It's the middle of the night, why is there such a big movement!

Besides, this is a primitive society, and the population is not large.

Curious, I followed the direction of the sound, and first saw a brightly lit patch in the distance, and on a river beach, I crept over and hid behind an unknown pile of grass.

At least 100 people gathered on the beach in a large circle, and more than a dozen of them held torches aloft in the air.

In the middle of the circle, there were a few strangely dressed people, holding a fan made of bird feathers in their hands, jumping up and down, and they didn't know what they were muttering in their mouths.

Among them was a giant who was a head or two taller than the others, and at second glance I recognized him as Chiyou.

This is the great god of jumping! It is a river ritual that is popular in northern China.

To put it simply, it is a way of communicating between the living and the dead, most of them are classified as feudal superstitions, full of mysterious folk grotesque, popular in the primitive tribal period, modern people have rarely seen it, but they have almost heard of it, as if this "thing" is not so far away from us, but it doesn't seem to be very close.

This reminds me of what my uncle said about their older generation sacrificing the Yellow River......

As the saying goes: "On the second day of February, the dragon raises its head, and everyone ploughs the cattle in small households." ”

At this time, the yang energy rises, the earth thaws, and spring ploughing will begin. In the vast area along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, there is the custom of worshipping the river god on the second day of February. There is a folk song on both sides of the canal: "On the second day of February, open the river." On this day, before leaving the boat, the boatmen sprinkled the blood of the rooster on the bow of the boat, as a prayer to the river god to bless the travelers with good luck and a safe year for the whole family.

The Han folk have long had the legend of worshipping the river god, and the characteristics of each place are different. Among the petroglyphs found in China, there are many images of sacrifices to river gods. Liu Zongyuan in "Liuzhou Gangster", there were goose feathers and sewing mountains, and chicken bones worshipping the god of water in the year.

It is said that the ancient meaning of dragon boat racing is also to worship the river god. In daily life, the river can bring wealth to human beings, but also bring disasters to human beings, so the worship of the river god also reflects people's respect and fear of the surging river.

What is a river god? The dragon is a river god animal that first appeared in Chinese culture. It not only has the ability to soar into the sky, but also has the ability to influence the changes of clouds, rain and rivers.

With the establishment of the status of the dragon king, the dragon is even regarded as the god who dominates the waters of all sides, such as rivers, rivers, lakes, seas, abysses, pools, ponds, wells, and wherever there is water, there is a dragon king.

The appearance of a large number of dragon king temples in various places and the activities of worshiping the dragon god often held indicate that people's respect for the dragon has reached an unprecedented level. The Dragon King Temple along the canal occupies an extremely important value in the history of the canal, where the passing merchants and cruise ships, dignitaries and dignitaries, literati and ink writers all stop here to browse, worship the Dragon King Temple, even the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors have also stopped here many times on their southern tour.

With the progress of history, human beings have reduced or avoided floods and droughts by improving rivers and dredging ditches through their own strength. For example, Dayu and other water control heroes led people to subdue floods and benefit the world.

Later, the heroes of water control gradually became the object of worship and sacrifice. Dayu is the most revered hero of the Chinese nation, his achievements in water control and the spirit of water control can be sung and cried, and it has been passed down through the ages. In order to commemorate him, the people built many commemorative buildings on the land of Shenzhou, where he had covered his water control footprints.

Folk worship to the river god is much simpler, boats and fishermen, in their own boats or in the hall on the shore, set up an offering table, invite the gods, put fruits, snacks and other tributes, pour liquor, light incense, kowtow and worship, pray: "Dragon Lord, Yu Wangye, the small one burns incense and kowtows to you, please bless my family with good weather, strong wind and waves, every evil turns into good fortune, the old and young are safe, and everything goes well." "Measure Literature

The government yamen worship the river god is much more complicated, also known as the "river opening ceremony". The ceremony is generally held in front of the Dragon King Temple or Yuwang Temple by the canal. On this day, pilgrims gathered, the sages were all over, and the scene was huge. On the incense case, the sea of meat and wine, and the fruit food is fragrant.

The eight-sided drum sounds, the cannon plays music, and the silk and bamboo are melodious. The master of ceremonies recites the prayer: "...... The clouds and rain are shining, the moon is bright and the stars are shining, the Ze is in all directions, the rivers are peaceful, and the wind and waves are relieved...... Delicacies, wine and incense, condolences and worship, a long history, generous and sincere, Fu Wei is still feasting. ”

Accompanied by the recitation of the master of ceremonies, the chief priest held the rooster on the incense table, with a solemn expression, walked to the waterside of the canal, cut the throat of the rooster with a sharp blade, and poured the chicken blood on the edge of the dock.

In the sound of firecrackers, the altar of tribute wine is poured into the river, praying to the river god to enjoy and bless the river with calm waves. At this time, only a few loud noises of "boom" were heard, the water gate slowly opened, the boats rowed out in turn, sailed into the distance, and the tribute wine on the boat was also poured into the river water, and the aroma of wine was far away.

Uncle said that at least 100 years ago, the lower reaches of the Yellow River attached great importance to the ritual of sacrificing the river, so the scene of each river sacrifice was "earth-shattering".

What kind of river is this sacrifice in the middle of the night!

His gaze was fixed on Chi You again.

He's here...... Could it be that this is not an ordinary river sacrifice ceremony, but an originally planned human sacrifice that was held in order to save those who were physically rigid, and to hold the highest human sacrifice of the Rendongyi tribe?

That's not right!

Others don't know, I don't know! At this time, the dragon had already walked at least ten miles, what did they use to complete the sacrifice?

The more I pondered, the more curious I felt, so I simply leaned closer and wanted to see what was going on.

About fifty or sixty meters away from the crowd, a huge red coffin was placed on the edge of the Yellow River, and in front of the coffin was an oversized table, full of chickens, ducks, fish and other tributes—this is the red coffin floating from the black puddle of the Yellow River's thirteen ghost caves?

I couldn't help but secretly sigh in my heart.

Seeing that everyone's attention was on the three jumping wizards, I took advantage of the moonlight to bend over and quietly wipe over, the red coffin was not covered, I poked my head out and glanced into the coffin, and was stunned.

There was no dragon in the coffin, and even what was placed was not a human, but a dummy made of wood and straw.

Hey?

I remember when I salvaged the red coffin from the black waterhole, I could see very clearly that there was indeed a person exactly like me lying inside—no! Although Chilong and Chiyou are twin brothers, they don't look exactly the same, I look the same as Chiyou, but I only look eight or nine points similar to Chilong.

Who was the person lying in the coffin at that time?