After more than a day of trekking, we finally arrived at the Inner Mongolia prairie. The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is located in the northern frontier of the People's Republic of China, stretching obliquely from the northeast to the southwest, showing a long and narrow shape, the terrain of the whole region is relatively high, the average altitude is about 1000 meters, and it is basically a high-altitude landform area. The prairie of Inner Mongolia is fresh and picturesque, as far as the eye can see, as if it is connected with heaven and earth.

I saw white yurts scattered across the prairie, like clouds floating in the green sky.

A group of six of us inquired all the way, and finally found the home of a classmate, who was studying in our school, and told us that if we came to Inner Mongolia to play, we must find him as a guide. We walked into the yurt and the attentive host warmly handed us a snuffbox as a sign of respect and friendliness.

Since ancient times, the Mongolian people have been known for their straightforward temperament and hospitality. He is enthusiastic about the visitors to his home, whether they are regulars or strangers. First of all, the fragrant milk tea is offered, and plates of white milk skin and cheese are served. After drinking milk tea, the host will offer mellow milk wine, and in the middle of summer, guests will be invited to drink mare's milk wine.

The Mongolian people worship white, and white is very solemn in the Mongolian etiquette: to greet the distinguished guests, they must first offer a snow-white hata, and then hand the guests a kind of white refined milk. Use "white" to bless the health and prosperity of the nation.

We chatted with our classmates for a while, and then there was a burst of meat aroma from outside the tent, which gave us gluttonous drool, and the classmates said that this was roasting whole sheep when they came to the VIP at home, and the taste of hand-grabbed mutton was unique.

As we waited anxiously, we finally began to serve, and the same delicacies were placed in front of us, zuihou was the roasted haode whole lamb, roasted on the outside and tender on the inside. After it was placed on the table, we couldn't wait for it to start eating.

At this time, the mother of the classmate came to us in Mongolian costumes and sang a toast song with mare's milk wine: "Guests from afar, please drink a cup of grassland wine, which is the essence of our national traditional food, and also the kindness and affection of our grassland people." The singing is melodious, showing the hospitality of the Mongolian people.

When you see people coming to toast, you have to drink it, and my classmates signaled us to do it, so let's do it! A warm current will be drilled into the viscera with the mellow milk fragrance, how comfortable it is, the home-brewed mare's milk wine is really delicious, but it is also dizzy.

I thought we could eat it next, but I poured it for us again, and the classmate explained: "This is our custom, all guests must toast three glasses of wine, in order to show our respect and friendliness to the guests, do not drink rude!" ”

Watching the aunt's hospitality, we toasted two more glasses, and then brought us the holy Hada, and then began to eat. However, after these three glasses of wine, I was a little unable to find the southeast and northwest, and had a delicious meal of hand-grabbed mutton, and it was late at night after the wine and meal were full, and we participated in the bonfire party again, this time I really saw the Mongolian people who can sing and dance.

We played late and slept until noon the next day. After being introduced by the students, in a few days it will be the most important festival of the year for the Mongolian people - the Naadam Conference.

"Naadam" has a long history. According to the "Genghis Khan Stone Inscription" inscribed on the stone cliff, Naadam originated in the early days of the establishment of the Mongol Khanate, as early as 1206 AD, when Genghis Khan was elected as the Great Khan of Mongolia, in order to review his troops, maintain and distribute grassland, every year in July ~ August held the "Great Khuligetai" (big gathering), the leaders of various tribes gathered together, in order to show unity and friendship and pray for a good harvest, Naadam will be held. At first, only one of the competitions was held, such as archery, horse racing, or wrestling. By the time of the Yuan and Ming dynasties, archery, horse racing, and wrestling competitions were combined and became a fixed form. Later, the Mongolian people also referred to these three sports as Naadam.

In the past, large-scale sacrifices were carried out during the Naadam period, where lamas would burn incense and light lamps, chant sutras and chant Buddhas, and pray for the blessings of the gods to ward off disasters and difficulties. At present, Naadam's content mainly includes traditional national sports such as wrestling, horse racing, archery, horse racing, horse seting, and Mongolian chess, and in some places, there are sports competitions such as track and field, tug-of-war, volleyball, and basketball. In addition, there are also wonderful performances such as martial arts, polo, horse riding, archery, horse riding, horse racing, horse horse racing, horse riding skills, motorcycles, etc. Horses participating in the Atletico walk must be specially trained to not leave the ground at the same time, but can only walk fast and not run fast. When night falls, the melody of the horse-head fiddle wafts on the grassland, and the young men and women sing and dance around the bonfire, and people are immersed in the joy of the festival.

After last night's fun, I have forgotten about my unfortunate worries, and I am still clamoring for my classmates to take us out for a ride.

The classmate brought a few horses, with his help, we learned all morning before we dared to ride a horse, the fat man shouted to try the competition, we also wanted to enjoy the fun of riding, seven of us rode five horses and started the journey.

Carrying his own object, galloping on the vast and boundless grassland, there is a taste of chivalrous tenderness. The fat man rode the fastest, we are really worried about the horse under him, with a large physique of nearly 200 pounds, can the average horse stand it?

After a while, the fat man pulled us out very far, and we had to speed up to keep up, and after walking for more than an hour, the fat man in front suddenly stopped walking, and rolled over and dismounted, and we were very strange in the back, so we kicked the stirrups a few times and chased after us.

When we were about to get to the place, we shouted, "Fatty, have you found something good?" ”

The fat man replied at the top of his voice, "What a good thing, dead corpse!" ”

We hurriedly stepped forward to check, it was a corpse that was extremely decomposed, the clothes on the two bodies were shabby, the facial features on the heads were distorted, and there were no eyeballs but two black holes. The two women vomited after seeing it, and almost vomited all the bile water.

When we were considering whether to call the police, my classmate said that this is a Mongolian burial custom, called sky burial!

Sky burial is a traditional burial ceremony of the Mongolian people, also known as open burial and wild burial.

Sky burials are mostly used for poor herdsmen or lower lamas. The Mongols are carnivorous peoples, who eat meat during their lifetime and return it to animals after they die. Buddhism emphasizes altruism and the rescue of all sentient beings, and it can be said that heavenly burial vividly expresses this idea. When a person is alive, he should do good deeds, and after death, his soul will leave the body, so he will take this useless body as a sacrifice to benefit birds and beasts.

The general process is as follows: if seven hours have passed, after it is determined that the deceased has not turned around, the relatives or neighborhood elders will do it, cut off the hair, put it in a white cloth bag after cleaning, put it in a specific place, choose an auspicious day, and put it on an ox cart (now in western Mongolia mostly use camel carts or directly on camels), send it to a specific place in the remote wilderness, unload the body, head north, feet south, put stones around as markers, return quickly, and do not look back on the way home.

When I got home, I turned the car over and didn't move for three days. Three days later, relatives went to check whether the body had been eaten by the birds.

The Mongols regarded the eating of the corpses of animals as if the corpses had ascended to heaven. If the body of the deceased is eaten, it is considered that the deceased has ascended to heaven, indicating that the descendants will receive auspicious happiness. If the corpse is eaten by a wild beast, it is believed that the deceased has done bad deeds in his life and killed too many animals, and after death he uses his own flesh to repay the beast; If the body is undamaged, the sins of the deceased are considered to have not been removed. Then sprinkle butter, wine, etc. on the remains, and wait for the birds to peck at them.

The Mongols believed that the faster the corpse of the dead ascended to heaven, the better, and the more they could find a place to be reincarnated and reborn. This kind of celestial burial is a kind of charity for them to sacrifice the corpse to the animal, and both the deceased and the family are willing.