Sericulture
Liz Bryson
World History per. 4
Mr. Storey
October 10, 2013
What is silk? Colorful stories have woven themselves around this beautiful fabric, and have become a part of Chinese legend. The particular caterpillar used for silk is nicknamed “silkworm”. It is interesting how caterpillar mucus, essentially, can be made into this beautiful fabric. The thought brings about the question of how sericulture (the making of silk) was discovered, and what methods are used in silk production. There are many legends on how silk was discovered, but one of the more common in China is the legend of “The Girl with the Horse’s Head”, or “The Silkworm Goddess”. In this tale; there is a father who ventures on a journey, leaving the house empty save his daughter and white stallion. The daughter began to miss him, and said jestingly to the white stallion, “If you brought my father back, I would marry you”. In time no more than it took for her to finish those words, the stallion had left; and trekked the father back to the house. The father asked what happened, and now knowing the truth; he shoots the horse as to not let the girl’s word be fulfilled. Later, the girl speaks mockingly to the horse’s hide, and the hide wraps her up and carries her away. She is found in a cocoon of the horse’s skin, hanging from a tree; slowly transforming into a silkworm. She then became the goddess of sericulture, and watches over her silkworms to this day. It is only speculation at how silk was really first discovered. Many theories have been developed, but the most likely is that of a woman harvesting fruit, collected these cocoons in the mind that they were edible. Not being able to eat past the hard shell, boiling was decided to try and cook it. As a result, the threads of the cocoon unwound, and they discovered the fruit was not a fruit at all. Looking into the basis of silk, there comes the topic of the silkworm. The most common domesticated silkworm has a scientific name of
World History per. 4
Mr. Storey
October 10, 2013
What is silk? Colorful stories have woven themselves around this beautiful fabric, and have become a part of Chinese legend. The particular caterpillar used for silk is nicknamed “silkworm”. It is interesting how caterpillar mucus, essentially, can be made into this beautiful fabric. The thought brings about the question of how sericulture (the making of silk) was discovered, and what methods are used in silk production. There are many legends on how silk was discovered, but one of the more common in China is the legend of “The Girl with the Horse’s Head”, or “The Silkworm Goddess”. In this tale; there is a father who ventures on a journey, leaving the house empty save his daughter and white stallion. The daughter began to miss him, and said jestingly to the white stallion, “If you brought my father back, I would marry you”. In time no more than it took for her to finish those words, the stallion had left; and trekked the father back to the house. The father asked what happened, and now knowing the truth; he shoots the horse as to not let the girl’s word be fulfilled. Later, the girl speaks mockingly to the horse’s hide, and the hide wraps her up and carries her away. She is found in a cocoon of the horse’s skin, hanging from a tree; slowly transforming into a silkworm. She then became the goddess of sericulture, and watches over her silkworms to this day. It is only speculation at how silk was really first discovered. Many theories have been developed, but the most likely is that of a woman harvesting fruit, collected these cocoons in the mind that they were edible. Not being able to eat past the hard shell, boiling was decided to try and cook it. As a result, the threads of the cocoon unwound, and they discovered the fruit was not a fruit at all. Looking into the basis of silk, there comes the topic of the silkworm. The most common domesticated silkworm has a scientific name of