Chapter 35: The first day of the peach month
The basis of civilization is human survival, and civilization itself is the history accumulated after survival.
Now it is still in the era of just beginning to accumulate, Chen Jian is just starting, and the rest still needs to be perfected by future generations.
Worshiping ancestors, how to sacrifice?This is a problem.
Not to mention him, even those scholars in previous lives have made too many jokes.Confucius criticized Jisun's arrogance, saying that it is tolerable to dance in court, which one cannot be tolerated.As a result, there was a TV live broadcast of the Confucian Memorial Ceremony in later generations, and there was a dance of Baqi, which was simply the highest level of high-level black.
Sacrifice is a kind of ritual, and ritual is the rule, and it is also the most suitable method to maintain the rule of slavery and aristocracy.Theoretically, you have to abide by the etiquette of what songs to dance, what to dance, what to eat, and naturally there will be no disputes in the family.
Anything is right only if it adapts to the times, and you have to figure out who the ruling class of the times is, so that what adapts to them can be passed down.Some people, even if they look excellent in later generations, are not adapted to the times, and they can only be lonely in that era after all.
Yang Zhu's idea that everyone's private property should be inviolable can lead to great order in the world; Mo Di's respect for the virtuous and his love for non-aggression can bring about peace in the world; these are all excellent in the eyes of later generations, so that at that time the world's words were not Yang Jimo's, but in the end they fell Some of them didn't even leave a complete book, and if they were born a thousand years later, the result would be different.
So Chen Jian can't transcend the times when he does these things. He doesn't know the ancient rituals, so he can only start by groping and listing all the things he can think of, which is far more steps than building a house with money.
Besides, one person cannot complete a system. Now the political status of the tribe is only divided according to the elderly, young and strong, and children. The only one who is a bit special is him.
His current identity is more similar to that of a primitive priest, because he is the only one who has dreamed of the guidance of the ancestors, and now it seems that the guidance of the ancestors has indeed made the life of the tribe better.Every time the days get better, the weight of the ancestors' guidance in the hearts of the clansmen becomes heavier.
So he doesn't need to discuss this matter with his clansmen, but how to do it needs to be discussed with his clansmen: if he says what his ancestors asked him to do in his dream, it is tantamount to making this matter real, and if future generations want to change it, they will have to shake too many things .
There is no objection to offering sacrifices to the ancestors, because now we have the basic conditions, there is enough food left, and there is enough time, so we don't have to run around every day just to fill our stomachs.
The discussions started early in the morning, and after breakfast, they were still in a mess. As a result, not much was discussed about ancestor worship, but a bunch of other things were discussed instead.
The clansmen are also exhausted these days, and want to take today's rest as a routine. After some discussion, they decided to take a day off every ten days.Chen Jian said that since this is the case, then there will be a ten-day ten-day period, and one day off in each ten-day period is called a ten-day rest, which is used for washing hair, playing and playing.
Another two races get together all day long, there is no sexual taboo between different races, it seems that many people are excited, and they can do something they like to do in a day.
In addition, Yu Qian'er also took her own bark and told everyone that the moon will become round every 29 days, saying that we can treat 29 days as a month, and the tribesmen also think it is good.
However, the clansmen insisted on taking the full moon as the first day, and Chen Jian had no choice but to agree temporarily.The lunar calendar is not so simple, because the cycle of the moon is not exactly 29 days, so it is fixed for the time being, anyway, it will be changed in the future.
Now not only is the first day of the [-]th full moon, but even the month has changed.Some people say that it should be regarded as the first month from now, but Chen Jian firmly opposes this.In the end, the old grandmother came up with this compromise method, and set the months according to things closely related to life.
Last month, when the apricots were ripe, it was called Xingyue; a few days later, when the peaches were ripe, it was called Taoyue.Although it was still weird, Chen Jian still accepted it.
Xingyue Taoyue should have referred to flowers.It's just that in the eyes of the tribe, flowers can't be eaten, and apricots and peaches can be eaten. Of course, they must be distinguished by fruits.
The aesthetic point of view has just separated the four concepts of edible, beautiful, useful, and strong, and now we can't demand that they do it in one step, and directly learn to regard the scene of red apricot cheating as a synonym for the month.
Beauty, the concept at this time is probably a huge, fat, and delicious sheep. There is nothing more attractive to the tribe before, and the extended meaning is a kind of praise.
Over time, it has gradually evolved into a metaphorical compliment. Praising you is beautiful, which means seeing you is like seeing a big fat sheep when you are hungry. Stress has the meaning of looking good and beautiful.
This is the biggest difference in the way of thinking between Chen Jian and his tribe. Aesthetics change with the times, and eventually merge into the civilization system of an ethnic group. It is impossible to do it in one step. We can only follow the meaning of the tribe. Come.
These two weird proposals were finally painted on the bark by Yu Qianer. Today is the last day of Xingyue, and tomorrow is the first day of Taoyue.
It is reasonable to worship ancestors on the first day of the new year. At the beginning of January, the house happens to be enough for the clansmen. From the day after tomorrow, it is necessary to prepare for the issue of land.
Chen Jian is going to regard this ancestor worship as an exercise. This seemingly formal thing can reunite people's hearts, and at the same time let the clansmen intuitively feel the changes in life.
There will be another big sacrifice when the land is dug up in autumn. At that time, he plans to use clay pots of dried fish as temptations to attract people from other tribes to watch.
