Chapter 52 Chapter 52 Sacrifice
The snow fell for several days in a row, and accumulated on the ground was a foot thick. Ji Xu and the others gradually stopped going out. They turned their cotton clothes inside out and put them on. Every day when they woke up, they would sweep the snow in front of the door first.
"Fengmei, Xiaozhu, come and build a snowman!"
There was a broom beside him, and Ji Xu rolled a big snowball and shouted vividly.
"It's very cold."
Ji Feng was reluctant to come at first because she was reluctant to take off the gloves she had just put on.
After a while, the children couldn't help themselves and came to play together. They built a snowman half a person's height in front of the door, with a nose and eyes made of straw, and even hands on both sides.
After playing for a while, I dried my shoes by the stove to warm my hands.
When Ji Yuan from next door saw the snowman, he also asked Ji Zhi to build one and placed it on the chicken coop beside the wall of her yard. The snowman's head was sticking out and staring at their second room.
Ji Feng couldn't stand it, so she poked it with a bamboo stick at night. The next day, Ji Yuan looked at it and cried out,
"You are so good, Ji Erfeng!"
He tirelessly put the snowman's head back on and continued to monitor them.
This snowfall made Mr. You, one of the three elders in the village, very worried. He came to Woshe Valley with the help of a cane. He saw that outside the shacks, each family had a burning fire and the refugees were huddled together to keep warm.
With such heavy snow, it was more difficult to dig the wild vegetables and grass roots on Niupi Mountain. They relied on the bean porridge provided by the Gan family, but that was only a small amount. You Gong could not bear to see people freezing to death on the road, and was also worried that these people would cause chaos in their desperate situation.
So he asked the Minister of Agriculture, "What countermeasures does Gaiyi have?"
You Gong knew very well that the current situation was all due to the price of grain, but there had been no accurate news about the grain transfer from the prefectures and counties to provide relief. No one knew when the grain would be transferred or when the price would fall.
Tian Shaofu only said three words:
"Waxabaji."
Laba Day.
The village chief knocked on every door early in the morning to take the offerings.
The Laba Festival is the grandest sacrifice in the village throughout the year. The term Laba has become popular today and it originated from the ancient Laba Festival at the end of the year.
Villagers offer sacrifices to the eight gods and welcome blessings. They all hope for the gods' protection and bring fruits, vegetables, wine, dried meat and livestock from their homes. The poorest ones offer firewood as an offering. There is always a desire to make sacrifices.
Even someone like Jin, who loved to take advantage of others, brought out a liter of beans from her home.
Ji Huhai kept pestering her to eat the candy fruit, so she said, "Don't make me hit you on the day of welcoming the gods."
Ji Xu's family offered some vegetables, and Ji Feng said hurriedly, "We need to pick fresh ones, so that the God of Agriculture will be happy when he sees them."
The village official said, "Come with me, my dear, to Xiaoshunli to help in the kitchen."
Because she had experience helping the Gan family cook at the banquet for Mao Gong, and because Shengchangli was known for her good cooking skills, the villagers asked her to help with the cooking work for the sacrificial ceremony.
Although it was just an assist, Ji Feng's face was also very glorious. You know, sacrifice is sacred. She said:
"Who wouldn't be eager to help? That year, Zhao's eldest mother went there once and brought back a lot of food. She kept talking about it in the fields for days."
Now is the fallow period, and the Eighth La Festival is held in the public fields of Xiaoshunli. The snow is swept away and the sacrifice is held. There is a round and spacious earthen altar built in the east, south, west and north.
It is said that these four altars were all built by the refugees from Woshe Valley by carrying stones and piling up earth. They could get two pieces of bean curd in the morning and evening by working here.
In the center of the altar stood a stone pillar, with a sheep to be sacrificed tied there. Some villagers placed firewood on the altar, while others spread mats under the altar. The mats were woven from readily available reeds and straw to show their simplicity in front of the gods.
Ji Xu withdrew his gaze and followed the village assistant to the east kitchen of the village's third elder's house. Offerings from various villages were sent here, and the place was busy with cooking and stewing.
