The Leman River comes from the eastern plateau and meanders to the west. The rainy season makes the river turbulent. This is a natural crossing for the river. The river here is only two to three hundred meters wide.
The canoe groups of the Tarascans and the Mexicas were docked on both sides of the bank respectively. At this time, the canoe armies of both sides, together with 100,000 soldiers, were watching the Tarascans' pre-war sacrifices.
Hulot looked at Tarasco's colleagues with great interest, watching how they held morale-boosting performances.
The feather crowns on the heads of these priests expand like cattail fans, preferring indigo blue feathers. They all wear a string of necklaces around their necks. In the center of the necklace is one or several pottery round containers, shaped somewhat like gourds. The boy
I’m very curious about what these “pottery gourds” are used for.
The priests successively placed sacrificial utensils on the newly built altar.
The first altar symbolized the sun god of Tarasco, Curricaveri, who controlled the sky of the universe and was the most important god. The priests placed a piece of gold several meters in diameter on his altar.
The sun reflects the dazzling golden light in the sunlight.
The second altar symbolizes Tarasco’s earth goddess, Kveravaperi, who controls the earth of the universe and is also the god who bestows harvests and minerals. The priests then carried a huge piece of copper ore.
Placed on His altar, the dappled copper surface flows like water ripples in the sunlight.
"These strange Tarascans, where do their beliefs come from?" Hulot was a little curious. "They neither believe in the God of War nor the Quetzalcoatl, which is completely different from other Mexican tribes."
"Their beliefs should come from the Bajo and Micancho people who were conquered by them hundreds of years ago. They are the native beliefs of the Patzcuaro Lake area. They believe that the Patzcuaro Basin is the center of the universe and provides the power for the world to move.
"And the universe is made up of three parts: the sky, the earth and the realm of the dead underground," Avitt explained.
"So the Tarascans have a completely different language, culture, and beliefs, and are an alien race isolated from the rest of the world?"
"Yes! This is also the reason why the Tarascans have no allies in the world." Avitt nodded.
"But we Mexicans don't have any allies either." Hulot responded.
"The strongest does not need allies." The two laughed and continued to look at the sacrifice on the other side.
The last altar symbolizes Tarasco's moon goddess, Haratana, who is the daughter of the sun god and the earth mother goddess. She controls the underworld of the universe, which is the kingdom of the dead. Tarasco people particularly worship
God of Death, and invented the "Day of the Dead" for "Haratana".
After a while, dozens of priests brought an unusually huge clay pot. Inside the pot were many yellow lumps. This was a symbol of the Moon Goddess.
"What's in that clay pot?" Shulot asked curiously.
"That is the stone of the dead collected from the cracks in the world. It comes from the underground world of the dead and can communicate between the human world and the kingdom of the dead." Avitt said seriously about the information he had learned.
"???" The young man's head was a little confused. He knew that the crack in the world should refer to the crater in the west. The underground world must refer to the underground. But what is the stone of the dead, the communication between life and death?... Could it be that this is a volcanic crater in the west?
A fantasy plane?
With 70% curiosity and 30% confusion, Shulot continued to watch.
The priests of Tarasco quickly completed the placement of the symbols. Then, in front of the three altars, the farmers brought a large amount of firewood and thatch and piled them into a huge firepile.
Then, an unusually majestic old man with a gorgeous feather crown, holding a torch high, lit the pyre and gave it the "flame of the gods".
The priests then used wooden sticks to borrow the "sacred flame" from the firewood pile, gently put a little bit into the pottery gourd, then put the pottery gourd to their noses, and selflessly inhaled the smoke wafting out of it.
"Is this the divine smoke?" Shulot asked in surprise.
"Yes, unlike our war priests, the priests of Tarasco carry divine smoke with them. They add a lot of strange plant minerals to it. It is said that this can make it easier for them to communicate with the gods."
The boy was speechless for a while. Soon, the smoking priests fell into a world of fantasy. They began to dance vigorously on the altar, using various strange postures to create a mysterious atmosphere.
