E17. The origin of ornamentation. .21.22.25.26.51.52.57.59.63.64.66.68.

People get an idea of the ornamentation of vessels, baskets, bodies, etc., or a sign system after someone manages to see a pattern on the body of a zoomorphic or a supernatural creature or make an imprint on it.

Sherbukpen, Palaung, Muongi, Bunun, Ancient China, Chinese (Henan), Huichol, Aztecs, Yanomami, Lokono, Oyana, Carinha (Guyana), Kalinya, Waiwai, Wapishana, Yurimagua, Shipibo, Rickbackz.

Tibet is the Northeast of India. Sherdukpen [a beautiful girl can only make a smooth fabric without patterns, others laugh at her; a snake sees her by the river, turns into a young man, they begin to meet; the groom tells me to take him into his snake looks home, copy the patterns on his skin; the serpent comes at the head of the procession to take the girl to his underwater house; others see snakes, the snake bride sees people; lives happily in an underwater palace; her sister also decides to find a snake groom, climbs into the hole of a black snake, is bitten, dies; an aged mother calls her daughter, who brings her to her palace; her grandchildren take the form of children or snakes; her son-in-law gives grains of sand, grains, scraps, ropes, chips, tells you not to look along the way, put them in large baskets; the old woman throws away most of them, puts them in small baskets at home; in the morning, the baskets are full of dried fish and meat, rice]: Elwin 1958b, No. 12:370-372.

Burma - Indochina. Palaung [naga princess I-ran-ti took the form of a girl, went to earth, met the Sun; 7 days later he returned to heaven, leaving her chariot; I. laid 3 eggs; the Sun sent I. a bag with a letter and a wonderful gem, giving it to the golden crow; he stopped pecking the carrion, the fisherman found the bag, replaced the treasure with a pebble; the Raven brought I.'s bag, she found it inside a simple stone, threw it at the Raven; the Sun, as punishment, painted the Raven black, ordered him to live on earth; I., in the guise of a naked, returned underground, throwing her hairpin and three eggs; the hairpin and two eggs turned in a scattering of gold and precious stones; a third egg is stuck at a fork in a tree floating along the river; he was found by an elderly couple, raised a boy born Kok-ya; his Sun Father sent him an onion; his mother The naga sent her daughter to earth from her naga marriage, K. married her, she gave birth to a daughter; K. killed an ogre bird; the naked wife forgot that she should not be completely immersed in the water, became a snake again while bathing; told her daughter to make clothes striped on the pattern of snakeskin, gave the clothes the color of snakeskin scales by touching them; people began to copy these patterns; K. became the ancestor and king of Palaung ]: Obayashi 1966:51-54; Muongi [King Dit Dang defeated the monster Tin Win Tuong Wuong, divided his body into pieces; the inhabitants of each village took one of them and began to copy the patterns on their skin; so women and girls have learned to ornament fabrics]: Grigoreva 2019:61.

Taiwan - Philippines. Bunun [a Qabus woman saw a Chinese baby muzzle (Deinagkristodon acutis) and admired the pattern on his skin so much that she begged the mother snake to give her a cub for 7 days to copy the patterns for the clothes; other women, in turn, began to take the snake and as a result he died; at first K. dissuaded her from needing more time, but then the mother snake understood what was going on; at night, the muzzles ate half of the village to death; after a long war, peace was concluded; people got the right to reproduce patterns on the skin of their face faces and promised not to disturb and respect snakes]: Chen 2014:428-429.

