Chapter 77: A unique sacrifice (please add to collection and recommend)
Sacrifice, what to sacrifice?
Tribes that offer sacrifices to gods usually have things like totems. They may carve totems on stones, or directly paint them on their bodies or faces, or carve them on wood, making things like totem poles. The Han tribe does not have totems, so Luo Chong can only sacrifice other things, that is - sacrifice flags.
Yes, the spiritual sustenance that Luo Chong came up with is the flag. Modern countries have national flags. Although the Han tribe is not a country yet, it also has to make one. Of
course, the flag will not have "Carry out justice on behalf of heaven, kill the rich and help the poor" written on it
. The flag of the Han tribe has only one word on it, "Han".
The Han tribe has no cloth now, so they can only use animal skins to make flags. Fortunately, the Han tribe is not short of animal skins now, so there are still materials to make a flag.
Luo Chong selected a complete skin of an elk, the hair on it had been scraped off, and cut it into a rectangle according to the largest area. The characters on it were sewn with boiled bones, and the characters were crookedly formed into the Chinese character "Han".
As for why bones were used, it was very simple, because there was nothing else.
Although Luo Chong could burn pine soot ink now, if he wrote directly with ink, it was estimated that the characters would be gone after a rain. Luo Chong had not yet developed other dyes. After thinking about it, it was better to use bones, and boiled bones could be anti-corrosive.
Of course, a flag made of bones sewn on animal skin could not float horizontally, so Luo Chong made a vertical version of this flag, a vertical striped flag, with a few holes on the upper edge, and then strung with a stick, like a curtain, and then found a flagpole to hang it up.
Luo Chong decided that the location of the flagpole was in the central urban area of the city site, which was not a residential area. Thinking about building a small square in the future, it would not be a problem to put a flagpole on it.
The material of the flagpole is also fir wood. It is nothing special. It is straight and of suitable thickness. In the 1970s and 1980s, China still used this thing as a telephone pole.
There is spiritual sustenance, and of course a ceremony must be held. How can such a serious and solemn thing be done without a sense of ritual? Unfortunately, no one in the Han tribe understands this.
When the Han tribe was still small, there was no belief at all, and there had never been any sacrificial activities. Everyone was groping, and only Luo Chong had seen more things.
Of course, ritual objects such as bells, tripods, trumpets, and drums are needed for rituals. There is no need to think about bells and tripods. Those things are too difficult to make. Not only do they consume a lot of metal materials, but they also have no practical significance. So Luo Chong just wants to make a drum.
Drums are different. This is a good thing. It only needs some wood and two animal skins to make it. Moreover, this thing makes a loud sound when it is struck, which is shocking and can easily resonate with people and build a sense of unity.
It is also very useful even when there is no sacrifice. For example, it can be used to sound the alarm. When encountering an enemy attack, you can beat the drum to warn everyone. You can also beat the drum in the evening to call everyone back for dinner. It can even be used in military training of queues or formations. In short, it has a lot of practical uses and is easy to make.
To make a drum, you must first make a flat barrel without a base. Luo Chong designed it himself, calculated the pi and calculated the size, and then asked Mutun and Mutong to saw some oak boards that are wide in the middle and slightly narrow at both ends, and use these boards to surround a barrel.
The fixing materials are two flat copper rings, which are directly cast with the remaining copper materials of the Han tribe. Some copper nails are also made. The metal reserves of the Han tribe have also been completely exhausted.
The wooden boards are surrounded in a circle, first with a copper hoop to fix it, then water is poured on the wooden boards and baked on the fire to shape them. The other end of the wooden barrel is constantly tightened with wet hemp rope, and then another copper hoop is put on, and then the two copper hoops are pounded tight.
Two pieces of bison hide were used on both sides of the drum. The hide was tightly stretched on both ends of the drum with copper nails, and the seams were glued with fish bladder glue.
At this point, a cowhide drum with a diameter of 1.2 meters was completed. When it was stood there, it was taller than a child. Ahem, for sacrificial objects, of course they had to be bigger.
