Nian Shou, the Chineese new year's monster

In the Chineese tradition, Nian Shou is an malefic animal with a lion head and a bull corp which gave his name to the year (Nian=year ; shou=animal). His legend is linked to the customs of chineese new year. He’s represented like a lion.

In the ancient time, legends told that there was a wild animal who, one time per winter, went down of mountains for approaching villages. He came the night and left in the morning. After a lot of years, populations found weaknesses about that animal and they prepared resistance. Indeed Nian Shou fhrightened light, red color and noise. So, each winter, people hung red rags on doors, they closed animals and persons inside in houses and ate chated about dishes they had prepared for this night. When they were hearing Nian Shou near houses, they did sound for he return in mountains. After, Ziwei(a chineese god) went down on earth for attaching Nian, who definitivey stopped disturbing human people.

Nowadays thoses customs are against repeated the revillon of the new years with firecrackers, fireworks, Fires of Bengal, and traditionnals signs( Chun Lian) written on red papers and sticked on doors.

The mythical disappearance of the population

The subject of my article is the mystery of the disappearance of the inhabitants on the Easter Island.
This island is certainly the most isolated place of the world. It was discovered in 500by seven sons of defeated king Hotu Matua who was looking for a new country.
There were twelve tribes but they always were in war and this caused lots of deaths.
Furthermore, the tribes became two populations very differents , "the long ears" and "the small ears".
The small ears were the slaves of the long ears and they built the statues that you know (the statues of giant in front of the sea).
One day, the slaves rebelled against the long ears and accordind the legend ate them. The principal problem on this island was the lack of food so the cannibalism became very important and caused the disappearance and the loss of the population.
It was the first legend and in a short time I will share you others about this subject.

LITTLE STORY

I went back to Tahiti four weeks ago and I remembered a story, among others. Characters are my family and it begins around the beginning of the 19th century. My great-grandmother lived, with all her family in Rurutu, an island in the south of French Polynesia. One day, she left and came to Tahiti where she met my great-grandfather. They decided to get married in Rurutu and it is what they did. Well, nothing very interesting for you, even for me. But, something happened there, and despite all my questions about it, I've never managed to know what. So something happenned and after that, my great-grandmother decided to leave definitively Rurutu to never come back. More, she said that her children and then the grandchildren of her children etc etc would never, well at least should never go there. Apparently, some of us had been cursed that day. Thus, my grandmother and her brothers and sisters were concerned and so are we now, sisters, cousins and I. My mother can go to Rurutu but she recommended that we should not do it, because of the curse. It would be kind of risky, I don't know why, it's impossible to have informations about it. For me, not to go there was not a problem and I forgot this story and I would probably not have had to think about it anymore if one of my cousin hadn't decided to visit Rurutu and hadn't had some health troubles, pretty serious, when she returned. I don't know if both are linked and I would probably never know but aunts and uncles seem to think that she got sick because of the curse.

Personnaly, I don't believe in such a thing, but learning about family's whole history and more, about tahitians' history, I know that word given, curses or blessings were always considered with serious. Still now. And I think that, even if Rurutu is a beautiful island, even if all this may seem outdated, I won't go to Rurutu, respecting great-grandmother's will and family's believes.

Well, this was just a personnal story, which for me, illustrates how a curse, above all, the belief in this curse, can inluence our life. Indeed, my grandmother had never known her family and it seems that we are cut from this part of our origins, at least for the moment.


Source: Relatives