Huaxi Chronicle

Baoshan Village.

Xun Feibai looked at the clay sculpture as tall as two people, and asked, "Is that man your ancestor?"

Bao Yi was standing beside Xun Feibai, looking at the clay sculpture with admiration: "He is our ancestor Bao Yibu, he was a warrior, it was he who bravely killed the beasts in the village that caused disasters, and protected Bao Yibu. The people in the village made it possible for Baoshan Village to live and thrive in Yulong Mountain. The Bonfire Festival was originally held to celebrate his slaying of beasts, and it has been passed down from generation to generation, and I don’t know how many years have passed.”

Xun Feibai is no stranger to this allusion, she had heard it mentioned by her classmate Bao Chunsheng.

"Are all these meals prepared to pay homage to the ancestors?"

"We serve well-prepared meals to welcome our ancestors. When the ancestors come down from the mountain, they will go to the high platform, and we will hold the ancestor worship ceremony. After the ceremony is over, we will set up a torch and burn the beast. These foods will not be taken back, and will always be placed in front of the door."

"When people in the village pass by, they can sit down and have a meal if they like. Of course, each family can choose some food that they like. If they can eat enough, they can eat from here to the last family on the top of the mountain." Bao Yi smiled. said.

Xun Feibai felt ashamed.There are more than 200 households in Baoshanzhai. Even if each family eats a bite of food, no one can eat from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain.

However, it is quite interesting to have a completely different way of eating, which seems to be a flowing banquet in the clan.Although the flowing water banquet is also a long table banquet, the dishes on each table are the same, and the "flowing water banquet" in Baoshanzhai is indeed different from each household. Even if the dishes are uniform, each family has different tastes. There will be deviations.

Xun Feibai wanted to ask what the garlands on the table meant, but was interrupted by the walking crowd.

The front of the team has already walked to the front of the Baojia Courtyard.The team walked past Bao's house, walked around the round platform in the open space, and then stepped onto the round platform.At this time, tall firewood has been piled up on the south side of the round platform.A group of people placed the clay sculpture of their ancestors in the north of the round platform, but those who danced with the beast did not stop, and kept walking around the round platform with the beast.

At this time, a masked person walked up on the high platform. The person was of medium build and could not be identified as male or female. He first sang some ancient and modern Qiang phrases to his ancestors, and then raised the unburned torch in his hand. man against a torch.With a breath, the torch was instantly lit.

The masked man held a lighted torch and lit the firewood pile.Then the man holding the red hydrangea danced the hydrangea and approached the firewood, lit the hydrangea, and then danced the lit hydrangea again, leading the beast to walk around the round platform again, and finally threw the hydrangea into the fire. In the fire, those who danced the beast raised the beast high, made a jumping appearance, and 'jumped' into the fire.

In an instant, the fierce beast was reduced to ashes in the raging fire, and a gray-haired old woman walked on the round platform, and the old woman spoke the language of the ancient and modern Qiang people.

As soon as the words fell, the villagers in Baoshan Village cheered and shouted.

"This is our patriarch, old mother. What she said just now is that the bonfire festival has come, let us entertain our relatives and friends with the best wine and food." Bao Yi continued to explain.

After the ancestor worship ceremony was over, the villagers surrounding the round platform dispersed in all directions, and they walked to the door of each house one after another.After saying hello, Yanyan talked with the host with a smile, and some children couldn't wait to pick up the food on the table, while some villagers didn't say anything, didn't take the food, but just took the garland on the table.

Xun Feibai looked at it for a while and found an interesting thing.She found that some villagers wear two garlands of the same style on their wrists. If you look carefully, you can find that those who wear garlands have different garlands on their hands, and some people use flowers of the same color. Others make garlands of flowers of various colors.It's just that when they pick up the garlands on the table, they will take off one of the garlands in their hands and put them in the empty plate on the other side of the table.

Xun Feibai looked at the novelty, but didn't know what it meant, so he wanted to ask Bao Yi who was beside him.

"Miss Xun and the third lady don't stay in the courtyard, you can walk around along the mountain road, as long as you pass by the people with tables at the door, you can get some food and taste. The bonfire festival is the most grand festival of the Qiang people in ancient and modern times. The busiest days in our Baoshan village are these few days, every household is cooking the best food at home, including the most distinctive snacks of the ancient and modern Qiang people, which cannot be eaten elsewhere."

"In a few hours, when Shen Shi arrives, there will be a bullfight in the open space on the other side of the round platform. If you find it interesting, you can go and have a look."

Xun Feibai wanted to ask about the flower rings, but was interrupted by Bao Yi, but she forgot about it for a moment. She looked sideways at Yan Cong'an, and asked with a smile, "It's so lively in the village, Cong Anke wants to go with me." see?"

At the stall where Xun Feibai was speaking, a young girl of sixteen or seventeen came in front of the door. The girl first shyly glanced at the treasure box standing beside her, picked up a wreath on the plate, and then untied the garland on her wrist. A garland was quickly put into the empty plate on one side, and then ran away shyly with a slightly red face.

The treasure box had a normal face, as if it hadn't seen the girl's movements, it bent down to add food to the plate with a normal expression.

