my daughter my hometown

Chapter 417
When Qingshui was able to take the four little tigers out for a stroll, Ching Ming Festival also arrived.

This festival is somewhat magical. Although it is a traditional program, it is determined by the Gregorian calendar.

It was early morning on April 4th.

Yangxingu bought back ten big fat pigs weighing more than 200 catties from other villages, and drove them into the east chamber of the ancestral hall.

Su Hai, who was ready to fight, and a dozen other men swarmed forward.Those who catch pigs catch pigs, those with knives take knives, and kill pigs one after another.

In the west chamber, Su Wan and the little girls were terrified when they heard it.Only Su Xiaolan's face remained unchanged.She even ran to the opposite side and begged for a pair of fresh pig lungs to feed Qing Shui and a few tiger cubs.

An An and Bu Huhu looked very greedy, and hurried over to rub the little master.

It's just that Su Wan is too young to go in and out of the West Wing casually.

She went to see Shi Duanmin, whom she was most familiar with, and said eagerly, "Aunt Min, An An and Abu also want to eat pig lungs."

Shi Duanmin deposed face to face.Because of her body, she is still afraid of seeing bloody scenes.

Su Xiaoniu was also one of the children who couldn't get out. She ran over to remind her, "Aunt Min, you can ask Aunt Xue for help."

Shi Duanmin nodded, and hurried to find Su Xue.

Not long after, Su Xue came in with two sets of pig lungs.One was paid to An An, and the other was paid to Buhuo.

However, there were still many carnivorous or omnivorous animals drooling in the west compartment, so Su Xue wiped her sweat.

"Don't even look at me, there aren't many pig lungs left." She asked the golden python, "Jin Zi, do you want pig liver?"

"Or wait until you come back after hanging the paper. If there are more pig lungs, I'll give them to you to eat."

Hanging paper, in the local area, means tomb-sweeping in Qingming.

It is divided into Gua Zhong Shan (common ancestor) and Gua Private Shan.However, all the private mountains in Yangxin Valley are in the ancestral graves, so they all go to the same place.

Of course, this is not the case for those who cannot be buried in the ancestral grave because of premature death or mistakes.

Tomb-sweeping in Qingming is a family affair, so it is natural to start at the ancestral hall.

Therefore, the ancestral hall in front of me was once again decorated.

As in previous years, after the lanterns are hung outside the main gate and the new couplets are posted, a long sentence will be written on the screen wall: The Su family is one family.

On this day, as long as people with the surname Su pass by Yangxin Valley, regardless of whether they have anything to do with Yangxin Valley, they can enter the ancestral hall to burn incense and pray, and no one will stop or ask.

But in previous years, except for married women, no one else passed by Yangxin Valley.This sentence is just rewritten according to the meaning of the ancestors, usually written about loneliness.

But this year is different.

Many places in the north have been urbanized, and Qingming Festival has evolved into an outing festival.More people are working in different places, and things like tomb sweeping have gradually faded out of people's sight.

Others traveled southwards.Maybe someone surnamed Su was caught among the tourists.

If they saw the words and sentences on the screen wall, they might come in to offer incense and have a meal.

These self-owned procedures are not what Su Wu needs to care about.

He and a dozen villagers took a machete to Yanghuai Mountain Pass to clear the path leading to the ancestral grave.

In fact, it was cleaned once when I carried my grandmother up the mountain.

It's just that the temperature here in Yangxin Valley is suitable for sufficient rainfall, and various plants grow rapidly.In a month or two, the path will be covered again and again.

After cleaning up and returning to the village, the three animal sacrifices in the east chamber had just been prepared.

Serve incense and play fresh offerings for ancestors to enjoy.

Gongs and drums sounded, firecrackers sounded, and two dancing lions began to dance.

The lively Chinese Lan wiped Su Wu's sweat, "Husband, why doesn't the deserted stove in the courtyard use incense? Isn't today a day to commemorate the ancestors?"

Su Wu chuckled.

Those tribesmen who went out during the war and did not return, although everyone knows that they are ten dead but not alive.But as long as there is no definite news, the clan will treat them as alive.There will be no incense on special days like Qingming Festival for the time being.

But only temporarily.

After the ancestors in the ancestral hall have enjoyed the paper treasure offerings first, those tribesmen who have not returned but are over a hundred years old can also enjoy incense here in the deserted furnace.

