At this time, Fang Yuan's heart moved, and while filming the dance on the altar, he asked, "Xiao Meng, you seem to have said that your grandfather is a cultural expert and scholar?"

"yes." Ning Meng nodded and said proudly: "My grandfather is also a cultural celebrity in the province, and he is still very respected. Otherwise, Mr. Zhao would not be so polite to us......"

Fang Yuan suddenly realized, no wonder the design plan was not satisfactory at that time, and Mr. Zhao also had to explain it in a good voice, it turned out that there was still this layer of factors. Then he asked curiously: "Then does your grandfather have any research on this kind of dance?" ”

"This ......" Ning Meng hesitated a little: "It's hard to say...... Brother Fang, why are you asking this? ”

"It's fine." Fang Yuan said with a smile: "It's just pure curiosity, I want to know the origin of this village's dance." ”

A young villager next to him overheard the conversation between the two and interjected to explain: "This has no origin, it is passed down from ancestors." According to the older generation, this is a ritual to expel evil spirits. ”

"Cast out evil spirits?" Fang Yuan stared for a moment, and suddenly asked, "By the way, brother, we were on the mountain before, and we also saw the same building as the village altar, was that specially built by your village?" ”

"That's right." The young villager smiled and said, "Did a few uncles carry the wild boar to the altar on the way back?" ”

"That's right?" Ning Meng nodded hurriedly and asked curiously, "Is that a worship to the mountain god?" ”

"I guess so, I don't know much either. Anyway, there are at least eight such altars in the mountains. The young villager gestured, "Usually when you go up the mountain, if you catch any prey, if it is near those altars." Be sure to grab something and pay homage. It's been a rule for a long time, and it's probably like you said. In the worship of the mountain gods. ”

"What, there are eight altars?" Fang Yuan and Ning Meng. I was very surprised.

"That's right." The young villager smiled: "Eight altars, distributed in different places. Some altars have also fallen apart because of age. However, some of the altars are still well preserved, and they are no different from the altars in the village. ”

"The atmosphere of worship of the gods of your village is so strong." Ning Meng was a little stunned.

"It's much better now." The young villager explained: "At least everyone will not deliberately go to worship, I remember when I was a child, every time there was a festival, the old people in the village would lead everyone to worship together." Each altar has to be worshiped once, and it takes a whole day to be able to return to the village......"

"That's hard." Ning Meng said with pity.

"Who's to say it's not." The young villager nodded again and again: "If it's once a year, forget it." But even the Qingming Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival have to go to worship, too often, tired! ”

When the young villagers complained, Fang Yuan was thoughtful, and then smiled: "Brother, this shouldn't be too tiring." After all, put some offerings on the table, and then worship casually, a matter of a few minutes, how simple. ”

"It's not that easy." The young villager immediately shook his head: "You saw a few uncles carrying wild boars to worship. It definitely feels simple. But when it comes to actual worship, it's a very cumbersome set. Forget about burning all kinds of incense, candles and firecrackers, but also beating gongs and drums, and dancing the kind of dance on the stage......"

"A program from start to finish. It won't take more than an hour. Eight altars, it will definitely take a whole day. And after returning to the village, I will continue to worship the ...... in the village."

The young villager looked at the past with an unbearable look back: "All in all. After some tossing, everyone has to rest for at least two or three days. It's a recovery. ”

"Sounds miserable." Ning Meng sighed: "It seems that this kind of thing is quite capable of tossing people." ”

"Yes. It's ......" The young villager seemed to have found a soulmate, and it was hot to chat with Ning Meng. Fang Yuan didn't join in the excitement, while recording and drinking, his thoughts were a little fluttering, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

The lively dinner party finally came to an end. The elderly and children, who can't stay up late, are the first to go back to sleep. Then the others also cleaned up the messy cups and plates, and dispersed in twos and threes.

Suddenly, the bonfire under the altar slowly went out, leaving only the faint light of the charcoal fire to loom and light smoke to float into the night sky, and the starlight was lonely and very peaceful.

There was nothing to say all night, and the next morning, Fang Yuan and the others got up early and got ready to go.

This time, because of yesterday's overcoming obstacles, everyone's speed is undoubtedly much faster. In just over half an hour, I passed through the shrub forest and came to the bottom of the rolling mountain peaks.

This is yesterday's progress, and now it's back up. Needless to say, the crowd went up the river again, and continued to go deep into the mountains along the stream.

Suddenly, Ning Meng seemed to have discovered something, and Xing Chongchong signaled, "Brother Fang, look, there is an altar over there. ”

"Huh?" Fang Yuan took a look and saw that there was indeed an altar a few hundred years away.

If you hadn't listened to the young villagers last night and knew that there were many altars in the mountains, it is estimated that everyone would be surprised to see this altar now.