I saw a waitress with a smooth flat bun, armbands on her hands, and a knee-length apron tied over her skirt. She walked around with an air of dignity.
"I'm an old man who specializes in sacrificial offerings. Sacrificial offerings are different from our ordinary food. They can't use ordinary flavors. Variety is important. Take this meat soup for example. Not even a grain of salt can be added."
"Mrs. Zhou, there's someone here. Please take care of him and call him." said the village officer.
Mrs. Zhou took a look at her and sent her to carry the sacrificial utensils. She was accompanied by a woman from the filial piety village.
"You look unfamiliar. Is this your first time helping out? Mrs. Zhou, the chef, has a bad temper. We should just do our job and try not to irritate her. After the sacrifice is over, we can even take some of the offerings back."
The storehouse was opened, and two people carried out some sacrificial utensils such as beans, baskets, sacrificial tables, and tripods. The tripod was very heavy, so two more people were called to help carry it out.
Ji Xu squatted by the well to wash. It was freezing cold, and this was not an easy job. His hands were frozen red.
"You're so clumsy! You can't even keep an eye on the fire! You've offended the gods by offering this burnt meat as a sacrifice. You'll suffer for it for the rest of your life!"
Mrs. Zhou, the cook, pointed at a young man's nose and scolded him. When she saw Ji Xu coming in with a pile of bean baskets, she pointed and said:
"You light the fire."
Ji Xu placed the sacrificial utensils over and saw that the stove was full of firewood. He used a fire stick to pull out half of it, put the firewood back in place, and blew up the bamboo tube.
He rubbed his frozen hands together and gradually felt better.
Mrs. Zhou, the chef, was in charge of cooking herself. She didn't have to worry about the fire at all. She didn't have to tell anyone when to use a low heat or a high heat.
I couldn't help but take a few more glances at her. I saw that she had an almond-shaped face, black hair, and was wearing a lotus-green jacket, and was very fair and clean.
At first, seeing her slender figure, he thought she was a girl from some family who had come to be offered as a sacrifice. She didn't look like someone who was experienced in doing the housework under the stove, so he sent her away casually.
At this moment, Ji Xu was making a fire, and Zhou's wife, the chef, prepared the offerings at dusk and ordered them to be taken to the altar.
The villagers had already arrived there, waiting to watch the excitement of the sacrifice.
Sisters Feng and Zhu were also brought by the Chen family. They stood at the front and saw Ji Xu carrying the minced meat towards the altar. They pointed and said to the others:
"That's my sister!"
His face was full of joy. It was a blessing to be able to do this kind of work of offering sacrifices to the gods.
Jin, who was watching from the side, looked uncomfortable. What a good job, but this little bitch got it. Her husband Ji Zhi also sold coins, so why didn't anyone come to him?
When Feng Fuzhen saw this, she curled her lips.
"Isn't it just a cook..."
"The auspicious time has arrived! Let's offer sacrifices—"
As soon as a village chief shouted, the crowd immediately quieted down.
Ji Xu had finished his work and came to where his sisters were.
I saw the live sheep being led to the altar by the village chief.
Tian Shefu's sheepskin coat fell down to his waist. He wore pleated leggings and his upper body was bare. He held a Luan knife in his hand and stabbed the right ear of the living sheep, using the blood from the ear as a sacrifice to the gods.
There was a cheer from the crowd.
After the blood sacrifice, Tian Shefu slaughtered the sheep. The rough and blunt Luan knife used for sacrifice seemed extremely sharp in his hand. He easily cut open the sheep's belly, took out the internal organs, placed them in a special table, and displayed them on the altar. This was a raw meat sacrifice.
“There is plenty of rice and foxtail millet, and there are also high granaries.
Wanyi and Zi made wine and sweet liquor as sacrifices to the gods.
To harmonize all rites and bring blessings to all."
You Gong's hair and beard were silver white, and he sang prayers while leaning on a cane.
As the tall firewood on the four-sided altar was ignited, the flames shot up into the sky, and dozens of Vajra warriors rushed out.
They covered their faces with painted wooden beards, bared their upper bodies in the heavy snow, tied thin waist drums around their waists, the drums sounded like thunder, and they danced around the altar with big and small movements, like wild beasts pouncing on their prey, showing their wildness.