China - Korea. Ancient China [passage from Xi qi Zhuan, a commentary on Yijing (c. 4th century BC): "In ancient times, Bao-xi ruled the Celestial Empire. With his head up, [he] observed images in Heaven; with his head down, he observed samples on Earth. [He] observed the patterns [on the feathers and skins] of birds and animals and their correspondence to the terrain, took [something] up close from himself, and took [something] away from things. Thus [he] first created eight trigrams, and thanks to this, he penetrated [the essence] of the powers of de divine and clear and arranged the properties of the darkness of things by birth." Apparently, this story was quite popular, and is mentioned in one form or another in a number of monuments. Other versions later appear, for example, in the apocrypha "Long Yu He Tu" (1-3 centuries AD): "[When] Fu-si ruled China, a divine dragon appeared from Yellow River, carrying a pattern on his back. [Fu-si] copied it as a sample and drew eight trigrams for the first time. [He] explored the path of yin and yang and found out where happiness and unhappiness lie. He called it The Scheme from [the river] He." Since the 3rd century BC, mention has been made of Tsang Tse, who invented the hieroglyphs themselves. According to some versions, he was an official of Huang Di (Yellow Emperor); according to others, he was an ancient ruler, Huang Di's previous ruler. The first mention of it is rather brief, the first one is detailed in the preface to Shuo Wen Jie Zi, the first Chinese dictionary (c. 100 AD): "Tsangzie, the chronicler of the Yellow Emperor, saw paw marks birds and animals, and realizing that their distinctive features can be distinguished, he first created writing. Thanks to this, many crafts were put in order, and this made the darkness of the objects different." The Tsangjie cult gained considerable popularity in the 2nd century AD. The most detailed description of Tsangjie and his achievements is in the apocrypha "Chunqiu Yuan Ming Bao" (1-3 centuries AD): "To the Green Emperor (Tsang Di) Shihuang-shi the name was Jie, the family name was Hougan. [He had] a dragon's forehead with his mouth wide open, [and his] four eyes gave off a wonderful light. He truly had the majestic power of de, and when he was born, he could write [immediately]. When he received the green characters of the Scheme [from the river] He, he fully understood the transformations [of all things between] Heaven and Earth. With his head up, [he] observed the power of the smooth curves of the Kui constellation; with his head down, he explored the patterns on the [shells] of turtles and bird feathers, mountains and streams, and [seeing them clearly] at a glance, created written signs. [Then] The sky rained from the grain, the spirits began to weep at night, and the dragons hid. [he] ruled for a hundred and ten years, the capital [under him] was in Yangu, [and he himself] was eventually buried [near his] residence in Yazhili "]: translation and selection of texts: A.E. Terekhov, IVR, September 2017; Chinese (Henan, Wu. Mengjin) [Tuhe River ("Scheme River") appeared a monster with a dragon's head and a horse's body, with patterns on its back and a billowing mane. It was called the dragon horse. Wherever it did not run, water began to beat everywhere from the ground, flooded fields and destroyed crops. When Fusi heard this, he went to the river, and when the dragon horse saw him, he pacified himself. Fusi, seeing the patterns on his back, was surprised, told him to bring a rope, tied a dragon horse to a stump, and then ordered a tower to be built, and kept the animal there. Day and night, I looked at the patterns on his back, 64 days later I understood their meaning and, imitating them, drew a diagram of eight trigrams. Later, people built a monastery near the Tuhe River, called the Schema Monastery on the back. In its main hall, there were clay statues of Fushi and a dragon horse, and in front of it were two steles: one with "The Ancient Tuhe River Bed" on the other, and "The Dragon Horse Carries a Pattern on its Back." The current village of Mazhuang is where Fuxi tied his dragon horse, and the Eight Trigram Terrace is where Fuxi kept him. The myth of the dragon horse is also common in Huaiyang County. It is said that he came out of the Caihe River, but the rest of the stories are similar. There are a number of other places nearby (White Turtle Monastery, Fuxi Idol, Fusi Zram) that are associated with Fusi's invention of eight trigrams]: Zhou 2001b, No. 15a: 25.

NW Mexico. Huichol [when a Huichol woman wants to weave or embroider something, her husband catches a large snake, brings and presses her neck with a fork in the stick; the woman runs his hand all over the snake's body from her head to the tail; then touches his forehead and eyes with the same hand to be able to create a beautiful thing]: Lumholtz 1902 (2): 234.

Mesoamerica The Aztecs [the ornament or coloring of products is similar to those on reptile skin]: Anawalt 1990:301 (also Aguilera 1997:11-12); Sahagun in Lévi-Strauss 1968 [on calebasses]: 386.

Southern Venezuela. Yanomami [snake people paint their bodies and show people patterns as models for such coloring]: Wilbert, Simoneau 1990b, No. 175:311-312.