The wooden pig, the lame man, and the wooden barrel who followed Luo Chong to work didn't know what this thing was used for. The tribesmen of the Han tribe were also very curious. A naughty child ran over and patted it, and it made a dongdong sound, which scared the child.
"Chief, what is this 'drum' you are talking about for? Why is it so loud when it is hit?" The lame man was also startled when he heard the sound coming from the drumhead, and asked directly.
"Haha, this thing is used to hit, but not by hand, it's best to use a wooden hammer. By the way, wooden pig, have you finished the two drum hammers I asked you to make?" Luo Chong introduced it with a smile, and then asked about the progress of the drum hammers.
"It will be done soon. I have already finished it. I am polishing it now. Otherwise, there will be wood thorns and it will prick your hands."
"Well, you need to polish it carefully. Don't worry. If you prick the cowhide when you beat the drum, it will not make any sound."
"Well, I know." The wooden pig responded while working, holding two drumsticks in his hands. He would stop polishing after a while, stroking it with his palms to feel where it was not smooth enough, and then continue polishing.
The first day of spring passed like this. The drizzle fell all day long. People say that spring rain is as expensive as oil, but the spring rain here is very cheap and endless.
The flags that were given to the women to sew were finished and strung together with a wooden stick; Dali also led the men to erect the flagpole at the position marked by Luo Chong. A wooden pulley was installed on the top of the flagpole, which was made by Luo Chong himself. A long hemp rope was passed through the pulley to raise the flag.
Mu Tong led four boys to build a frame for the cowhide drum, which was now ready and temporarily placed inside the wall.
Before dinner, the drum hammer of Mutun was finally completed. Luo Chong checked it and found no problem. Finally, he wrapped two pieces of snake skin on the hammer head. It was done. All they had to do was wait for the weather to clear up before the sacrifice could begin.
On the second day of spring, with the first ray of sunshine from the east, the sky finally cleared up, revealing the blue sky after the rain and a colorful rainbow connecting the sky and the earth.
After breakfast, Luo Chong led his partner (a pair of elephants) and all the members of the Han tribe, from the elderly elders to the infants, to the wasteland that was designated as the site of the city.
Under the towering flagpole, on a temporary platform made of blue bricks, spears, bows and arrows, a big fish, a bull head, and more than 20 kilograms of rice were neatly arranged.
The elders and Luo Chong stood at the foot of the platform to preside over the sacrificial ceremony. The cowhide drum was placed on the wooden frame on the side. Da Li, shirtless, stood by with two drum hammers in his hands. More than 200 tribesmen from the Han tribe stood in a square array in front of the platform, their eyes fixed on Luo Chong.
"The sacrifice begins, beat the drum, and raise the flag."
With Luo Chong's shout, Da Li began to beat the drum vigorously.
The
shocking drum sound resounded throughout the wilderness. With the rhythm of the drum beats, a team of seven men neatly walked from the crowd to the flagpole.
Da Shu, who was walking in the front, held a bronze spear; behind him were Beast Tooth and One-ear, who carried a quiver and held a longbow.
Feather, Stone, Wooden Pig, and Wooden Barrel each grabbed a corner of the big "Han" flag, held a bronze spear in one hand, and raised the flag high above their heads with the other hand. A team of seven people walked towards the flagpole to the beat of the drum.
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Thank you dear book friends for your support for Qingshu. The following is today's reward list.
Book friend "Xia Wenxici"
book friend "Bi Ye Youyun
" book friend "Situ Kongming"
book friend "The Little Boy Who Scared the Tiger"
book friend "Liuli Mu Guan"
Thank you, thank you for feeding Qingshu (manual funny)
and thank you all for voting for recommendations. Today is the day with the most recommendations since the publication of "Original", more than 150 votes, my God, this is the best Lantern Festival gift you gave me.
Finally, Qingshu also wishes everyone a happy Lantern Festival. I hope you can also find your own fun in this book. Thank you for your support, don't forget tomorrow's recommendation votes! ! !
(End of this chapter)
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