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Ho Po the Ancient China River God

 

             Ho Po: Unmasking the River God of Ancient China. History of Religions/Volume 29 (Spring 1990) .
             Throughout time myths have a tendency to evolve as new meanings are given to them. This essay will shine some new light on the old legend of Ho Po, the River God of China.
             The Myth of "Ho Po taking a bride" starts with Hsi-men Poa coming into power as the official of Yeh. He had noticed that most of the people where in poverty and decided to look into this. When he did he found that this was because of the annual providing of a bride for the River God, Ho Po. Which if not done would result in the over flowing of the river and many deaths. Hsi-men Pao decided to attend the next offering of a bride to the river god. As the next offering came about he saw two to three thousand people gathered dressed in bright colored clothing. When the bride was being brought up Hsi-men Poa asked to take a look at her. When he did so he saw that she was an old ugly women in her seventy's. He felt that she was not fit to be the bride of Ho Po and surly he deserved better. So he asked the Shaman to go and tell Ho Po of the delay. When she had not returned His-men Poa had all three disciples and the three village elders throw themselves in one after the other as the each did not return. While he was picking the next batch to go and make sure things were ok the people begged he for no more people to throw themselves in. He thought this was fine and said, "That they must have not of returned because Ho Po must of liked their company so much he decided for them to stay. After this day the annual offering of a bride to the river god was never spoken of again. To stop the flooding problem Hsi-men Poa had twelve canals dug to divert the water to be used as irrigation for the land. .
             With new light shined on this myth the Author "Will show how behind the cannibal monster in this morality tale there lies a prince; behind the sacrifice of an innocent, a shamanic romance; behind the human hero, a chthonic beast.


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