page_title: Horse in Chinese mythology
section_title: Origins of sericulture
hierarchical_section_title: Horse in Chinese mythology / Origins of sericulture
context_page_description: Horses are an important motif in Chinese mythology. There are many myths about horses or horse-like beings, including the pony. Chinese mythology refers to those myths found in the historical geographic area of China. This includes myths in Chinese and other languages, as transmitted by Han Chinese as well as other ethnic groups. There are various motifs of horses in Chinese mythology. In some cases the focus is on a horse or horses as the protagonist of the action, in other cases they appear in a supporting role, sometimes as the locomotive power propelling a chariot and its occupant. According to a cyclical Chinese calendar system, the time period of 31 January 2014 - 18 February 2015 falls under the category of the Wood Horse.
context_section_description: The horse is connected in some mythologies with the origin of humans raising silk from the cocoon of the domestic silkmoth (Bombyx mori), as an alternative to the Leizu mythos. In this case, apparently hinging in part on a perceived similarity between the appearances of horses' heads and the heads of silkworms, the responsible goddess for the innovation of sericulture has been worshiped as the Horse-headed Lady (Yang, 164).
  The story is told of a time in China, a long time ago, when men were liable to be conscripted into military service, and sent to serve far away and often not return home for years, if ever. A girl's father was forced into the army and sent off, far away. Missing her father very much, she then promised the family horse that she would marry him, if he went and found her father, and brought him back home. Surprisingly enough, the horse ran off, and eventually returned with the father, who, horrified at the idea of his daughter marrying a horse, killed it. The skin was then hung up in the courtyard to dry for tanning. However, one day, when the daughter was out playing, the wind blew, the horsehide flew, wrapped around the daughter, and off they disappeared. After days of searching for his daughter in the horsehide, eventually her father found that she had been transformed into a silkworm in a mulberry tree. This was the origin, it was told, of the Horse-Head Lady, a goddess, and the patroness of sericulture (Yang, 164).
caption: Silkworm head. Late instar.
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