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Western Hunan Mysterious-GU(蠱)

Culture 2012/05/27 View:2377

Gu(蠱) ,a most mysterious witchery in Western Hunan,is as well-known as Thailand's "Jiangtou shu" in South Asia. Gu in Xiangxi usually has two types,namely Love Gu and Hatred Gu.

Love Gu also means the Gu of love.In Xiangxi,not only women but men make Gu.Generally speaking ,there are two conditions contributing to Love Gu.One is happened in a case of one-sided love ,another is occurred after marriage.When the husband or wife is afraid of the love affairs and betrayal ,then for a complete marriage Love Gu is applied.

Hatred Gu is the Gu that made by women or men who have received hatred from others.It is heard that a man employed some carpenters and bricklayers to build a new house in a village .However he was so mean that usually made poor meals for the employees .Sometimes a good meals is offered he would add excessed salt to spoil their appetite.But all the employees tolerated it until the job was finished.When the mean man moved into the new house ,he found stinky water dripping from the column and two toads welcoming him in every morning.Finally ,he realized it was the punishment due to his meanness.Thus ,he sincerely sent each carpenter and bricklayer a chicken and two bags of candies for apologize.Undoubtedly,everything in his new house was normal.

How mysterious Gu is,even today the most advanced science fails to find out its truth.Thereby , Gu in Xiangxi still is a myth.

Translated by Aileen

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