"Sacrifice You Festival" is an ancient traditional festival of the Miao nationality, the Miao language is called "Nongyou", "Nong" means sacrifice or eating, "You" is the name of the person, the name of the clan.

The festival is related to a tribal leader of the Miao people in ancient times known as "Suyou".

A long, long time ago, on the bank of the river where the Jiuli people lived at that time, Xu You was born with a strange face and extraordinary bravery, and it is rumored that he led a total of 81 tribal patriarchs of the Jiuli tribe to fight with the ancestors of the Han people, Emperor Yan and Emperor Huangdi, in the Central Plains.

The tragic war lasted for many years, and finally ended in the defeat of the Jiuli clan. He was also killed in this protracted battle, and since then his body has been separated, and the heavens are separated. It is rumored that in the Wushan Mountain of the Heishui River in southern Yunnan, the headless corpse of Suyou is buried.

After the "Suyou" was booby-trapped, the remnant tribal leaders could no longer fight against the troops led by Emperor Yan and Huangdi, and the 81 tribal leaders led the tribe to migrate all the way west along the river to avoid the war. Among them, nine tribes migrated to the southeast of Guizhou, and one of the direct descendants of Guiyou migrated directly to the southern Yunnan region, where they multiplied for generations.

Today's Heishui River Heimiao is not only the direct descendant of Gaoyou back then, but it is also rumored that the tribal leader of the Heimiao generation is the direct bloodline of Gaoyou in ancient times, and the patriarch of each generation of Heishuihe has the blood of Gaoyou flowing in his body.

"Nongyou" is to pay tribute to the great ancestor of the Miao people who was killed. In Han culture, this ancestor of the Miao people is called "Chiyou".

Throughout the ages, the residents of Heimiao here still follow the ancient funeral system, whenever someone dies and "sends water to eat" for 27 days, the priests in the clan will lead the soul of the deceased "monglweineblialqiaot" along the "turbulent" river to find the ancient settlement residence to return to their ancestors, which means that their ancestors have survived by that sacred river, and Heimiao also pays attention to the leaves and return to their roots.

This river is the current Yellow River, the ancestors of the Jiuli people have lived in the Yellow River Basin, the Jianghuai River Basin and the Dongting Lake area, so the Miao people are collectively called "three Miao".

At three o'clock in the morning, the cold Miao Village for several days, the cloudy Heishui River gradually had human voices, and pedestrians appeared on the quaint bluestone road.

The festive atmosphere surrounds this secluded mountain settlement, and the first rays of the morning sun shine into the tranquil Heishui River, and the early risers of the Black Miao people start the day with a busy day.

Zhu Beichen noticed that the costumes on the Miao people walking outside have changed significantly, and they are no longer dressed in black like crows in the past.

This is the Miao people's participation in the clan's holy scriptures specially made before the festival, Miao Di called it "bird clothes." ”

This special national costume is composed of a feather skirt and an embroidered garment, the feather skirt and embroidered garment are based on self-woven and self-dyed home-woven homespun cloth, and the chest and waist are embroidered with all kinds of gorgeous flowers, birds, fish, insects and other animals as patterns and silk decorations, and the feet between the dresses are decorated with white feathers.

"Bird clothes" are colorful, the pattern form is simple and amazing, fully embodies the exquisite embroidery technology and aesthetic concept of Heishui River, its exquisite and luxurious degree makes Zhu Beichen can't help but say, today's Miaodi girl is more than usual to add a daughter-like moist luster.

The girls wore silver ornaments in the shape of "mountain" on their heads, and wrists were disposed of with rings and bracelets. Depending on the age of marriage, married women wear two pairs of silver bracelets on the same wrist, while unmarried women wear three pairs, and the elderly women who are the elders of the clan will only wear a single silver bracelet.

On this special day, regardless of class, it is the only time for the Black Miao girls to have the opportunity to enjoy silver jewelry, because on weekdays, silver jewelry is only eligible to be used among the nobles of the clan.

