Chapter 246
We have to get up early in the morning on March 3rd, and everyone has to eat a full meal from the big table of breakfast, after all, today is a day that requires physical strength.
The way of celebrating the festival is different in each place. Some places hold singing festivals on the third day of March, while the tradition around Ning County is to go to the mountains to worship ancestors.
The men would carry sickles, shovels and hoes for clearing the way and sweeping the graves, while the women would collect the offerings.
Cooked whole chicken, stuffed tofu, fried fish, braised pork belly, rice dumplings, glutinous rice cakes, five-color glutinous rice, sugar cakes, fruits...
These were packed into several bamboo baskets and covered with a clean cotton cloth to prevent them from getting dirty on the way.
"Paying respects to the mountain" is not something that each family does separately. Under a huge banyan tree on the mountain is the resting place of several ancestors of the Su family. Everyone has to go there to pay respects together first, and then disperse to pay respects to their own direct elders.
Not the whole family goes up the mountain. Someone has to stay at home to cook and look after the house. Those who are too old or too young cannot go.
So Third Aunt and Zhige's wife and children stayed at home. Su Miao seldom went there before because he was not in good health when he was a child and was too weak to climb up.
The only time I went there was when I was five years old and had a serious illness. After I came back from the hospital, I felt dazed and listless.
That year, Sanpo asked Su Yuanzheng to tie her on his back with the ancestral cloth strap and carry her up the mountain.
In addition to paying homage to the ancestral tomb and Su Miao's grandparents that day, Su Yuanzheng also carried his daughter to the tombs of all the family elders to pay homage, hoping that the ancestors and elders could bless his daughter with good health.
It really worked. From that time on, Su Miao's health gradually improved and he fell ill less frequently.
In Su Miao's vague memory, there was a fragment where she lay on her father's back, listening to his heavy breathing as he carried her up the mountain.
Everyone gathered at the ancestral hall at the entrance of the village. Every family placed offerings in the hall and worshipped for a while, lighting incense and burning paper money.
Second Aunt suddenly slapped her head and said, "Ouch! I didn't take the most important thing! The incense and paper money! Ah Yu! Hurry! The basket on the kitchen table, ours and your Uncle Yuan's are all in there!"
Brother Yu hurried home. Su Miao thought that going to the ancestral hall before going up the mountain was probably the experience summed up by the ancestors. It was better to check the items again than to find them after going up the mountain.
After a while, almost everyone had arrived, and the group went into the mountains in a heroic and high-spirited manner.
The half-grown children in the village are experienced in walking on mountain roads. They run in front, jumping and skipping, and a few local dogs follow them, circling around everyone's feet. Sometimes they accidentally trip people and get scolded.
At the foot of the mountain, there is a stream whose deepest part reaches Su Miao's knees. One has to wade across it to climb up the mountain.
This is what Su Miao fears the most, because the stones at the bottom of the stream are very slippery and it is difficult to stand steadily. It is easy to slip under the impact of the water. Although the water is not deep, if you slip, you will definitely become a drowned chicken.
Seeing his nephews and nieces taking off their shoes and pulling their trouser legs high as they walked away, Su Miao gritted his teeth and squatted down to take off his shoes.
"Miao Miao, Dad will carry you over there."
Su Miao looked at her nephews and nieces who were waving at her to come over, and she quickly pulled up her father who was squatting in front of her.
"Dad, I'll go by myself."
Su Yuanzheng handed her the shovel in his hand and said, "Okay, then you hold on to the shovel so you won't slip."
So Su Miao gritted her teeth and crossed the river amid the cheers of the other children. The water was really cold, and the feeling of her feet stepping on the moss on the rocks gave her goose bumps for two seconds.
After walking about ten meters up the mountain, there were more grass, trees and thorns. Several men with machetes and large hoes were leading the way in front, and several others were following behind, letting the children and women walk in the middle.
Su Miao followed the footsteps of his second aunt in front of him in the thorn bushes that blocked out the sun. He had no idea which was which. All his attention was focused on his feet and on avoiding the thorns on both sides.
Fortunately, she was well prepared today. She wore long-sleeved shirt, long pants, sneakers, and tucked her hands into her sleeves. If she was scratched by the sharp thorns, it would take several days to heal.
I don't know how long I walked, but I had already arrived in a wide forest. Although there were fewer small sharp thorns to avoid, the slope was steeper. Su Miao wiped the sweat from his head and breathed rapidly. Oh my God, I'm so tired.
"Wait a minute, why is the road here gone?" The question came from the front by the second uncle.
"Did we go the right way? We took the wrong road, second brother!" Sixth uncle said immediately.
"That's impossible! It has to go this way! I remember this tree so well. How could I be wrong every time I come?"
"Brother, is that the tree over there? I saw a rope tied to the tree over there~"
"Then this tree also has a rope!"
"You're all mistaken. I don't think we've reached the tree where we're supposed to turn. We still have to keep going forward. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense that we can't even see the road at all!"
Everyone had their own ideas about the road and the trees. Just when everyone was deadlocked, Su Miao, who was sitting on a big rock to rest, pointed to the dogs that had run ahead and were looking back at them and said, "Uncles! Why don't we follow Fa Cai and the others? They seem to know the way."
It turns out that the dogs' ability to find the way is an innate talent. They didn't even need to look for a tree and led a large group of people to the foot of the banyan tree.
This banyan tree is very large, and its branches and leaves block an area that is about the size of several three-bedroom and one-living-room apartments.
Due to its long age, countless companion plants have entwined the branches of the banyan tree, and multiple plants are intertwined together, just like the presence of these ancestors has brought this group of descendants closely together.
The ancestors' tombs were cleaned tidy, and each family placed the prepared offerings, poured wine and tea, burned incense and paper money, and set off firecrackers.
After paying homage to the ancestors, everyone went to pay homage to their own direct elders. Because people here believe in feng shui, each family chooses a different burial site after they have branches and leaves.
Grandpa Su Miao and his second grandfather were very close. His second grandfather was his second uncle's father. A few years ago, the two families came together to build a large cemetery, which was surrounded by a large circle and had several empty graves.
They weren't shy about discussing their afterlife. My second uncle pointed to an empty bag and said, "I'll be sleeping here a hundred years from now. Remember the way. No matter how far you go, remember to burn money for me! Chicken, duck, fish, or meat aren't important! If you have to burn money, I'll buy them myself!"
Second Auntie took a large stack of yellow paper money with gold lacquer in the middle from the basket and said with a smile, "It needs to be more than this! It needs to be more every year!"
Second uncle turned around and said to Su Miao with a smile: "Miao Miao, you must remember the way too. Come and see Second uncle!"
Su Miao nodded and said okay, thinking to himself, Second Uncle, I remember that in the previous life, you were squatting right here where you are now, and you burned paper money for me and my dad.
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