"It's Nuo dance!" the crowd said excitedly.
Every year during the twelfth lunar month, strong people are selected to perform the Nuo dance, which is both to welcome the gods and to exorcise disasters and epidemics.
The leader was eight and a half feet tall, strong and sturdy, with the aura of a ferocious beast. He held a peach branch in his hand and jumped up with the Nuo dance team, washing water in the cauldron and sprinkling it to the villagers.
"Welcome the Cat God!"
The people below clapped their hands in joy. Now that the cat god had arrived, the field mice would no longer be able to cause trouble.
"The Cat God has caught all the mice in my house!"
Ji Feng was delighted by the peach branch water and her face was full of joy.
"Welcome the Tiger God!"
Another shower of holy water was seen, which caused cheers to rise, and people hoped that the tiger would eat the wild boar that came down the mountain to destroy the crops.
Ji Xu's face was wet, and he looked into the pair of black eyes of the man in the beard. He recognized that the leader should be Tian Shefu.
Because there was blood on his mouth from the livestock he had just slaughtered, when you got close to him, you could smell a bloody smell on him.
In just a moment, the Nuo dance turned to another place.
Later, eight gods including the well god, field god, and beast god were welcomed.
“Roar! Roar!”
“The winter drum sounds! Spring grass grows!
The soil is against its house!
Water returns to its valley!
Insects, don't do that!
The grass and trees return to their marshes!"
In the last round, the Nuo dance was vigorous and powerful, and the chanting in unison made the bonfire shake violently. The smoke was like clouds reaching the heaven, and the gods could descend from it.
There was a look of longing on everyone's face. God! God!
Please pray that food prices will drop!
Even after it faded away, everyone's hearts were still unsettled.
After the sacrifice, apart from the villagers who helped with the sacrifice, the remaining offerings, according to the old custom, were sent by You Gong to the homes of the elderly over seventy years old, widows, orphans, and the lonely in the village.
The other part was distributed to the refugees in Woshe Valley. On a snowy night, the shivering refugees expressed their gratitude profusely when they received the cloth.
Ji Xu also returned home with his sister. She got half a jar of honey and a jar of snail sauce made by Zhou's cook. The snail sauce was made from snails.
Ji Feng was so curious that she held it in her hand and sniffed it.
"Mm, it smells really good. It's great mixed with rice or stewed vegetables. Xiaozhu, you can smell it too."
The honey was even more precious. Ji Xu had soaked red beans when he left in the morning, and now he was using it to cook red bean porridge.
Add a spoonful of honey and this red and soft bean porridge tastes sweet. My sisters will definitely love it.
Because it was Laba Festival, Ji Xu took down the bacon that the two sisters had been longing for for several days from the beam of the house and cut a piece of it.
Ji Feng's eyes widened when she saw this. She had long been longing for the taste of her sister's smoked bacon and had been looking forward to this day.
"Sister, are we cooking bacon today?" she asked.
At this moment, a fire is being lit by the stove, and red bean porridge is being cooked in a clay pot. After the eighth day of the eighth month of the lunar year in the village, families will make red bean porridge and offer an additional sacrifice to the cooking mother-in-law. This is their custom.
My sister got up early in the morning and soaked a few handfuls of red beans. They have now turned red and are bubbling thickly. She also added honey, which is not usually eaten.
Seeing that there was still bacon, Ji Feng said happily:
"It's a good opportunity to pay my respects to Grandma Xianchu."
If conditions permit, Laba will also prepare wine and meat for the mother-in-law who cooks first to show sincerity. They have bacon for sacrifice this year, and the kitchen fire will surely be prosperous next year.
Ji Xu nodded and said jokingly, "It can also satisfy Sister Feng's craving."
Ji Feng snorted, pouted, and squatted down to light the fire with embarrassment.
Ji Zhu, who was holding a clay dog to keep warm, said, "Second sister, you are embarrassed."
Ji Feng tickled her and asked, "Xiaozhu, are you greedy? Are you greedy?"
