Cai Hongming and others had a lot of fun on the grassland of the military horse farm, and during this period, they also went to dig Cordyceps sinensis with others.

The biggest harvest is the little fart Chuchu, the little guy has sharp eyes, plus the help of the pika dragon, it is like a tiger with wings, so she digs the most.

When the digging was done, when I saw that my parents were digging less than myself, the little guy suddenly showed off his stinky farts over there, and people didn't know what to say.

After playing in the grassland of the military horse farm for a few days, they did not leave until the Qinghai Lake festival was about to begin.

Chu Chu was a little reluctant, because she had become acquainted with a few ponies in the past few days, and she could still ride on horseback. If Cai Hongming hadn't promised to go home and buy her a few horses to play with, she wouldn't be happy to go back.

On the day of the sea festival, Tibetans and tourists from Qinghai Lake flock to Qinghai Lake one after another, and the empty lake shore becomes very lively in an instant.

Qinghai Lake was called "West Sea" in ancient times, also known as "Immortal Sea", "Beiheqiang Sea", "Fresh Water Sea".

The name of "Xihai" originates from the fact that Qinghai Lake is located in the Western Regions, and Wang Mang was named after Xihai County. The name "Xianhai" is because there is a fairy mountain (i.e., Haixin Mountain) in the lake. "Beihe Qiang Sea" and "Xianshui Sea" are the names of the Qiang and Xianbei people after they moved here. Local Tibetans and Mongolians call Qinghai Lake "Cuowenbu" and "Kukunuoer", which means "blue or blue lake".

During the reign of Wang Mang in the Han Dynasty, he wanted to "unify the four seas", because there were already Donghai County, Nanhai County, and Beihai County, so he wanted to set up Xihai County again.

Therefore, in the name of sacrificing to the sea, the leaders of the Qiang nationality by Qinghai Lake were invited to have a banquet, and said to the Qiang people: "The West Sea is a sacred land, and it should belong to the imperial court. The Qiang people then offered the "sea of fresh water" (that is, Qinghai Lake).

This is the earliest record of the sea sacrifice at Qinghai Lake, but it is not a real sea sacrifice.

During the reign of Tang Tianbao, Tang Xuanzong named the West Sea God as "Guangrun Gong" and carried out remote sacrifices.

In the first year of Song Qingli, Song Renzong named the god of the West Sea as the "King of Tongsheng Guangrun" for remote sacrifice.

These two edicts were held in the suburbs of Beijing at that time, and their significance was as a symbolic ceremony of the divine power of the monarch, not a real sacrifice to the sea. Until the first year of Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty, Mongolia used troops in Qinghai, and after the surrender of Tibet, the following year gathered Mongolian princes to worship the sky in the Sun Moon Mountain, and sacrificed to the sea in "Kukunor". This is the true meaning of the sea sacrifice. The large-scale Qinghai Lake sea sacrifice ceremony began in the Qing Dynasty.

It is rumored that in the second year of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty, the general Nian Qianyao led his troops to quell the rebellion of the Mongolian leader in Qinghai, Luobzang Danjin, and pursued the rebels to Qinghai Lake, when the army began to have a shortage of drinking water.

At this time, among the horses ridden by a group of cavalry from a distance, several horses' hooves were stepping on the spring on the ground, and the fresh water that gushed out suddenly solved the problem of drinking water for the army. The morale-boosting soldiers annihilated the rebels in one fell swoop. After Emperor Yongzheng heard about it, he edicted "Lingxian Xuanwei Qinghai Lake", gave the god seat, placed it in the Qinghai Sea Temple and ordered to regularly worship the sea in August of each year (the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar), and began a large-scale sea worship activity.

Since then, there have been sea sacrifices in successive dynasties, and it was not until 1909-1912 that the sea sacrifice ceremony was interrupted for a time.

It was restored later.

After the liberation, the sea worship ceremony began to be interrupted again for political reasons. It has only been restored in recent years.

In the early days, the sea worship activities were all presided over by the leaders of their own ethnic groups, and few people were sent by the government to participate.

However, from the beginning of the Qing Dynasty to the Qianlong period, in order to gather all the ethnic groups in the northwest, whenever the sacrifice was made, the imperial court would send people to sacrifice to the West Sea, and convene the leaders of the Mongolian tribes in Qinghai to join the alliance.

In addition to the ministers sent by the imperial court or the special officials of the central government, and local officials at all levels, the main ones participating in the sea festival were the left and right wings of the Mongolian nationality in Qinghai, the 28 banner lords under the chief and deputy league chiefs, the princes and county lords, the Guogong of Beizi Town, the auxiliary Guogong and their attachés, the living Buddhas and monks of the Hutu and nearby monasteries in Qinghai, and the Tibetan Qianhu and Baihu heads and their attachés who participated later, as well as the garrison officers. When offering sacrifices, it is generally the ministers of the imperial court or the central government who send special officials as the main sacrifices, and the local officials as the accompanying sacrifices. Since the Republic of China, local officials have mostly been the main sacrifices, and the central government has sent special officials as the accompanying sacrifices.

