The reason why the Cold Clothes Festival is called the Cold Clothes Festival is that there is an important custom on that day—giving cold clothes. At this time, there is a great harvest in the world of the sun, and people will inevitably think of their dead ancestors after eating and dressing warmly. Since then, the weather has become colder and the world of the underworld has become even colder. Silk and satin are cut into clothing and hats, made into colorful cold clothes and burned to worship ancestors. This is not only the filial piety of future generations, but also the heart of reverence for ghosts and gods.
In the afternoon, after the gate of ghosts opened, those with new graves would go to the new graves to hold sacrifices, and at night, the lonely ghosts with no one to pay homage would wander around, looking for food, to keep warm from the cold. If you don't give some cold clothes to these erratic ghosts at the intersection outside your own house, they will have nowhere to go, no home to rely on, and they will enter the house, invade the living, and disturb the spirits of their ancestors.
These are of course the legends of ghosts and gods that people believed in at the time, but to Yu Jinnian, they can only be regarded as superstitions. The reason why he is keen to go out to deliver winter clothes is more out of curiosity to join in the fun , Every household sent cold clothes, but no one sent them a bowl of noodle shop, wouldn't it seem very maverick? In fact, its essence is the spirit of not fearing death as the old man said, "a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger".
Ji Hong pulled him off his back, and turned to hold him in front of him. Seeing the young man's face full of enthusiasm, and he didn't even know where he was standing, he said sadly: "Ghost things are popular today, be more disciplined, and be careful." Collided with the soul."
"Hmm." Yu Jinnian immediately stood up after hearing Ji Hong's words, obediently put his hands down by his sides, and watched Ji Hong dress and tie his clothes slowly. I don't feel tired of taking off my clothes all night, but... it's really slow!
His previous life was over-urbanized, and it is difficult to see such a simple and mysterious custom festival, so he is very interested in it, for fear that he will miss something if he goes out for a moment and a half late. Seeing Ji Hong, he is not in a hurry. I couldn't help but tap my toes for a while, and urged: "Are you all right?"
Ji Hong came out, raised his hand and put a cloak over the young man, and said: "I've never seen you so impatient."
Yu Jinnian saw that he was wearing a simple green robe with outstanding demeanor, so he couldn't help but smile: "Let's go, let's go."
Ji Hong reluctantly went out with him.
The two stepped out of the noodle shop one after the other, and saw that many households on the street had already come out to deliver cold clothes, and most of them were men with strong yang energy, only a few women and old women who had no sons and no children at home showed their expressions. Sadly, he came out alone with a basket to burn the sacrifice. Ji Hong turned his head to look at the bright-eyed young man beside him, and thought to himself, he was so happy when he came out, and he probably couldn't count the second one in Xin'an County.
But Yu Jinnian didn't know that Ji Hong was looking at him, because he was looking around at other people. Now that it was late at night, although it was said that there were many people who came out to burn cold clothes, in fact, as far as the whole wide and straight long street was concerned, There were still only a few people, and they all hurried home after the sacrifice, and no one was willing to stay longer.
They walked not far, and stopped at a street corner that was very close to a bowl of noodle shop. There was already an old woman with a hunched back offering burning cold clothes. In terms of stature, it can be regarded as a huge bamboo basket. Seeing Yu Jinnian walking over, he raised his head and smiled kindly at the two of them.
The old woman looked to be in her sixties or seventies, her temples were grizzled, and she looked very petite squatting on the ground. She grabbed a handful of dust, drew a circle on the ground, lit the incense, and began to take things out of the bamboo basket— First there was a water hyacinth, and then a bowl of steaming red bean rice. She poured the water from the gourd into an empty bowl and muttered something, as if she was mourning someone.
There are different sayings about the custom of this red bean rice. Some say that the son of Gonggong turned into a plague ghost after death, and some say that Zhuanxu's three sons turned into the malaria of the river, the sprite of the bitter water, and the ghost of the children. Little ghosts, but no matter which version they are in, these powerful ghosts are afraid of one thing-red beans.
Therefore, people steam rice with red beans and glutinous rice. This kind of red bean rice, which symbolizes repelling epidemic ghosts, preventing disasters and eliminating diseases, is bright red in color, soft, glutinous and sticky. It can also be used to strengthen the body, but at this moment, red bean rice is not more about how delicious it is, but about auspiciousness.
