It is winter time in the north hemisphere.Today we will talk about the Snow Spirit, a mythical animal in Chinese mythology.
Snow Spirit 雪精 is the name of this mythical animal. Guess what animal is the Snow Spirit? A white donkey. In the book TaiPingQingHua 太平清话from the Ming dynasty 明朝, it says, Mr. HongYa 洪崖先生 rides a white donkey called the Snow Spirit. Mr. HongYa as an ancient musician and also a Taoist immortal.
In the book GuJinTuShuJiCheng 古今图书集成from the Qing dynasty 清朝, it says, after Mr. HongYa became a Taoist immortal, he rode his Snow Spirit and rose to the sky from a maple tree.
In the book GuJinXiaoShuo 古今小说 from the Ming dynasty 明朝, it says, GuShenZhenRen 姑射真人, an immortal is the god of snow, who has a white donkey called Snow Spirit. Whenever the white donkey shed, it snows. A hair of the Snow Spirit falls one inch of snow. Mr. HongYe takes care of the Snow Spirit and usually put it in a gourd which he carries around. Once Mr. HongYa attended a banquet and got drunk. The white donkey ran away from the gourd and shed all over in the world. There was a heavy snow.
Mentioned:
太平清话 TaiPingQingHua
古今图书 集成 GuJinTuShuJiCheng
古今小说 GuJinXiaoShuo
Chinese Mythology Podcast 