At that time, the sea sacrifice was not immense.

Now most of the sacrifices to the sea are the main sacrifices of the living Buddhas, lamas or monks of the temples around the lake, and the scene is not as grand as before.

But even so, for the locals living near Qinghai Lake, the sea sacrifice at Qinghai Lake is still a very sacred thing, just as they turn into a sacred mountain in the Year of the Horse and a sacred lake in the Year of the Goat. If you can catch up with the sea sacrifice ceremony presided over by the eight living Buddhas by Qinghai Lake during the Qinghai Lake Festival, it will really be a blessing for three lives.

Cai Hongming brought his wife and children over early in the morning to participate in the sea sacrifice activities, because there were too many people, Liu Chong and others were guarding beside them.

Chu Chu was too small, and he couldn't see anything when he stood up, so he was held in his arms, but he still couldn't see it, so Cai Hongming simply let her sit on his neck.

The little one sits on it and looks around, and everything feels fresh.

At nine o'clock, the sea festival begins.

People dressed in costumes carry hata in their hands and carry fried noodles, ghee, pine and cypress branches and other offerings to the edge of the seashore to set up a two-meter-high simmering mulberry platform (an altar for burning offerings) to worship. The lamas and elders of the monastery set the pine and cypress branches on fire, and the monks next to them chanted in unison. At the same time as simmering mulberry, all the people who participate in the sea sacrifice must go around the simmering mulberry platform three times in a clockwise manner, and at the same time throw sacrifices such as hata, liquor, candy, and five-colored grain to the mulberry, and throw "ronda" (that is, paper wind horse) into the air.

After the sacrifice, the priest held a grain jar wrapped with five-colored silk threads and led the honor guard of monks to the lake.

They each held Dharma weapons, treasure umbrellas, incense burners, water purification bottles, banners and other ritual instruments, played Tibetan suona, blew Dharma trumpets, and wore deer heads, ox gods and local gods wearing deer heads and ox head masks and flocked to the shore of the lake. On the shore of the lake, the mage recited a mantra towards the lake, and the worshippers began to throw their sacrifices into the lake to show their worship to the god of the sea and beg the god to bless all beings with good fortune and happiness, prosperity and peace of the place.

It is said that the faster the sacrifice sinks, the more sincere your intentions are, and the more the lake god likes you.

Many elderly people and women knelt by the lake after worshipping, took off their amulets and washed them with the lake water. It is said that washing the amulet with lake water on this day can keep you safe for a year. There were also many young men who rode down to the lake on horseback, also hoping to gain the protection of the lake god.

Now it is a commercial society, and all the items of worship are sold in the villages and towns by the lake, so Cai Hongming and the others also bought some sacrifices and threw them into the lake to pray for the blessing of the lake god.

Chu Chu had a very good time, and after throwing two of them, he was still not happy, and quietly picked up some stones from the lake and threw them into the lake, which made people speechless.

Fortunately, the little ones were instantly attracted by the young men who were rushing into the lake on horseback, and began to applaud them happily.

At the end of the sea worship ceremony, horse races, bull races, archery and other entertainment activities are held around the lake. At the same time, it also performs dancing gods, such as "Zhang Song Protector God", "Auspicious Deer Dance", etc., so that the sea sacrifice activities are full of mystery, and have entertainment and cultural colors.

Cai Hongming didn't have much interest in the ceremony after the sea sacrifice, but his daughter liked to watch it, so he could only continue to stay bored.

"Brother Hongming."

Cai Hongming was watching the horse race listlessly with his daughter, when he suddenly heard someone shouting behind him, turned his head to look, and saw the little lama Qizhu, a disciple of Master Cangjue who practiced in the grotto on the mountain on the other side of Rasmedo, beckoning not far away.

"It's a pearl! Why are you here? Is Guru Cang Jue here too? Cai Hongming was surprised.

"Well," Qizhu nodded, "Master asked me to invite you over." ”

This year, Guru Cang Jue was invited to participate in the sea worship ceremony, and he also came with him. He and the master both saw Cai Hongming just now, but it was inconvenient to say hello, so they didn't come until this time.

So, Cai Hongming took his wife and daughter with Liu Chong and others.

On the way, Cai Hongming said to his daughter: "Chu Chu, this is Brother Qizhu." Qizhu, this is my daughter Chuchu. ”

Chu Chu tilted his little head and looked at Qizhu, and then called out sweetly: "Brother Qizhu." ”

"Sister Chu Chu."

Qizhu looked at Chu Chu, didn't know what to think of, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes, but it was fleeting. (To be continued.) )