Yu Jinnian saw that the old lady was very particular about her style, so he didn't dare to disturb her, so he walked to the other side of the street, knelt down and took out the multicolored clothes he bought at the funeral paper shop. Since no one in the bowl of noodle shop is in the midst of the new mourning, the burning of the cold clothes is only for good luck and avoiding bad luck in the coming year.
I don't know if it's because of the Ghost Festival, but the streets tonight are extraordinarily deep and quiet. Although Ji Hong's fear of the dark has been relieved a lot, he still has lingering fears about the atmosphere, so he lowers his head slightly and leaves the boy. Get closer.
The so-called do as the Romans do, even though he doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, Yu Jinnian still has a respectful attitude when he burns his cold clothes. He doesn't dare to make any jokes and frivolous actions. It’s from a bowl of noodle shop, you can pass by and want to eat noodles, but don’t scare the girls in our shop!”
Ji Hong was not used when he was in the mansion, and because of the incident with his second brother sixteen years ago, unless there was an unavoidable banquet or ceremonies that had to be attended, or the emperor summoned him, otherwise, these small festivals and small banquets for him There is no chance to participate. Later, when I was eight or nine years old, I knew that there was such a thing as burning cold clothes. I also secretly ordered Kang and the servants in the courtyard to buy colorful clothes, and burned them indiscriminately on a brazier alone.
Due to the scarcity of money in the courtyard, the servants could only buy cold clothes made of colorful paper that were too common for the Ji family. At that time, the aunt passed by and saw it, and kicked his brazier over in a rage. Yanhe ever needed him to burn and sacrifice these shabby things hypocritically? At that time, he felt wronged, and he seemed to be stubborn for a few days, but thinking about it now is ridiculous, no one cares anyway.
By the time he knows how to burn Hanyi, and has enough financial resources, he can even burn Maiyaro without any regrets, he is old enough, and he will no longer stick to this intentionally to make the mistress unhappy. So today, when I went out to burn cold clothes with the young man, I felt like going back to my youth, so I took some colorful paper clothes from the basket and burned them.
Seeing Yu Jinnian turning his head to look at him, Ji Hong smoothly hooked the young man's hair that was blown by the evening wind behind his ear, and said in a harmonious voice, "It's rare to burn the cold clothes for sacrifices, so let's burn some for the second brother, but he died so much Thinking about it, he should have been reincarnated." Looking at Yu Jinnian's white and tender face, the corners of his mouth suddenly curled up slightly, as if he had thought of something good: "If the second brother was reincarnated, he might be as old as you by now. "
Why does this sound so strange, as if Ji Hong who was stroking his head is a loving old father, Yu Jinnian was awkward for a while, and silently burned a few colorful clothes for the second brother, saying: "Maybe the second brother is very talented , was left by the Lord of the Underworld to be a ghost official, and when the second elder brother is promoted, he will also become the Lord of the Ghost Mansion, and he will be able to come up to see you when he passes by the world every year when he goes to heaven to report on his duties."
Ji Hong was amused by this statement, his hands trembled, and he was almost licked by the burning flames.
Yu Jinnian hurriedly told him to throw the paper clothes on the ground, held his hands and blew hard, but he didn't know that Ji Hong shook his hands because he was funny, and thought that he lost his mind because he mentioned Ji Ergege again, and his heart sank. I can't help regretting what I do, which pot I don't open and which pot I lift.
Ji Hong smiled and said, "If it's true as you said, I should prepare a pot of drunk spring every year and introduce you to him."
The confetti on the ground burned up, and Yu Jinnian lit a few more, muttering, "I have nothing to look at."
Ji Hong also leisurely burned the paper clothes, and said: "Second brother often said that our brothers and sisters are not like the Ji family. The ancestors of the Ji family were all majestic and brave. The courtiers of the emperor, down to the streets, no one dares to scold. Only in our generation, the anti-literate ones are like scholars. It's really sad and boring. If the second brother sees you so lively and dishonest, he must say it' Heaven will not kill me', and then happily dragged you to drink, making you so confused that you can't tell the north from the south."
