Regarding the origin of snake worship, it is absolutely impossible for us to find conclusive evidence from history books. Because a nation's beliefs cannot be made public as changes. However, we can trace people's views on snakes by inferring the rituals or records of snake worship.
As early as in Shan Hai Jing, we can see that the ancients recorded more snakes than usual. Most of the recorded snakes are monsters.
Second, the phenomenon of snakes and the inference of worship.
In the records of many snakes in Shan Hai Jing, there are three common patterns-one is the man who holds two snakes, the other is the place where snakes are derived, and the third is the monster who causes floods and droughts. In these records about snakes, we can often see records related to water. The article "Yu Killing" proves this point more prominently.
In the early days, as a creature closely related to water, snakes often lived on water. It even has the ability to sense the change of groundwater level. The relationship between the appearance of snakes and floods and droughts in Shan Hai Jing may be an observation of people's daily life. It is not difficult to understand why snakes are worshipped. Snakes can provide a certain warning for people's existence and provide protection for people who didn't know much about nature at that time. Even in some places, the snake itself is the god in charge of water. In the flooded alluvial world, people suffer from floods, and snakes are called symbols of floods and rain. And then become the so-called god.
At the same time, we can also look at the reasons why snakes are worshipped from another angle. According to Hallektney, a British scholar, "snakes symbolize pornography, sexual desire and sexual posture" and so on. It is said that the health of the human body and the natural attraction between the sexes are all caused by the role of snakes. The original meaning of the word "snake" in Genesis is "master of tongue", which means "color heart" in consciousness and its expression. ..... The circle surrounded by this snake represents female genitalia, just like the symbol of Xuanzang in a circle or ellipse, it also symbolizes the essence of sex. According to the introduction of "The Postscript of Taoist History", "The emperor's daughter swam in Hua Xu Garden, pregnant with snakes, and died in thirteen years." It is not uncommon to see the legend of pregnancy through induced labor. The prolific snake is also worshipped and yearned for by primitive people for the need of reproduction.
3. Today's snake worship and the evolution of dragons.
As early as Mr. Wen Yiduo had put forward the conclusion that snakes are dragons. "The so-called dragon is just a big snake" and Mr. Sun Zuoyun also put forward the same conclusion: "The snake is deified and becomes a totem, which is the dragon." Here, I can only give some examples to prove the identity of snakes and dragons.
Since the Yellow Emperor, the dragon has become one of the symbols of the emperor. The Record of Five Emperors records that the son of Shaodian, Huangdi, was named Gongsun and Xuanyuan. Born as a god, weak but able to speak, young and loyal, long and sensitive, smart. " The explanation of Xuanyuan country in Shan Hai Jing is as follows: "Xuanyuan country was 800 years old when it was in this poor mountain. In the north of the girl country. People face snakes with their tails on their heads. " There is also such an explanation in Records of the Historian Tianguanshu: "(The Yellow Emperor) has a snake head, a tail on his head, and a yellow dragon body." This just shows the unity of snakes and dragons.