Guiana. Lokono [for the forest spirit, a curled snake is his vessel; when the hero approaches it again, he sees a vessel whose coloring follows the pattern on the snake's skin]: Roth 1915, No. 123:193; carinha (Guyana) [people come to look at a huge snake to see and reproduce the pattern on its skin]: Gillin 1936, No. 3:193; kalinya [mother dies; people mistreat her daughter, they send her to heaven to look for her mother; she approaches the Month, which marries her; punishes evil people with a flood; the wife of the Month descends, sitting on a turtle, teaches people patterns; patterns on the shell appear monthly from the blood of the wife of the Month; the patterns seen then are still in use]: Penard in Goeje 1943, No. b3:28; waiwai: Fock 1963 [a myth told in connection with the meaning of the ornament on the manioc sieve; the same pattern for coloring the body with a genipa, although it is not important; the author did not see a rattle with this pattern; hoping to destroy his son-in-law, his father-in-law sends him to kill akri {agouti?} and frogs; in fact, Uruperi lives in this place - a snake covered with hair, with the legs of a jaguar; a man runs, grabs a tree; W. swallows it, but the man did not release the tree, W. regurgitated it; human skin remains an imprint of the waratapi meander pattern, which covers W. (it is now reproduced on cassava screens); while inside W., the man became bald from the heat; died and soon came to life; went back to W.'s habitat; W. appeared as a man, gave a rattle covered with that with the same waratapi pattern; if you shake it, lightning flies out; if you point it at the beast, it kills it; W. warned not to show the rattle to others; the man became a good hunter; soon died, and the spirit of W. took the rattle]: 91-92; Roe 1989 [father-in-law sends his son-in-law to kill Aguchi; he meets an iridescent anaconda on the other side; kills her, removes her skin, brings her to the community home; the skin emits thunder and lightning ; people reproduce patterns on it to decorate baskets]: 23-25; vapishana [water serpent; like a waiwai; those trying to repeat the feat die]: Farabee 1918:116-119; aparai [huge caterpillar devours people; oyana and aparai kill her; reproduce skin patterns to ornament baskets and ceramic vessels]: Rauschert 1967, No. 33:201; oyana: Hussak Van Velthem 1988 [huge anaconda drowned boats; people ambush her with arrows; Aparai and oyana copy patterns on her skin]: 322-324 (=Jara 1990:43-44); Magaña 1987, No. 83 [the shaman cuts off the tail of the salamander, turns it into a jaguar; people kill him; some take the right side, others the left; reproduce patterns on the skin on the baskets]: 50; Kashuyan: Frikel 1970:13-17 [Purá and Murrá made people; P. left bows from solid wood, they turned into people; put them in a boat, told them to live downstream; the boat was swallowed by the Marmaru-imó snake; P. sent people in several small boats, M. swallowed everyone again; the japu bird warned her every time about the near harvest; more hardwood bows did not turn into humans; P. and M. began to be made from different breeds, but they turned out to be wild pigs, bakers, snakes; came to life made of soft wood, so now people are mortal; P. and M. got into the boat themselves, let themselves be swallowed, cut M. inside with knives - P. on the right, M. on the left; when they went out, they saw snakes - M.'s children; saved their lives; The skin removed from M. was covered in patterns; P. ornamented baskets, cassava push-ups, etc.], 19 [the great shaman found a snake, the son of a big snake from the lower reaches of the river; dug a hole of water for him, grew it, then dug a canal into the river; this snake turned into marmaru-imó, which was then killed by Purá and Murrá]; Kruse 1955, No. 21-28 (arikena) [Marmari'mo (female) snake swallows boats; Purá and Murá swallow themselves; cut her insides with knives, came out on both sides of her abdomen; found a home with snakes - M.'s children, killed them P. left one pair; returned home, sailing in calebasses so that they would not be eaten by piranhas; black and red paints were painted with patterns copied from M. (the origin of the ornament on the baskets); P. and M. took to heaven]: 411-413.

Central Amazon. Yurimagua [when painting vessels and fabrics, women copy patterns on the skin of a snake - Mother of Waters]: S.Fritz in Goeje 1943, No. b3:28; Porro 1985:31; katawishi (Lake Teffe): Tastevin 1925:195-198 [ a girl does not know how to make pots; a water snake takes the form of an old woman, teaches her], 201 [like yurimagua: a bad craftswoman sees only Boyusu's snake's tail, a good one sees Boyusu's chest and head]; maue [snake chases children, crawls after them into a tree, falls, breaks; man: Let the ornament copy the patterns on his skin! ]: Ugge 1991, No. 3:154.

Eastern Amazon. Spiking [people hunt water monsters to reach their stomachs; when ornamenting vessels, they copy the ornament on its walls]: Nimuendaju 1920:1028-1030.

Montagna - Jurua. Shipibo: Bertrand-Rousseau 1983 [people get an idea of the ornament when they meet a woman (an anaconda's daughter?) on the beach? and seeing the patterns on her clothes and skin]: 80-81; Gebhaert-Sayer 1987 [Ronin water snake is the source of the idea of ornamentation; her skin is covered with ornaments traditional to the shipibo-conibo]: 39, 40, 85-91, No. 14 [man marries her friend's sister, a water snake; they come to live in the village of people, the wife gives birth to a daughter; asks her husband not to cheat on her; he sleeps with other women, she leaves; the daughter teaches people to spin, weave, make ceramic dishes, apply ornaments to fabrics and ceramics], 16 [as in (14); the wife herself teaches the women of the village; returns to the river, taking her daughter]: 361-363; Roe 1982, No. 3 [a hunter on an anaconda woman sees a real kushma (ornamented shirt)]: 52.

Southern Amazon. Rickbacz [the anaconda swallows and regurgitates the hunter; his skin bears the pattern of bats and harpy eagles; another person wants to do the same but dies]: Pereira 1994, no. 16:141-143.