My 1995 Small Farm.

It was past seven o'clock in the evening and the sky in December was already dark. Ruirui finally finished his dinner with great difficulty.

Chen Ling's family set off towards the land temple with a group of children.

There was also a group of dogs running proudly in the wheat field, excitedly chasing the pheasants and rabbits lingering in the field.

"Oh my, Fugui, you guys are finally out of the house. I've been waiting for you to come home."

At this time, the entrance to the village and the area around the land temple were filled with shadows of people and torches.

And there were sporadic salutes exploding in the sky from time to time.

The young people in the village couldn't sit still, so they brought firecrackers from home and lit them in the wheat fields.

At other times, the elders would probably scold them for being ignorant and not being upright.

But on this day.

The more firecrackers are set off, the more atmosphere there is.

"Uncle, uncle, why do they have so many torches?"

After the fat boy was taken care of by Chen Ling, he was finally able to let himself go.

He jumped up and down all the way, was so happy that he never stopped talking.

He directly replaced Xiao Lizi's previous position and became the incarnation of 100,000 Whys.

"Because there is no electric light!"

Chen Ling smiled and replied: "Without electric lighting, we can only light torches..."

"No, I mean these torches are really beautiful, like a long dragon, so fun, I really want to let my classmates see this scene."

The little fat boy looked shocked and regretful.

"And uncle, don't we need to light torches?"

"Yes, uncle, why don't we have torches?"

Xiao Lizi also reacted, ran over, caught up with Chen Ling and asked.

Chen Ling knew what they were thinking, and waved the flashlight in his hand: "Because we have this."

After he finished speaking, the adults also laughed softly.

"Oh, no, we also want torches. Uncle, can you make a torch for us too?"

Xiao Lizi tilted his head back, grabbed Chen Ling's hand, and began to act like a spoiled child.

Before Chen Ling could say anything, Wang Laishun and the village accountant came over and snatched Chen Ling away from her.

"Kids, your uncle has something important to do today. He has to stand in front and can't play with you here tonight."

"Huh? Why?"

The children were stunned for a moment and opened their mouths in surprise.

Ruirui also called out "Dad" in a daze, and then rushed over like a strong little bear cub.

"Because your uncle is so powerful, he will preside over the sending of the old land god to heaven and the new land god to the temple today."

Qin Rong first explained to the children.

The meaning is not difficult to understand. To use the old saying of some customs, Chen Ling is to be the "chief priest".

This was originally supposed to be done by the respected elders in the village.

But who can blame Chen Ling for having an increasingly special position in the village in the past two years?

Moreover, their clan and ancestral hall are gone, and both the Chen and Wang families are in disarray.

No one cares about anyone's old friendship.

Basically, they only care about the snow in front of their own door and don't care about the frost on other people's roofs.

In fact, the same is true for Chen Ling himself. The people who are closest to him in the village now are the two people with the surname Wang.

"Wow, uncle is awesome."

The little fat boy and the little chestnut suddenly had stars in their eyes. Listening to Chen Ling's plan to send off and welcome the gods, they thought their uncle was amazing.

Ruirui was confused and shouted incoherently: "Daddy is awesome."

Liu Ni'er had always regarded Chen Ling as the most powerful person. At this time, she waved her hand and said, "Let's go to my second uncle's house. I'll make torches for you.

By the time we finish making the torches, Uncle Fugui and the others will probably be done with their work."

Then he led this large group of Boy Scouts and attacked Wang Lishan's house.

Chen Ling was invited to the front.

The original statue of the God of Land was a clay sculpture, which is what we said before, made of straw mixed with yellow mud and clay, into a human shape.

Then use a trowel to scrape and carve into the image.

Finally paint.

Roughly so.

At this time, all the men, women, young and old in the village came out.

They stood in three orderly rows, all holding torches.

The line starts from the land temple and goes all the way to the big pond next to the village primary school.