The dance was accelerating, the flames were rising, and the thick smoke rose into the sky, changing into strange shapes. The priests on and off the stage sang loudly at the same time. The desolate and simple mantras resounded throughout the sky, praying for the arrival of the gods.
Avitt simply translated the prayers beside him, first praying to the Sun God, then thanking the Mother Goddess of the Earth. Finally, the Moon God communicated with the underworld, asking Him to resurrect all the war dead and enjoy wealth and peace forever underground.
Under the awed eyes of the soldiers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the sacrifice at the altar finally reached its climax. The priests who danced crazily took out obsidian daggers and cut their cheeks without hesitation, letting the blood draw mysterious patterns. Then, high-pitched
The prayers spread across both sides of the river, shouting the name of the god "Haratana".
The unusually majestic old man appeared again. He directed dozens of priests to lift the huge clay pot on the Moon Goddess platform, and threw it into the burning pyre. The clay pot shattered instantly, and yellow chunks were scattered.
Then it quickly burns in flames.
Immediately afterwards, an unusually brilliant blue flame rose from the pyre, like a will-o'-the-wisp from the netherworld, with a strangeness and magnificence that did not belong to this world, and a crazy mark that was engraved in the eyes of every onlooker.
At the moment when the blue fire rose, all the Tarascans fell into selfless fanaticism. Whether warriors or militiamen, a total of 80,000 warriors knelt on the ground and shouted "Haratana" together.
This time, the shouts were like thunder in the rainy season, splitting the clouds in the sky and exploding the fields on the ground. They also shocked the Mexica warriors on the other side of the river. Many warriors bowed to the blue flames in panic. Even the fierce and proud jaguar
The warriors also turned pale at each other, showing fear of the pagan gods.
At this moment, Avitt stood up suddenly and stared at the command flag on the opposite side. There was the only Tarasco man who did not kneel down. Avitt couldn't see the man's face clearly, but he wanted to remember him firmly.
heart.
The moment he saw the blue flames, Shulot also stood up in shock: "Oh my God! The Stone of the Dead turns out to be sulfur!"
The young man estimated the size of the huge clay pot just now and looked thoughtful.
The Tarascans of the Early Bronze Age were able to easily produce thousands of kilograms of sulfur. This proves that there must be huge reserves of natural sulfur deposits in the area under their control. And on the western coast and the islands of Baja California,
It also has abundant struvite as a source of saltpeter. Coupled with the ubiquitous wood for making charcoal, Mesoamerica is uniquely endowed with the manufacturing of gunpowder.
The young man looked at the gorgeous blue fire in ecstasy. The crystal clear beauty seemed to be a blessing from God: "As long as the development bottleneck of the Iron Age is overcome, the Gunpowder Age will follow. The future is always full of hope!"
Shulot couldn't help but smile, but his friend pinched the boy's cheek.
Avitt asked seriously: "Xulot, looking at the blue flames, do you believe that the Tarascans just summoned the God of Death?"
Hulot was amused by his friend's seriousness: "That's just the color of special minerals after burning. If there is sulfur, we can also burn blue fire."
Avitt also breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't believe it, he was a little nervous just now.
"You need to lead the war priests to perform a prayer ceremony to the God of War as soon as possible to restore the morale of the Mexica warriors."
After listening to this, Shulot carefully observed the warriors behind him and found that they were really shaken and their faces were as pale as dirt. These brave men who had experienced hundreds of battles and were not afraid of death were actually frightened by the myth and the blue fire, and their morale was high.
drop.
The young man couldn't help but shook his head: "These pagans are pretending to be gods and ghosts!" Then he quickly commanded the priests accompanying the army and began to pretend to be gods and ghosts.
The pre-war sacrifice on the other side of the river soon came to an end. The priests shouted loudly in words that the boy could not understand, which should be some kind of promise in the name of God. Then, thousands of soldiers were seen cheering loudly, their morale rising.
Like a rainbow.
Inspired by high morale, five thousand Tarasco's spearmen were the first to board the canoe group and sailed towards the north shore with high morale.