At the right time, Fang Yuan's eyes flashed, and then he turned around and said, "Let's go and have a look, everyone is also tired, take a rest by the way." ”

Along the way, although there was no need to open the road frequently, it was inevitable that they would have to climb up and down, and everyone had also consumed a lot of physical strength, so no one objected to Fang Yuan's proposal.

At that moment, the people left the stream, and slowly walked towards the altar.

After approaching, everyone found that the altar in front of them may have been abandoned for too long, and the stones of the steps had collapsed, especially the wooden railing of the altar, which was directly decayed and broken, leaving only the bare platform.

The surface of the platform, due to the erosion of rainwater, has become potholes, uneven, and even has broken cobwebs. Unexpectedly, or in a few years, more than ten years, this altar will completely crack into ruins.

The main reason for this is that people nowadays have a very light view of faith. In the past, as long as the altar was a little cracked, I am afraid that someone would have carefully repaired it and passed it on from generation to generation, so that it can be passed down to this day.

Not now, the world is declining, and people's hearts are not ancient. It's okay for everyone to be lively and lively in the village, but they really want to go into the mountains to worship every once in a while, and everyone feels annoyed and doesn't want to suffer this hardship.

Speaking of which, the root cause is still a question of interests. After all, in ancient times, the people were relatively backward, had no culture, and had a sense of awe for ghosts and gods, so they must worship from time to time to seek protection from ghosts and gods and let their families be at peace.

But now, everyone believes in science, and the theory of ghosts and gods has no future. There is no benefit in worshipping them, and who wants to waste their efforts?

This is also a fact, because both ancient and modern, Chinese have always reciprocated their faith with utilitarianism. If you bless me, I will honor you. If you don't shelter me, why am I still for you?

Therefore, seeking a spiritual destination or something has nothing to do with secular people, and is usually the hypocrisy of the literary youth......

Fang Yuan's mind flashed chaotic thoughts, after walking to the side of the altar, his mind was certain, and then he slowly looked around, only to see that next to the altar, there was another round mound.

The round mound is lush with vegetation, and at the foot of the hill is planted with pine and cypress trees. When everyone came to the bottom of the altar, there was just shade from the trees, and the breeze was blowing, which was very refreshing.

At this time, Ning Meng blew the dust of the altar, then sat down and said with a smile: "Brother Fang, I seem to understand why the village will build eight altars on the mountain. ”

"Why?" Fang Yuan turned back curiously, listening to Ning Meng's high opinion.

"Each altar is equivalent to a temporary place to stay." Ning Meng said with a smile: "You can rest your feet during the day, and you can come here to spend the night at night, as long as you light a bonfire, it is estimated that the poisonous snake beasts will not dare to approach, and they can sleep peacefully." ”

"Sounds reasonable." Sanger nodded, "Maybe that's one of the purposes." ”

Everyone chatted a few words, and Sanger was keenly aware that Fang Yuan seemed to have been silent, and immediately asked, "Brother Fang, are you tired?" Come and sit down for a while, take a break. ”

“…… Well. Fang Yuan walked over and wanted to sit down, but his gaze was fixed after an inadvertent glance.

"What's wrong?" Sanger noticed that Fang Yuan's demeanor was different, and he couldn't help but ask.

Fang Yuan didn't speak, just squatted down slightly, then took the dead branch and gently scraped the moss on the side of the altar. In a short time, the moss peeled off, revealing some mottled line marks, as if it were some kind of picture.

"Huh?"

Seeing this, Sanger and the others were naturally very surprised, and they all gathered around to watch.

"I didn't expect that there were pictures on the altar?" Ning Meng was surprised: "I don't know what it is ...... drawn"

Fang Yuan didn't speak, just sped up the speed of scraping the moss. A few minutes later, the small half of the moss peeled off and fell, and a relatively complete pattern also appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

However, due to the erosion of wind and rain moss, the pattern lines are also somewhat missing and become very blurred. But if you look closely, you can probably make out some information.

These patterns are similar to portrait paintings, but they are the simplest line figures. This is also understandable, after all, the rural people cannot be required to master advanced carving techniques, and it is not bad to be able to depict the human form.

Ning Meng glanced at it a few times and speculated, "It seems to be a sacrificial scene?" ”

"It should be ......" Fang Yuan nodded, took out his mobile phone to take pictures of these patterns, and then said with a smile: "The altar in the village doesn't seem to have these patterns, I have to ask them if they are cutting corners when I go back." ”

"Didn't you?" Ning Meng said blankly: "I didn't pay attention to this. ”

"It may be a newly built altar, so it didn't ...... engraved," Fang Yuan explained casually, then put away his mobile phone, patted the dust on his hands, and sat on the altar and nibbled on dry food.

The others looked at it curiously for a while, but they also found it boring, and then they dispersed, and sat around the altar to enjoy the shade, and some even simply lay under the shade of the tree, squinting and dozing off, so comfortable.

Sanger suddenly asked, "Brother Fang, have you been walking for a long time along the way, but you still haven't found it?" (To be continued.) )