Qidanshizu Legend
01 · Historical Records
According to surveys the legend has gone through a long process of development in Pingquan county and has been transmitted to the present by word of mouth and heart-to-heart teaching. The legend has great influence in Pingquan; people hold that the local funeral custom of pasting a white horse on men and a black ox on women comes from it, which corroborates from one side that the Qidan ancestors were born and originated in Pingquan and has an irreplaceable role in studying the origin of the Qidan.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Qidan ancestor legend has a long history and circulates in Pingquan county and its surroundings. Pingquan county takes its name from springs welling up from level ground; lying at the junction of the three provinces of Liaoning, Inner Mongolia and Hebei, it is a multi-ethnic area holding rich folk cultural resources. The legend goes thus: long, long ago a divine man lived on Guangtou mountain, anciently Mayu mountain, in Liuxi township of Pingquan county, and riding a white horse went eastward down the Laoha river, anciently the Tu river. A heavenly maiden lived in the level pine forest upstream of the Xilamulun river, anciently the Huang river, and driving a black-ox cart went down the Xilamulun river; the two met where the two waters join at Muye mountain in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, on the bank of the Liao river. Falling in love at first sight they became husband and wife and had eight sons, after which the clans gradually flourished and formed the earliest eight ancient Qidan divisions. Each of their tribes enshrined the black ox and white horse to sacrifice to the ancestors with the things of their beginnings. The legend tells of the divine man riding a white horse and the heavenly maiden driving a black-ox cart meeting and becoming husband and wife and having eight sons who formed the eight ancient Qidan divisions, the tribes enshrining the black ox and white horse to sacrifice to the ancestors. The Qidan ancestor legend has an irreplaceable role in studying the origin of the Qidan.
The Legend of the Divine Man on the White Horse
The divine man in the Qidan ancestor legend who rides the white horse eastward down the Laoha river.
The Legend of the Heavenly Maiden with the Black Ox
The heavenly maiden in the Qidan ancestor legend who drives the black-ox cart down the Xilamulun river.
The Sacrifice of the Black Ox and White Horse
The custom of the eight ancient Qidan divisions enshrining the black ox and white horse to sacrifice to the ancestors.
The Custom of Pasting a White Horse on Men and a Black Ox on Women
The funeral custom in Pingquan said to originate in the Qidan ancestor legend.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Qidan ancestor legend circulates in Pingquan county of Hebei and its surroundings and is attached to such local hills and waters and place names as Guangtou mountain in Liuxi township, the Laoha river and the Xilamulun river, forming a local legend cluster centred on the black ox and white horse.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The black ox and white horse may be a kind of totem; studying it can further reveal the mystery of the funeral custom and enrich the content of folklore.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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