The crisp metallic sound of the silver ring bracelets colliding on the wrists of the Black Miao girls, accompanied by their laughter, ushered in the holy ceremony of the festival. It seems that nothing has happened in the peaceful out-of-world community for half a month. The Miao people revere the gods and even more revere their ancestors. And the belief of Hei Miao is even worse, they only worship the only god, that is, their ancestor who "sue you", and nothing can affect today's sacrifice ceremony, even in the face of the sudden threat of life and death and the terrible sandstorm in the Miao land for half a month.

Under the sun, the silver jewelry blooming with metallic luster, the happy Miao people, announced the opening of this day's festival ceremony.

The hour is four quarters, and the five elements belong to water.

On the morning of the first day of the festival, at this moment, the male owner of every household went out with a fish cover and went to the Heishui River to cover the fish. Almost every year at this time, the men of every household repeat this custom, catching a few carp from the Blackwater River and cooking them at home.

How many years have passed, how many generations of bones have been buried in the loess mound, and the only thing that remains unchanged is habit.

As the high priest of a family, Hongliang has a prominent status, and at this time, he should have gone down to the river to fish as the head of a family and the head of the family. But Sanqian happily walked out of the bamboo building door with a fish cover, and Zhu Beichen noticed that Sanqian was already dressed in the costume of Miaodi on this day.

It seems that regardless of status, their attitude towards this day is exactly the same. As the high priest of the clan, Hongliang is obviously not suitable for wearing gorgeous clothes, he has modified the beard on his face, dressed in a black priest costume, and hung a silver medal belonging to the high priest around his waist, dressed solemnly and neatly, revealing the bearing of an old man.

"Awake?" Several foreign Han people also seem to have been infected by the local festive atmosphere, Han Qingxin was in a surprisingly good mood this morning, and a rare sunny and natural smile bloomed.

"I was originally a crazy girl, but now I'm sleeping stupidly, I didn't sleep at all last night, but I took a hot shower, but unfortunately no one rubbed my back." The corners of Zhu Beichen's mouth rose slightly, revealing a sly smile. Everyone today is infected by the happiness of the festival, even if several of them do not have festive costumes, but the joy is the same.

"There's nothing serious about it all day long." Han Qingxin squinted at the other party, and at the same time was secretly happy, wasn't he like this in the past, but now it is his normal state.

"Master Hongliang, is there any established process for today's festival ceremony, and the three thousand will participate in the school examination today?" Zhu Beichen put away his casual temperament and asked Hongliang one by one, he was extremely interested in Hei Miao's mysterious sacrifice ceremony.

Because this black seedling is the direct bloodline of Chi You's relatives back then, it must be different from other Miao people in terms of process. The people in this room all noticed Zhu Beichen's words, and he called Hongliang his master.

Seven interjected in a timely manner to explain to Hongliang, "The sacrificial procedures of the Heishui River Festival are relatively cumbersome, and they are divided into three days. In fact, only the first day was devoted to the priests to the ancestors. The real sacrificial festival witch Gu examination school starts on the second day, and on the third day, the examination school is released, and every clansman who has been assessed for merit will be on the list, and the top ten will be ranked on the list. Then the whole clan began a festival carnival, singing and dancing, eating and drinking. ”

After Shichima finished explaining, he looked at Hirora appropriately, probing the other party's attitude, because Shichima felt that his behavior at this time was somewhat inappropriate, which might be a blasphemy among the black seedlings, and they needed to maintain a sense of mystery from the outside world.

It wasn't until he saw Hongliang nodding his head in acquiescence that he smiled comfortably.

He is good at observation, has lived on the side of the Miao people for a long time, and he has heard of this custom of Hei Miao.

The previous self-assertion took over more for Zhu Beichen's consideration, in case Hongliang denied the master-apprenticeship status of the two and caused embarrassment to each other, he also understood that the priests of Miaodi would not accept foreigners as apprentices.

(Digression: I like to read novels when I eat, but I found that the author only changes 2 chapters a day, and often halfway through the meal, the novel is broken, so I look up, and someone next to me is also reading a novel with a bowl of rice and looking at my mobile phone, so I decided that I want to send three chapters a day, so that readers can finish a meal with peace of mind, poof, this is the truth.) ）