Jizhu dodged with a smile and admitted: "Xiaozhu is greedy too!"
Ji Feng let her go because she was afraid that she would roll on the ground and dirty her clothes.
I saw Ji Xu cut the bacon into thin slices. The lean part was a kind of brownish brown, and the fat part was crystal clear, which looked very beautiful. Then he washed the garlic sprouts picked from behind the house, cut them into half-finger-long segments, heated some oil in the bottom of the pot, and stir-fried the bacon slices and garlic sprouts. The pungent aroma of garlic and meat spread all over the place.
A plate of glossy, garlicky, and green and red fried bacon with garlic sprouts was served.
"It smells so good." Ji Zhu took a deep sniff and said with an intoxicated look on her face.
However, today is Laba Festival, and the food must be offered to the old woman first. The Book of Rites says: "The kitchen god is the sacrifice of the old woman, and its god is cooked first."
Here, the Kitchen God is said to be the one who "cooks first". Worshiping the Kitchen God can bring blessings to the family.
The sacrifices at home were different from those in the village. People had to build an altar with earthenware. There were no incense sticks in the Western Han Dynasty. There was a kind of fragrant grass called Jingmao, which had a fragrance when burned, but it was very precious. It was a tribute from Chu during the Zhou Dynasty and was only used for sacrifices by the emperor. Even the village only burned ordinary firewood.
They could not afford to burn fragrant herbs or wood, so they only lit the stove fire.
Ji Xu cleaned the pottery stove and cooking utensils, and then placed the meat and a large bowl of red bean porridge on the stove.
The three sisters knelt in front of the stove, cupped their hands in front of their chests, and asked the mother-in-law who cooked first to eat first, and then they silently prayed in their hearts.
Ji Feng prayed devoutly in her heart, "Grandma Cook is coming to my house for dinner. I want to ask you for a favor. Ji Yun is an old cook in Chang'an. She is a very kind person. Please bless her with good fortune and prosperity, just as you bless my family."
After such a sacrifice, they ate red bean porridge and fried bacon with garlic sprouts on the dining table, feeling very satisfied.
Even though the doors and windows were tightly closed, the house was not airtight after all. The smoke drifted out, and not only could it be smelled far away, but it could also be smelled clearly from the Ji family's main house nearby.
Jin clutched her groaning stomach and swallowed, thinking it was just the bacon from the neighboring offerings, not realizing it was from her own family. She spat fiercely in that direction and continued to kneel before the stove, cupping her hands and muttering to herself:
"Hello, Grandma Xianchui, the family next door is a treacherous thief. I wish you, Grandma Xianchui, to extinguish her stove and cause her stove to collapse and her house to fall down."
There was also red bean porridge on her stove. They had bought very few red beans, so they were very scattered. You could see the bottom of the bowl. Ji Huhai smelled the aroma of meat, his stomach was empty, and he said to Jin:
"Mom, when is dinner? I'm hungry!"
Jin glared at him to signal him to stop making noise. Fortunately, Ji Zhi pulled him away in time. Jin continued:
“Please bless my family again, may there be no disease or epidemic in the coming year, and may the stove be prosperous;
Another thing is that food prices are skyrocketing right now. Could you please help and bless them to come down quickly? We can’t even afford to eat, and our pants are getting too tight…”
After a long chatter, Ji Yuan finally got up. He was waiting to eat red bean porridge. Hearing her words, he curled his lips and said:
"Mother is so nagging. Grandma, the old lady, doesn't care about all these things."
Jin thought about it, gritted her teeth, and said:
"If you find it annoying, just remember this last wish of mine."
…
"I hope that Grandma Xianchu will bless us to let this food price crisis pass quickly and let us return to the way things were before."
"May the Grandmother of the Kitchen bless us so that the price of grain doesn't go up any further. We've already suffered a lot of losses..."
"First, let my family become wealthy and let the price of grain return to what it was before."
"Grandma Xianchu, please bless my family to have dry rice to eat every day."
More than 50 households in Benguli, including the Jixu family, the Feng family, the Cui family, the Chen family, and the Wang family, all set up red bean porridge and offered sacrifices in front of the stove to pray.
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