What is the origin of the Tiger Totem in China, and what is the origin of the Yi people with it?

Whether it is the dragon totem, the tiger totem or other totems in ancient China, they all originated in the matriarchal period of primitive society. Due to the limited production capacity of primitive people, they could only rely on the two relatively simple ways of gathering and fishing to make a living. Once they encountered natural disasters in the natural environment, they basically did not have any resistance ability, so they were full of fear and fantasy to nature.

The people of that time had a limited knowledge of the world, and when confronted with the unknown, it was easy for them to think of these plants and animals as their ancestors or protectors. It was widely believed that these plants and animals had a supernatural power and that by believing in them they could gain their strength and skills. The tiger totem in China has deep roots in the Yi people of Yunnan, who began to worship the tiger during the matriarchal period of primitive society and formed the ancient tiger totem belief. In the end, the totem is just a personified object of worship, but the people at that time did not have such a perception.

According to the Yi folk epic Meigu, at the beginning of the creation of the world by the God of Heaven, the sky was cracked open because of testing the sky with thunder and lightning. In order to solve this problem, he sent his son to subdue the tiger, and used its head to make the sky, its skin to make the earth, its left eye to make the sun, its right eye to make the moon, and the rest to make the heaven and the earth, which is similar to the myth that Pangu opened up the world and transformed the world into everything in his body.

As one of the oldest ethnic minorities in China, the Yi people have been using the tiger as a totem since primitive times, and the Black Tiger clan is the most representative of them. The people of this clan respect black and tiger, and use the black tiger as their totem. Even now there are still some clansmen who worship the tiger totem and call themselves Luo Luo, the nation of tiger. Many villages of the Yi people still circulate the saying that a man died of a tiger and a tiger died of a flower. There is a clear record about this in Yunnan Zhiliu - The Customs of the Barbarians: "Luo Luo is the Wu Barbarians. ... chiefs die, with a tiger skin wrapped body and burned, ...... people often die into a tiger also ......"

In these Yi people's home shrines are often enshrined in the form of a tiger ancestor spirit, which is the Tiger God in their mouth, also known as Roni, is the most supreme god in their hearts. Therefore, in their eyes, Ronnie can not only help them get rid of disasters and drive away evil spirits, but also bless them with happiness and well-being. So when you come to play in the place where Yi people live, you don't need to be too surprised when you see those villages, water streams and roads with the name of Tiger. After all, in the opinion of many Yi people, the place where the tiger people live and live naturally has to have something to do with the tiger.

When the matrilineal clan society changed to the patrilineal clan, the production capacity of the primitive people was greatly improved, and they began to learn to think and produce an independent consciousness, denied the kinship between plants and animals and their own, at this time about the totem beliefs basically came to an end, but it doesn't mean that the totem will be eliminated by the society at that time. On the contrary, in the following dynasties, totem beliefs not only did not disappear, but also derived from culture, art and other fields, leaving a lot of totem-related artifacts for future generations, which is a very important reference for us to study ancient history and culture.

For example, since the Western Zhou Dynasty, the tiger has been used to symbolize the bravery and strength of soldiers, and even the military talisman used to dispatch troops was engraved with a tiger, which was later known as the tiger talisman. Although the tiger has since been used as a symbol of power and strength, it can only be used as a king not as an emperor.