Chapter 127 [Riverside Customs]

  The person caught by Fang Chang was a young man with a child. He looked about eighteen or nineteen years old. He turned his head and glanced at Fang Chang, and said:

   "Brother, this is the first time I've come back to watch the Jiangshen Festival? It hasn't been long since it started, and it won't end until the sun is in the middle. I guess there are still two hours."

   Hearing the words, Fang Chang nodded, and cupped his hands to express his thanks.

   Feeling close for no reason, the young man said a few more words: "Don't worry, brother, the exciting part is still to come, just watch it for now."

   "After this ceremony is over, we will distribute offerings to everyone to enjoy, but children will be given priority, and then it will be the turn of us adults."

  At this time, the little boy next to him tugged at the corner of the young man's clothes, and shouted childishly, "Daddy, look quickly, the colorful building has come out! It's so tall and beautiful!"

  The young man immediately turned his head and laughed with his child.

  Fang Chang also looked into the field, but there were shadowy heads of people watching in front of him, swaying back and forth, which greatly affected his sight, even though Fang Chang was a little taller, it was not very refreshing.

  He took a look around, took a few steps back, jumped on tiptoe, and came to the top of a tall acacia tree behind.

  The line of sight is the best here, and the situation ahead is unobstructed.

  He simply found a slanted branch, lay on his side, and watched the sacrifice below.

  The scale of the Jiangshen Temple is very grand. It is estimated that there are many people living on the Xujiang River in this cave, and the worship of incense is strong, so funds can often be raised for repairs and expansions.

  At the same time, the yamen will also support the construction of this kind of facility involving the common people, and the official obstacles are relatively small.

  Not far away is a tall and wide temple dedicated to the **** of rivers, with flying pavilions and flowing pills, and jade-built and carved railings. It can be seen that the builders must be skilled craftsmen.

   It's just that the Jiangshen Temple has no courtyard, only a few magnificent halls, which are located on the abutment, and there are several auxiliary buildings around it, which seem to be surrounded.

  In front of the temple is a large slate square. The boatmen are all dressed in their best clothes, solemn and serious, and lined up in the square.

  Selected in advance, the most respected literate old man held the prayer in his forehand and read aloud.

  It is related to their own livelihood, they dare not move around, and no one talks to each other.

  A few strong men in the back, wearing only thin shirts in the twelfth lunar month of winter, walked over carrying a super-large colored building, holding a guard of honor horses, Chinese chariots and painted boats, all of which were tied with colored paper and bamboo strips.

  Fang Chang untied the wine gourd around his waist, unplugged it, and took a sip of the rice wine with his head raised.

  The rice wine here is very soft. Compared with the sorghum wine he used to drink before, it has a different taste. He just found a tavern and refilled the gourd he had drunk, but he can drink it for a while.

  The priests in front finished the prayer session and began to salute neatly, kneeling twice and knocking six times.

  The types of offerings are extremely rich, starting from the altar table in the main hall, filling the floor of the hall, and spreading all the way to the steps outside the door.

Such as various snacks, candied melons, peach cakes, wine, tea, sesame candy, bean cakes, flour powder, bacon, fungus, roast chicken, pig's head, sheep's head, mushrooms, gluten, stewed meat, boiled eggs, pumpkin, tofu, radish , Sesame, Millet, Wheat, Rice, Beans... It is full and not repeated, all arranged according to the old customs, every year.

   Of course, only some of them are edible.

  After the sacrifice, the edible offerings are distributed to the onlookers present, which is also a reserved program of the project.

   This is expected by many people, especially the children, who have long been unable to hold back their hearts. Some dolls watched the ceremony ahead and kept biting their nails, drooling already.

  The crowd dispersed, piled up beautiful colored buildings, paper horses and the like, and set them on fire.

  Fang Chang was lying on the tree, and shook his head after seeing this scene. This is really a useless step. After burning these river gods, he won't get anything. I don't know why Dongxujiang Jiangshen didn't want to stop it.

  The smoke hadn’t cleared yet, and two strong young men walked to the center, carrying a large wooden tray.

  Inside is the biggest fish caught by the fishermen in these boats from the Dongxu River in three days.

  They worked together to place the wooden plate at the front, then lifted the big incense burner, placed it in the middle, and went forward to offer incense one by one.

   Next, it's time for the band to perform.

   It is very particular about inviting bands, and they have to invite two bands at the same time. In this way, for the sake of word of mouth and future business, they will naturally work hard to fight against each other.

  So the scene became lively with the sound of suona, sheng and drums, and the villagers also listened with great interest.

  Fang Chang smiled, and did not wait to distribute the offerings later.

  Eatable offerings will be distributed to the people present at that time. Although they are colder, everyone does not dislike them. Of course, many people still choose to take them home and heat them up before giving them to their children.

And those that cannot be eaten directly will be used in the dinner party. Today, the priests will use the ingredients for the offerings to start a party, paired with the drinks in the offerings, and have a lively meal. band members.

The following program was a little lackluster. Fang Chang has very good hearing. He heard people come every year to talk about it. After that, the priests stood in place and listened to the music. By the way, they waited for the burning of the incense in the furnace, and then everyone saluted again. , this sacrifice can be regarded as a successful conclusion.

  He didn't want to wait any longer, so he just jumped off the tree.

  Fang Chang turned to the back of the Jiangshen Temple, and followed the flying incense to visit the local Jiangshen.

  The **** of water, the **** of river, and the **** of river, like the city **** of land, may be appointed by heaven and earth, or may be granted by the government, may be human, or may be animal monsters, and the situation varies from place to place.

  Jiangshen will not be in charge of the entire river, but just like the land, he only controls a section of the river and the water banks on both sides, and there is no uniform standard for the specific situation.

  Similarly, the Dongxu River is also a section of this river, which is controlled by the river **** of the Dongxu River.

  Fang Chang saw the Dongxu River River God, and found that the other party was actually dressed as a fisherman. He looked like a former fisherman on the Dongxu River in an unknown era.

  After notifying each other of their names, Jiang Shen asked, "Where did Fang Shangxian come from?"

   "I am a group of scattered people in Yunzhong Mountain. Not long ago, I traveled to Lizhou and was about to turn back. I came here to go down the river and return to the mountain via Xingqing Mansion."

   Hearing Jiang Shen's question, Fang Chang replied.

   "As a result, I couldn't see any boatmen here. After asking, I found that they all came here to sacrifice, so I rushed over to watch the excitement. By the way, after the sacrifice, I hired a boat to go downstream."

   "However, just now, it's quite interesting to see this priest, and I'm interested, so I'll come over to pay a visit."

   "It's also on the way to Xingqing Mansion." Dongxujiang Jiangshen said with a smile, his surname is Zhou, which is quite common here: "I don't know what is interesting in Fang Xianchang's opinion?"

  Fang Chang smiled and said: "I see that these boatmen have worked together to weave a paper bamboo building and burn it. Zhou Jiangshen should not be able to receive it."

   Thank you Lu Lu and Crazy Mo Xiao for your reward.

  

  

  (end of this chapter)