire race of her own people and protector of animals and her people-
It is said that Nuwa existed in the beginning of the world. The earth was a beautiful place with blossoming
trees and flowers and full of animals, birds, fish and all living creatures. But as she wandered about Nuwa felt very lonely , so she began to create animals. On the first day she created chickens.
On the second day she created dogs. One the third day she created sheep. On the fourth day she created pigs. On the fifth day she created cows. On the sixth day she created horses. On the seventh , she bent down and took up a handful of yellow clay, mixed it with water and molded a figure in her likeness. As she worked, the figure came alive-
The first human being in china-
Nuwa was pleased with her creation and went on making more figures of both men and women. They danced around her, and her loneliness was gone. She created hundreds of figures, but she grew dried of the laborious process. Then she dipped a rope into the mud, and swung it around her. Soon the earth around her was covered with lumps of mud. The handmade figures became the wealthy and nobles, those that arose from the splashes of the mud were the poor and common folk.
Wendy
I hope you enjoyed the  Nuwa-
Note: the beautiful images are not mind- Please do enjoy the artists that have done a fantastic job on the depicted the Nuwa-

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