There is a folk song from Panshiling that goes like this:
On Qingming Festival, you don’t have to worry about sweeping tombs and paying homage.
During the Qingming Festival, descendants of all ages worship the monkey.
At the end of the Qingming Festival, lonely ghosts have no home to return to.
The so-called Qingming Head, Qingming Middle and Qingming End are calculated according to the days of the lunar calendar.
The solar calendar days of Qingming Festival are fixed on April 4th and April 5th, but the lunar calendar days vary from year to year.
If it falls on the first and second day of each month in the lunar calendar, it is the standard first day of Qingming; if it falls on the 28th or 30th day of each month in the lunar calendar, it is the proper end of Qingming.
As for Qingming Zhong, those days in the middle of each month of the lunar calendar can be regarded as Qingming Zhong.
Generally, during the Qingming Festival, people pay homage and sweep the tombs normally, and there is no big deal; when sweeping the tombs during the Qingming Festival, as many men as possible are required to attend. The so-called monkeys actually refer to the ancestors who were buried on the mountain. If there are many male members in the family, the family will be prosperous, and the tomb-sweeping will be a bustling event.
Not much of a problem.
As for the end of the Qingming Festival, it is really evil. According to Panshiling folk songs, on the day when the Qingming Festival ends, all kinds of lonely ghosts will wander around.
On such days, when sweeping tombs, from home to worshiping on the mountain, a knife of yellow paper must be burned at every intersection.
The intention is to buy a safe journey and avoid entanglement with dirty things.
Panshiling's ancestors have been passing down this folk song orally, and Jiang Yue's father's generation has always abided by this set of rules. Every time I go back to my hometown to visit the tomb, there is always a sense of ritual. Especially at the end of the Qingming Festival, it is even more particular.
, not ambiguous at all.
Even though Sangou is young, he still takes things inherited from the older generation very seriously.
Seeing Jiang Yue in a daze, Sangou couldn't help but remind him: "Third brother? Today is the 29th day of the second lunar month, the end of Qingming Festival. Could it be that those dirty things got into the house?"
After saying this, the two brothers standing outside the yard suddenly felt a little chilly.
Fortunately, a phone call brought them back to the normal world.
On the other end of the phone was my sister-in-law's anxious voice.
Apparently my sister-in-law had just discovered that San Gou was missing. She was relieved when she learned that San Gou, a little bastard, had returned to Panshiling safely. Then she specifically reminded her of various ancestral precepts from Qingmingwei. After repeated explanations, her sister-in-law again faced San Gou.
The dog cursed for a while before hanging up the phone.
"Okay, Sangou! What time did you get up? It's only a few dozen miles of mountain road to reach home? Tu Xingsun or Lei Zhenzi?"
"Hey, I didn't sleep much last night. Second brother, how about we burn some paper." As the name suggests, Sangou didn't sleep much all night, but he was still as energetic as a dog.
Jiang Yue didn't want to go against the teachings of his ancestors. At his age, he was known to be rebellious and independent. The fact that he could go back to Panshiling from the city to pay homage to the ancestors showed that he valued these traditions.
Seeing the yellow paper beside the road burned to ashes, Jiang Yue's doubts did not diminish.
Although there is constant drizzle, the activity of going up the mountain to pay homage and sweep the ancestral graves cannot be discounted.
Jiang Yue carried a hoe on his shoulder, and the sacrifice was carried in a bamboo basket that was very rare in the city, and was carried behind him. A hatchet hung on Sangou's waist, and a snakeskin bag of yellow paper and paper ingots were carried in his hand.
Paper silver dollars and other items.
The two brothers passed an intersection and burned a knife of yellow paper. After walking for about an hour, they came to a mountain col. Looking from a distance, there was a pavilion at the end of the road at the foot of the mountain. From a distance, the pavilion looked like a red bird spreading its wings, with a unique shape.
"Second brother, do you want to rest at Jiuli Pavilion?"
"Only the dead rest in Jiuli Pavilion. Do you want to rest?"
"No rest."
Whenever an elderly person passes away in Panshiling, he will be buried in the Dajinshan area.
Jiuli Pavilion is at the foot of Dajin Mountain.
Generally, there are taboos during funerals, and coffins are not allowed to fall to the ground along the way.