Judging from the fact that the second elder brother poured wine into the cheese bowl of the four-year-old Xiao Jihong, it seems that this is indeed the case, but... what does it mean that he is lively and dishonest
"It's just," Ji Hong pursed his thin lips, and said with a half-smile, "With your temperament, you may not be able to be bluffed by him. It's hard to say who will be dizzy by the teasing."
Although Yu Jinnian had never met his second brother, and what he heard from Ji Hong was only a few insignificant stubs, but he became more and more curious about him. Thinking about it carefully, when the second elder brother passed away, Ji Hong was still so young, about the same age as when Yu Jinnian, the original body, lost his parents. My elder brother remembered it so clearly, and he never wanted to mention other people in the family, as if all the happiness in his life came from the few short years when he was accompanied by his second elder brother.
Just thinking about it, Yu Jinnian couldn't help but sympathize with Ji Honglai, but the more he was interested in Ji Hong's past, the more he wanted to carry the pot of water that was not boiling, and the small bubbles rising from the pot attracted Yu Jinnian , so that he couldn't help stretching his paws in to be scalded. He was thinking which hand to burn first, but he didn't realize that the colorful clothes burning in his hand were really going to burn his hands.
"Come back to your senses." Ji Hong patted the back of his hand, shaking off the flames, as if the roundworm in his stomach had grown into a spirit, he taught him with a tacit understanding, "I want to know what I will tell you in the future, right now Be careful with the fire in your hands first."
"Oh!" Yu Jinnian was also taken back by his slap. He looked down and saw that there was only half a piece of paper in his hand. They said that if the colorful clothes were burned, they must be burned, otherwise the ghost brothers only received half of the clothes. But He was about to come up to question the troublemakers, so he lit up the remaining half of the cold clothes in his hand, when suddenly there was a crisp sound of jingling, jingling, from the depths of the long street.
All the red lanterns hanging along the street in the past were also taken down because of the Cold Clothes Festival. The street was quiet and dark, and it stretched to the end like a hollow mouth, devouring all living things in the distance. Two clusters of yellow flames danced thinly, and the one held in someone's hand was like a ghostly will-o'-the-wisp hanging in the air.
In such a silence, only the sound of the bell was accompanied by the sound of steady footsteps, approaching this way one step at a time, in this thick black ink, it seemed to be in the hands of ghosts and monsters leading the way when all ghosts borrowed the way. Shaking Yin bell, swirling wind gusts.
Hearing this strange ringtone, some cowardly ones had already packed up and fled, not even taking the unburned colorful clothes on the ground, what's more, their legs were weak, and they knelt on the ground with a plop, covering their faces and hiding in the corner, He didn't even dare to look where the sound was coming from, just begging that the thing that made such a sound, no matter whether it was a human or a ghost, would not pay attention to him.
Only the broad-minded Yu Jinnian, although a little flustered in his heart, is a good man who believes in atheism after all. After making up his mind, he couldn't help squinting his eyes, staring at the darkness seriously, expecting to come out from inside something is coming.
Just listening to the movement getting closer and closer...
"..."
The air suddenly became quiet, and the ringing stopped for some unknown reason, and there was no more movement for a long time. Just when people thought it was just a false alarm and were about to leave, a thin layer of white mist inexplicably formed on the street, and the night was thicker against the backdrop of this mist, making the night more mysterious and extraordinary.
"jingle!"
The voice suddenly sounded again, and Yu Jinnian noticed that the old woman who was burning the sacrifice next to her was so frightened that she fell limply on the ground. She struggled for a long time before she knelt on her knees, clasped her hands together and chanted "Amitabha, Amitabha" crazily, tremblingly. Grab the land with the head, and bow down. Looking around again, other passers-by who came out to burn cold clothes were also scared out of their wits.
As soon as Yu Jinnian withdrew his eyes, the bell rang again, one after another, not urgently, but slowly and orderly, with a sense of rhythm. He listened carefully, and heard a "clang, clatter" between the bells The sound of the pestle is more calm and slow than the crisp bell.
He was wondering what kind of monster it was.
jingle! Hearing that the sound was getting closer, under the cover of the mist, finally a corner of his white face was revealed from an alley not far away. At first glance, it really looked like some ghostly thing floating in mid-air. Just look at it again—well, it’s just scaring myself.
It turned out to be a piece of white monk's robe.