Yuzhu on the side picked up the wreath curiously, turned around and asked about the treasure box, the treasure box lowered its head and said a few words instead.Yuzhu resentfully put the wreath back on the empty plate, and sneaked a glance at it from time to time, with a look of disgust on her face.

Xun Feibai was talking to Yan Cong'an, but he didn't see this scene.And Yan Cong'an was facing that side, saw it clearly, and immediately understood what the wreath on the table represented.

She glanced at the treasure box and Yuzhu lightly, then looked away, and said to Xun Feibai: "It's so lively, I have to go and see it."

The two walked out of the courtyard gate hand in hand, and walked along the mountain road.The ancient and modern Qiang people are hospitable and hospitable. Although they can see that Xun Feibai and Yan Cong'an are not villagers, they are not displeased. They all invite them to taste their own food with smiles on their faces.

The two of them had just eaten breakfast, so they didn't dare to eat too much, they would only come forward to taste special food when they saw it.

The two walked for more than a quarter of an hour, and Xun Feibai accidentally saw a plate of rabbit-shaped cakes on the table of a villager.The little rabbit should be steamed with rice flour, and its color is white and moist.

Xun Feibai turned sideways and asked: "The rabbit rice cake looks interesting, do you want to try it from Encore?"

Yan Cong'an followed her direction, and also saw the rabbit rice cake. The rabbit looked a bit like the wooden rabbit that Xun Fei gave him in vain. At this moment, the wooden rabbit was hanging on his waist.

She couldn't help touching the wooden rabbit on her waist, and said with a light smile, "I've tasted a lot of food along the way, and I'm afraid I'll be full if I eat another rice cake, otherwise I'll share one with Fei Bai." ?”

Xun Feibai didn't think too much after hearing the words, the two of them tasted seven or eight kinds of snacks along the way, and now they really feel a little full, but the rabbit rice cake is really delicious, she couldn't help but want to eat a piece, and responded with a smile :"also may."

Xun Feibai walked to the table, picked up the bamboo sticks on the table, and tied up a small piece of rabbit pastry, but he didn't taste it immediately, but brought the pastry to Yan Cong'an's lips, seeing Yan Cong'an took a bite , before putting the remaining pastry into his mouth.

Rabbit pastries are not just rice cakes, the owner has put some date paste in them.The glutinous rice is soft and fragrant, and the jujube paste is tender and soft, with a hint of sweetness, which melts in the mouth, sweet and delicious.

Yan Cong Anyuan also saw that she ate a lot of cakes along the way, so he joked with her because he was afraid that she would accumulate food.I thought that according to her temperament, she would not agree, but unexpectedly, this person would directly feed her with food.

Seeing Xun Feibai put his leftover rice cake into his mouth, Yan Cong'an was inexplicably ashamed.She was indifferent on the face, but she blamed her in her heart: this person always inadvertently and for no reason, touching people's hearts, really 'annoying'.

Xun Feibai didn't know what Yan Cong'an was thinking, she saw a garland of jasmine and light yellow lotus leaves on the plate next to the rabbit rice cake, the style was fresh and elegant.She picked up the garland, and the scent of jasmine diffused from her fingertips and lingered on the tip of her nose, which was very pleasant.

Xun Feibai liked the familiar smell very much. She wanted to give the wreath to Yan Cong'an, but she heard a delicate female voice from beside her: "Little lady, I took the wreath from my servant, but you want to give it to Yan Cong'an?" Keep your own wreath."

Xun Feibai followed the sound and saw a young woman standing behind the table, wearing crimson ancient and modern Qiang clothes, with a beautiful smile on her face.She remembered the scene she saw at the door of Zibao's house just now, as if taking the wreath was to keep the wreath in her hand, but she didn't have a wreath in her hand.

She was a little at a loss, and put down the wreath in her hand again with some regret, with a trace of shame on her face, she apologized to the woman: "I'm sorry, I'm new to Baoshan Village, and I don't know the customs here, so I offended you so much, miss No wonder."

Seeing her shy appearance, the girl smiled even more, and said with a coquettish smile: "Young lady is just here, I don't care about it."

Xun Feibai nodded his head, still feeling a little embarrassed, thinking that he had just eaten the pastry from others and hadn't thanked him yet, so he said, "Just now I tasted the pastry on the girl's table, it tastes very sweet, the girl is ingenious, and the pastry is delicious , the wreaths made are also extraordinarily elegant.”

When the woman heard Xun Feibai's praise, the smile on her face deepened. She looked Xun Feibai up and down carefully, then looked at Xun Feibai meaningfully and said, "Thank you for your compliment, little lady. If you like my cakes and garlands However, my family can give this garland to the young lady, but if the young lady takes a bunch of garlands, she must keep a bunch of garlands."

After finishing speaking, the woman bent down and took out the unused flowers she had picked in the morning and put them on the table, then picked up the basket containing the flowers, handed it to Xun Feibai, and said with a smile: "The little lady will use the slave's Put on two garlands of jasmine flowers, and leave one for my servant."

Looking at the basket, Xun Feibai felt that it was not too difficult to make a string of garlands, and it was not too difficult to make a string of garlands by himself or change them.

She reached out to get the bamboo needles in the basket, but before she could touch the basket, another white hand held it.