But the customs in Panshiling are a bit different. The coffin bearers coming out of Panshiling, even if they are as strong as an ox, must take a rest when they arrive at Jiuli Pavilion.
If you try to be brave and go straight up the mountain, something will probably happen on the way. Either a coffin bearer pulls his crotch and falls, or the coffin topples over.
Conventionally speaking, it is nearly ten miles from Panshiling to Jiuliting. Most of them are Yangchang Mountain Road, which is extremely difficult to walk. The coffin bearers have reached their physical limit when they reach this point. Without taking a breath, their physical strength is not enough to support them.
Go up the mountain.
An even weirder saying is that Jiuli Pavilion is the place where Yin and Yang meet. When you go up to Dajin Mountain, the Yin energy is too strong. If you don’t take a good breath of Yang energy at Jiuli Pavilion, you will easily get into trouble if you go up the mountain hastily.
There is also the most evil saying, which is that after death, the soul is not extinguished for a while. If you don't wait in Jiuli Pavilion, the body is buried and the soul has no refuge, it is easy to form evil spirits and become a demon. You have to wait until all the corpses are in
Only when the irritability of the Yang world is gone at the Digui acupoint can you find true peace.
There are many local rumors about Jiuli Pavilion.
According to legend, hundreds of years ago, a Yin-Yang sorcerer searched for a dragon's acupoints. He spotted the Feng Shui treasure land of Dajin Mountain and said that this place had the power of a crouching dragon. Judging from the situation of the dragon search, it was actually a living dragon.
The surrounding situation is all good, dragon, cave, sand, water, these five tactics are all comprehensive.
The only flaw is that there is no mountain to protect it in the south, which prevents the grand gathering of five stars.
Later, Master Yin Yang calculated and found a way to make up for it. A pavilion was built to the south of Dajin Mountain, imitating the shape of the red bird.
As the saying goes, a thousand feet is a potential and a hundred feet is a form.
The use of pavilions instead of mountains is a small form that complements the general trend, which has some shortcomings. However, it finally formed the atmosphere of a five-star gathering, which corresponded to the auspicious sign of peace in the world.
Jiang Yue and San Gou obviously heard about various rumors.
The two brothers burned another knife of paper at Jiuli Pavilion and found their way up the mountain.
The road up the mountain is difficult to walk only a few times a year. It is sparsely populated and easily overgrown with vegetation. Without a hatchet to clear the way, it is really not easy to go up the mountain.
Coupled with the continuous Qingming rain, the earth and rocks were loose, making it difficult to walk.
It took the two brothers a full forty minutes to arrive at the ancestral grave of Lao Jiang's family. Several generations of ancestors, right down to their grandfather, had rested in the surrounding area.
Jiang Yue was a strong man and was responsible for weeding and cleaning, repairing the tomb, and finally planting new soil.
The three dogs placed the sacrifices, lit incense and burned paper.
After walking through seven or eight ancestral tombs, the two brothers were very tired, but it was smooth sailing.
"Brother, do you think it's strange? In previous years, it would be hard to burn the paper even if it rained. Today, it's raining like oil. It's easy to burn the yellow paper."
The three dogs cannot be idle, and they tend to become nagging when they are idle.
After Sangou did this, Jiang Yue found that the paper was burned surprisingly smoothly today.
Maybe the paper material this year is different, and what flammable ingredients are added?
There are many weird things, and this one is not missing.
When the paper money was reduced to ashes and there was no longer any risk of recurrence, the two brothers packed up and prepared to go down the mountain.
Anyone who is used to walking on mountain roads knows that the way down the mountain is more difficult than the way down.
From a metaphysical point of view, the momentum of going up the mountain is upward, and the energy is full, and evil spirits are difficult to attack. When going down the mountain, the body is tired, the momentum is downward, and evil spirits are more likely to be attacked.
As I was walking, I suddenly heard from three dogs behind me.
"Second brother, did you hear anything?"
Jiang Yue listened and saw nothing but the rustling of raindrops, so he shook his head.
"No! Second brother, listen carefully. There is a child crying."
Deep in the mountains and forests, in the gloomy cemetery, during the Qingming Festival, the three dogs actually said they heard a child crying!
Even though Jiang Yue was quite bold, he suddenly broke into a cold sweat after hearing this.