Chapter 103 Chapter 103 July 20th...
On July 27th, Jiang Wan got up early and began to prepare the sacrificial utensils.
Baroti is also known as the Festival of Lights. On the eve of the festival, every household makes their own candles, which are then inserted into the sand in order of seniority. Prayers are said in front of the candles. After the festival, each family lights a lamp, symbolizing happiness and light.
On the day of the festival, the Wusun people come to the cemetery, placing offerings such as oily naan and cooked mutton. They also place spirit-calling lanterns on plates. The whole family, young and old, kneels before the grave and prays to the deceased. After the ceremony, each family exchanges the sacrificial food, gathers around the bonfire to eat together, and exchanges gifts.
Kunmi provided the details of this year's Baroti Festival rituals, scheduled for noon on the second day of the eighth lunar month, outside the Wusun royal mausoleum. The ritual consisted of four steps: offering sacrifices, delivering prayers, lighting the spirit-calling lamp, and a collective prayer. Thousands of people, including many nobles and high-ranking officials, participated.
Jiang Wan's gaze shifted to the next piece of material, which was a collection of drawings of sacrificial vessels that Liu Ming had ordered his men to collect. It had to be said that this guy spoke little but was quick to act.
Last year's utensils mainly included four types: bronze plates with animal feet, Lai Tong cups, double-handled net-patterned pottery jars, and sheep-shaped pottery beans.
Among them, the Laitong Cup Jiangwan has already been produced and is used to hold kumis. The bronze plate with animal feet is used to hold cattle and sheep legs; the pottery bowl with sheep-shaped patterns is used to hold fruit. The double-handled net-patterned pottery jar has a hollow design and is used to hold requiem lamps.
The Laitong cup could be made according to the previous design. Since the Baroti Festival had a certain religious nature, Jiang Wan didn't dare to rashly change the pattern of the vessel without being proficient in the other religion. Therefore, there was nothing much to research about the pottery bean; he could simply use the finest celadon material and fire it as is.
The two items that can be written about are the bronze plate and the reticulated pottery jar.
Jiang Wan pondered this briefly before going to Qi Qi for consultation. Firstly, Qi Qi had studied Western porcelain, and secondly, Liu Ming had the actual vessel with him, so Jiang Wan planned to examine it carefully.
The door of Qi Qi's room was half open, and on his desk were two things: a bronze plate and a reticulated pottery jar.
Jiang Wan walked over: "Any ideas?"
Qi Qi shook his head.
"It's not easy. The net-patterned pottery jar is easy enough, after all, celadon is considered an advanced version of pottery, and the hollowing process is your strength, Lord Jiang. But this bronze plate has an overall ancient and heavy color, and its four legs are shaped like camel hooves. It is difficult to replicate such a sharp and detailed shape with celadon. Although the color can be darkened, it lacks the grayness of bronze and lacks a certain ancient simplicity."
Jiang Wan thought for a moment and said, "Porcelain and bronze are fundamentally different. If we blindly pursue similarities, we will never be able to surpass last year's vessels. Since we can't replicate the appearance of the bronze plate, why not try something else?"
Qi Qi was shocked: "Absolutely not! Sir, we are new here and don't know the customs of Wusun. If we change our appearance rashly, we might offend the gods they believe in..."
"Of course I understand." Jiang Wan's fingers stroked the edge of the bronze plate. "As long as I add a part of the shape of this plate to complete it, it won't offend the gods."
"Add completely?" Qi Qi looked confused.
"Well, how about making a whole camel shape out of celadon and having the camel carry the plate?"
In the Great Zhou Dynasty, there was also a precedent of celadon ware with animals carrying utensils.
"But what if it doesn't conform to the Wusun people's aesthetic standards..." Qi Qi was still a little nervous.
Jiang Wan nodded: "It's just an idea. I'll go out and ask if it's feasible."
Qi Qi breathed a sigh of relief: "We can't achieve the grayscale of the bronze, so how can we convey a sense of heaviness?"
"If porcelain can't achieve that, just coat the surface with other materials." Jiang Wan glanced at him. "When it comes to understanding handicraft materials, no one knows more than you."
Qi Qi slapped his head and said, "Oh, yes! There is a kind of grinding stone in the North. When applied to the surface, it can conceal the gloss and increase the grayness. Paired with the sky-blue porcelain base, the effect is comparable to bronze, and it adds a sacred feeling."
He looked at Jiang Wan with sparkling eyes: "Master Jiang is really smart."
Jiang Wan patted him and said, "Let's go, call Master Bai, and go to the market to buy some ingredients."
A quarter of an hour later.
Jiang Wan and the other two stood at the end of the long street with uneasy expressions. Behind them were two servants carrying four large sacks filled with millstones.
"Are things so cheap in Wusun? Four bags of millstones for one tael of silver, and they're delivered to your door?" Qi Qi glanced at the two shop assistants. "Four bags of red soil cost one tael of silver, and you have to pick it up yourself."
Bai Yanyun (Wusun dialect version): "Two young men, there's really no need to send them off. You only take one or two taels of silver. How can I have the nerve to ask you to run errands..."
"No, we can't sell our grindstones here. Everyone wants to polish their pottery, but you're the only one willing to buy." The waiter said enthusiastically. "Hey, you're staying at the post station, so are you envoys from the Central Plains?"
Bai Yanyun paused and looked at Jiang Wan.
No way, no way, we just arrived in Wusun yesterday, and today the common people in Chigu City know about it? They didn't even make it public!
If they had packed the ritual utensils, wouldn't the locals know about it? Would they be beaten in the street?
Jiang Wan looked at the Wusun servant over his shoulder and nodded calmly.