As for those clansmen whose genealogy records are less than a hundred years old but have never returned, I am sorry that their names are not included in the enshrined paper treasures and sacrificial texts.

This is not ruthless, but just hope that these tribesmen will rush back to their hometown a hundred years ago anyway.

While the ancestors were enjoying the sacrifices, the real clansmen also began to eat the delicious flowing water feast.

When everyone was almost full, the clan elders finished their long sacrificial rites and let off a million firecrackers.It's time to head out to the ancestral graves.

Before setting off, Su Wu went through various offerings with a clan elder.

He is a young man in his early twenties and has no idea what to bring.

The gray-haired clan uncle had no choice but to tell him in detail the uses and usages of various sacrifices.After these old people are also a hundred years old, it will be their turn to take the lead.

Tradition is thus passed down from generation to generation.

Su Wu listened carefully, his eyes fell on the fireworks in the basket, and he nodded with satisfaction.

The many sacrifices in front of him were all family gold, including the ten big fat pigs killed in the morning.

Two days ago, when Su Hai went out to buy what he needed for the Qingming Festival, Wen Lan specifically told him not to buy too many firecrackers.

Su Hai nodded in response.

If it is said that it is forbidden to set off firecrackers in the village during the Chinese New Year, most people will not agree.But if it is said that setting off firecrackers on the mountain is prohibited, then the entire Yangxin Valley will probably have no objection.

So Su Hai bought fireworks.

With a pull, there is a bang, the kind that sprays out colorful paper flowers.

Of course, there are still firecrackers because of the lion dance.It's just a small row, only dozens or hundreds of rings.

Everything was ready, the men carried the heavy sacrifices, and the women helped the old and the young, and set foot on the green road leading to Fairy Lake.

This greenway is truly complete.

It has a trestle bridge at the pass of Yanghuai Mountain. You can go down to visit the life-sized statue of everyone saving the elephant at close range, or you can cross the small river to the ancestral grave.

The ancestral graves in Yangxin Valley are not unusual, they look similar to urban cemeteries.

Of course, each grave occupies a much larger area than a cemetery.

Wen Lan took her daughter by the hand, and her eyes fell on a large white graveyard not far away.There were her in-laws, Su Wu's parents.

The white grave is a grave covered with white lime, and Yangxin Valley usually represents an untimely death.

The white graves in front of me almost occupied half of the valley, and from a rough look, there were more graves than those who had died.

Wen Lan was taken aback when he first came here.But after Su Wu said the reason, she understood.

Among the many white graves, only a small part died in the wildfire 20 years ago, and most of them are clansmen who went out to defend their home and country.Hundreds of years together, it seems like a scary amount.

Not long after the team had stabilized, Uncle Jiu gave an order.Su Hai and other young men took out their knives or shovels to clean up the weeds and shrubs in the entire ancestral grave area.

"Wanwan, stay with Aunt Min, don't run around." Wen Lan led her daughter to an open platform and handed her over to Shi Duanmin.

Just as she was about to leave, she turned her head and wiped her sweat again, "Also, make sure An'an doesn't allow it to eat sacrifices. Do you know?"

As a clan wife, Wen Lan is very busy.

With patriarchs and patriarchs around, the mountains (tombs) don't need her to do anything.She needs to take care of Su Wu's parents first, and then those private mountains with no descendants.

Before setting off, Wen Lan knew that the job would not be easy.

Because there are more than three hundred tombs without a queen.

Fortunately, there were others.

For example, Aunt Ma hurried over to help after finishing her father-in-law's grave.

She wiped the tombstones in front of her eyes, burned incense, lit candles, poured wine, and placed a bowl of sugar or glutinous rice and a bowl of meat according to gender.

Then I found the paper treasure with the name of the tombstone on it and put it in front of the tombstone.Finally, a small shrub tied with white paper is inserted on the grave, that is, hanging paper.

After Aunt Ma finished all this, Wen Lan came over to tell her that today is the Ching Ming Festival as the clan wife, and she came to pay respects on behalf of the descendants, and the ancestors bless Barabara...

After she finished speaking, Aunt Ma waited for a while, and then burned the paper treasure with the name on it.

Although she only said a few words, the tombs of the graves were all built on the hillsides, and Wen Lan had to climb up and down. After turning around three hundred graves, she was exhausted.

(End of this chapter)