Since it is determined that the ethnic group is to become a farming civilization, then the major issues of the country are in agriculture and in military affairs.When sacrificing, it is necessary to add some military color, and wait until the rest of the tribes come to watch them to shock them.
With this thought in mind, Chen Jian first brought a few men who hadn't played and sang with the stone women by the river to a field at the foot of the mountain.
The grass was mowed down with a stone hoe, and a place where hundreds of people could stand was cleared out. A plinth hole was dug in the front, and a thick and long log was planted, with a horizontal branch left on it.
A few more logs were cut to build a simple place for offering sacrifices, and stones were brought to form two large circles for fire.
I tied up the cut grass with ropes and carried them back. After the clansmen came back in the afternoon, I prepared sacrifices with the clansmen.
Because of the house building last time, the clansmen thought that thirteen was a very lucky number. Thirteen rooms were built in thirteen days, and they were no longer afraid of wind and rain. This was a hint from the ancestors in the dark, so the sacrifice was Prepare thirteen samples.
A few months ago, the thirteen sacrifices would have made the clansmen think about it, but now it is much simpler.
Sheep, deer, pigs, teals, geese, and duo-duo birds, this is the original simplified version of the three animals and three birds.A clay pot of honey, a clay pot of tubers, a clay pot of seeds of various plants, a fish, a bow, a piece of fiber cloth, and a small house made out of clay.
There are exactly thirteen items, mainly food, and the rest are life-changing items obtained after being guided by the ancestors.
After the agreement was made, the clansmen immediately got busy. The piglets must not be killed, they can only go out to hunt, and if they cannot be caught, they will use smoked bacon.
The fish is simple, sink the wicker basket into the lotus pond, fill it with food, and quickly catch a big one, put it in the wicker basket and tie it by the river.
The bow people bent an extra-large one, wrapped the two ends with ocher-dyed cloth strips, held it with two people, and put it away very respectfully.
The thirteen sacrifices seemed very cumbersome, but there was no problem for the clansmen at this time to take them out. Some clansmen were also thinking, if they worshiped their ancestors a long time ago, what could they come up with?
In addition to these, Chen Jianyong and the women sewed fiber cloth to make shapes of various beasts, filled with grass, and dyed strange colors with stones or grass leaves and flowers outside, giving full play to the imagination of the tribe.
The old grandmother, together with the stone and some older people, carefully used charcoal to draw the imprint of their ancestors on a huge fiber cloth.
Chen Jian looked at the things piled up around him, and then at the busy clansmen. The fly in the ointment was that the men in the clan were still shirtless. Occasionally, some of them were covered with fiber cloth, which was also strangely shaped.
However, the nettles and hemp will be harvested soon, and they will be able to wear clothes at the next sacrifice.The level of weaving fibers of the clansmen has improved a bit, and the cloth will not be a problem when finer twine appears.
After Wolf Pi and the others came back from hunting, Chen Jian discussed with the women and asked them to steam or bake the food for tomorrow's use.
The men followed Chen Jian to the riverside. Chen Jian took out the pottery drum, covered it with pigskin, and knocked it twice. The clansmen were startled, thinking it was thunder, and looked up at the sky.
When they realized that it was the sound of Chen Jian's drum, they were so curious that they crowded around to hit it with drumsticks.
Some people thought that when Chen Jian was digging the toilet, he said that he would have the power of lightning and thunder in the future. These people thought that this thing was dug out of the toilet.
Chen Jian explained for a long time, and then talked about the purpose of playing the drum.
After more than half a month of running-in, the clansmen were finally able to stand in a queue. Although they were still uneven, at least there would be no situation where they didn't know where to stand.
After a burst of rapid drumming, the clansmen immediately stood in three piles in a chaotic manner.Ten people with shields and stone axes lined up in three rows; those with empty hands formed a group of five, three in front and two behind; those with bows and arrows also formed a long row.
Chen Jian felt his heartbeat and counted the time to see when the team began to disperse. After about 5 minutes, the team began to become disorganized.
Hastily knocked again with a long and loud sound, it was agreed before that this is to disperse each other.
After practicing seven or eight times, I gradually became proficient, and it was getting dark. Today was a day of ten-day rest, so Chen Jian asked everyone to leave early.
The village in the evening was different from the past, shrouded in an atmosphere of anticipation and seriousness.Maybe it was infected by today's various preparations, maybe it was because I really felt the importance of the ancestors' guidance when arranging the sacrifices, in short, I lost the usual frolic.
After dinner, the clansmen all sat by the fire, and somehow the conversation turned to life.In new-found terms, who would have thought two months ago that this kind of life was possible?Who would have thought that there would be days when people would get tired of eating fish and would not want to eat fish?
The day when Chen Jian promised that a piece of grass could fill the stomachs of the clansmen, although they could not see it yet, they felt that it would not be far away.And this year is another big year, whether it is apricot, peach, hazelnut or pine nut, there is a good harvest, which is a good year.
The moon on the first day of the lunar new year is round and quietly shines on the village. The clansmen point to the moon in the sky, and the absinthe smoke tells of a good year, and they hear the sound of frogs.
Chen Jian took out the bone flute and played the simplest piece of music in the moonlight. No one said he was out of tune, and his slightly skewed voice melted in the moonlight, making it particularly intoxicating.
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