Bai Yanyun mustered up the courage to answer in Wusun dialect: "Yes, we are envoys from the Great Zhou."
"That's great!" The guy became excited, and even the surrounding Wusun people came over.
Bai Yanyun hissed, retreated to Jiang Wan's side, and whispered, "It's over. Can we get through this unscathed?"
"We Wusun also sent envoys to the Central Plains! I heard that the houses in the Central Plains are all made of gold! The porcelain in the Central Plains is more valuable than gold! The people in the Central Plains have endless beef to eat! Is this true?" The guy's eyes lit up.
Bai Yanyun: "Ah?"
He was stunned for a long moment before translating it sentence by sentence to Jiang Wan, who smiled knowingly and nodded.
The Wusun people became even more excited.
Bai Yanyun: No, Lord Jiang, how did you understand that? What kind of rumor is this? Even the Imperial Palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty wasn't made of gold.
Jiang Wan gestured to Bai Yanyun to translate, "I plan to give your country a statue of a camel carrying offerings. What do you think?"
Several Wusun people were stunned for a moment and nodded subconsciously.
Jiang Wan smiled slightly, placed his left hand on his chest and saluted: "I understand. Thank you very much."
After saying that, he turned and left, and the two guys quickly followed him, leaving a group of people standing there stupidly.
After a few seconds, one of them asked blankly: "She is giving us something, why does she have to say thank you to us?"
"I don't know. I heard that people in the Central Plains value etiquette. Is this their etiquette?"
Elsewhere, the servant delivered the millstone to the inn and left. Jiang Wan concluded, "It seems that having camels carry plates won't offend their gods. So, let's do it this way."
"Okay." Qi Qi scratched his head. "I don't quite understand. General Tuke just returned from Lin'an. Are things in the Central Plains spreading so quickly? And they're getting more and more mysterious."
"The Wusun people yearn for the Great Zhou, which is beneficial to us." Bai Yanyun analyzed, "Such rumors seem more like someone is helping us. Lord Jiang, have you guessed who it is?"
"Hmm. It seems that Madam Right has clearly chosen her side."
It wasn't too surprising. She had a premonition last night when the other party said, "Every time you come, you will bring good luck."
In order to finish making the porcelain before the sacrifice, Jiang Wan and Qi Qi started drawing sketches as soon as they returned to the inn. It was already late at night when they finished designing the four sketches.
The Wusun craftsmen sent by Kunmi arrived at the posthouse the next day, and Qi Qi took them to make sacrificial vessels. When Jiang Wan had some free time, he called Chen Xi over to discuss some other matters.
Four days passed in a flash, and the day of sacrifice arrived in the blink of an eye.
Jiang Wan had already handed the prepared utensils to the high priest in charge of the ceremony. Qi Qi was so busy with the four instruments, each containing one hundred pieces, that she felt dizzy and was currently catching up on some sleep at the inn. Only Bai Yanyun and Chen Xi accompanied her to the ceremony.
At noon, those who participated in the sacrifice gathered outside the city of Chigu, led by Kunmi and his wife, and headed towards the royal tomb in a mighty procession.
The royal mausoleum is located fifty miles outside the city, surrounded by lush vegetation. The tombstones of the Wusun ancestors are neatly arranged on the ground, and a crypt is built underground, where the remains of the ancestors rest.
The wind rustled the treetops, and noble men and women in dark formal attire stood before the tombstones with their heads bowed, creating a solemn and dignified atmosphere. Many common people watched from a distance.
Attendants in uniform black short coats shuttled between the tombstones, placing tributes in front of them one by one: legs of beef or mutton, kumis, fruit, and unlit requiem lamps.
Some eagle-eyed Wusun nobles had already noticed that the vessels used to hold the offerings this year seemed different. The pottery bowls were not much different, though the designs on the Laitong cups were more detailed, with the paint more evenly applied and delicate. The reticulated pottery jars had more openings and a more regular shape. The plates used to hold the legs of cattle and sheep were even more dramatically altered, with the camel carvings now appearing lifelike.
Strange, are the pottery and bronze ware of the Wusun people of this level?
Several nobles in the front row stretched their necks, wanting to ask, but did not dare to speak because it was a sacrificial occasion.
After the attendants left, it was time for the speech. Kunmi walked forward a little, turned around and faced the crowd with a serious expression.
"Today, we gather here to hold the sacred Baroti Festival ancestral worship ceremony. This is a Wusun tradition and a bridge of communication with the great Ao gods and ancestors.
"The Ao gods bestowed light and fire upon our ancestors, allowing them to escape the life of eating raw meat and drinking blood and now eat roasted food. Five hundred years ago, the ancestors of the Wusun..."
Bai Yanyun was interpreting in a low voice for Jiang Wan, but Kunmi's words were too much and only served to create a religious atmosphere. Bai Yanyun translated for a quarter of an hour and the speech was not finished yet.
So he gave up and only translated briefly the part that talked about the politics of the Wusun Kingdom.
After waiting for a while, Jiang Wan found Kunmi pointing in her direction, and Bai Yanyun whispered in panic:
"Kunmi, he said that the utensils for this sacrifice were made by envoys from the Central Plains. He also said that this was your suggestion, and that if anyone is interested in Central Plains porcelain, they can buy it from you."
Bai Yanyun kept hiding behind her. "Although this will make you famous, it's also dangerous! Those stubborn old guys will only think that you, an outsider, have blasphemed their faith!"
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The author has something to say: Baroti Festival is a festival of the Tajik people. Some of the customs in the article come from Baidu, and some are made up by the author. Please don’t take them seriously.
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