An Analysis Of The Symbolic Connotation Of The Legend "Monkey-in-Water" In XinGou Village

Legends' research has always been an important part of folklore research.Legends are permeated with history,belief,culture and human's thought.In the process of telling legends in daily life,people's spiritual world,inner needs and traditional cultural concepts can be expressed,and legends also play a positive role in life.Folklore scholars generally pay attention to classical and widespread legends with long history,while local legends are payed relatively little attention.As a local legend spreads in LuAn city,AnHui province,The legend "Monkey-in-Water"has a certain range of transmission and dissemination of the audience.This article is based on the field research performed in XingGou village,LuAn city,and aims to interpret the collected data,describe the content of legend,analysis the public's attitude toward this legend,and parse the legend contain symbolic connotation.This article's research object is the legend "Monkey-in-Water",contrast the"Monkey-in-Water"legends and of the"The Hairy Man-Water Monster"ruimor events which occurred in the early stage of the founding from the angle of folklore.Based on the date collected in the field survey historical documents,this article is to analysis the body image of "Monkey-in-Water",the legend contents and the types of the victim from the theory of symbol perspective,then to analysis the symbolic meaning and cultural significance of this legend.This paper is divided into three parts.The first part is the introduction,which introduces the reasons for the topic selection,research significance,research methods and the status of legends research.The second part is the main body,which is divided into five chapters.The first chapter introduces the reasons of choosing XinGou village and its basic situation.The second chapter introduces the generalization of the rumor"The Hairy Man-Water Monster",the legend content of,"Monkey-in-Water," and the villagers' understanding of this legend,and the relationship among "The Hairy Man-Water Monster","xwater-ghost"and "Monkey-in-Water".The third chapter introduces the legendary image of "Monkey-in-Water",pointing out the binary opposition between"Monkey_in-Water"and human,as well as the symbolic connotation of body parts of"Monkey-in-Water"such as long claws,long teeth,long hair and no jaw.The fourth chapter introduces the legendary content,which are the lake as a natural landscape,the bridge as a cultural landscape and the drowning jpeople,and their symbolic connotation.Chapter five introduces the symbolic significance of this legend,including the expression of livelihood,reflection to the fear of death,shaping the authority of life and expressing the worship of ghosts and gods.The third part is the conclusion,which summarizes the full text and points out the shortcomings of this article,and calls for a more detailed and in-depth study of the legend.