As for why no one was scrambling to squeeze forward.

First, this ritual is rather sacred.

Secondly, the circle will continue to rotate later, and everyone will have the opportunity to come forward and worship the God of Land, so there is no need to make a fuss or fight for it.

Of course, people were not standing in a neat row now, and there were young people in groups of three or four walking far away to set off firecrackers.

Until Wang Laishun started beating the gong.

"Get back in line! Stand in line!"

They are all Han people, but perhaps because they have lived in the mountains for too long, this ceremony of sending off and welcoming gods has a bit of a shamanistic feel to them.

Just like now, right in front of the land temple, a hexagon is built with bricks.

It's hollow inside.

We will smash the old statues and throw them in and burn them.

Smashing is not an offense, but only after smashing can God ascend to heaven.

Fire is a sacrifice.

"Fugui, go to the temple and recite the prayers."

After Fourth Grandpa wrapped the red cloth around his waist, he said.

Chen Ling nodded, and when he looked back, he saw that the team was holding torches high and had become extremely orderly.

Now it really looks like three long dragons.

Chen Ling walked into the land temple filled with burning candles, knelt down on the cushion, and recited words silently.

Bow once after reciting a paragraph. Three bows will be enough.

After finishing the words, Chen Ling stood up and directed five young men to carry out the old statue of the God of Land.

These five young men have wheat ears tied to their bodies or sorghum stuck on their bodies...symbolizing grains.

He cannot move during this process. After it is lifted out, it will be placed in the hexagon made of bricks.

Only then could he smash the old statue of the God of Land.

The things used are also particular, such as axes, sickles, hoes, and plowshares.

How to put it, the axe symbolizes the mountains and forests, and the land god here is in charge of everything in the mountains.

There is no need to say much about the other types of farm tools, just like the five young men symbolize grains.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Chen Ling picked up the axe and chopped the old statue's offspring three times in a row.

Then the sickle, hoe and plowshare were smashed onto different parts of the statue's body.

There is no need to smash it too hard, as there are pine branches underneath that will ignite directly.

"Send the gods away!"

Chen Ling lit it with a torch and shouted.

What was sent was not only the old statue of the God of Land in the land temple, but also the statues of the God of Land in each villager's home, no matter they were painted or carved from wood, all of them had to be invited over and go to heaven together.

According to the original process, for example, paper paintings need to be replaced with new ones every year, and wood carvings will be used longer, but they also need to be replaced every three years.

The replacement date is set on New Year’s Eve, which is the last day of the year.

But this year the old land god in the land temple will be sent away in advance, and the people who have been invited back home will also go to heaven with him.

Then replace with a new one.

So after Chen Ling shouted "Send the Gods Away", the villagers holding torches, either holding wooden statues of the God of Land in their arms or shredded paper portraits taken out of red cloth strips, came forward one after another and threw them into the fire.

Then the whole family knelt down and worshipped, chanting words of prayer for blessings.

The land that was brought back from home and the statue of the god from the land temple were sent to heaven together.

The flames were blazing, making people's faces red.

During this period, Chen Ling and the village manager kept firing salutes nearby.

The team went to the end and sent the God of Land to the Queen of Heaven.

It’s time to welcome the new god.

At this time, it was Chen Ling's turn to step forward and tear off the red cloth on the stone statue.

"In the future, everyone in the village will send their own land god to heaven. They can burn it in front of the statue in the land temple every year. We don't need to move the stone statue. Let the land god go to heaven by himself."

Chen Ling pulled off the red cloth and said this.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

The stone statue has been used for a long time. If there is no special problem, there is no need to replace it.

Then naturally we have to put it another way.

After he said this, the villagers began to wave torches and roar from time to time.

"Roar!"

"drink!"

It travels far at night.

Welcoming the new god is indeed different from sending off the old god.

When sending off the old gods, incense and candles are carried with them.

When welcoming the new god, various offerings are brought along with the villagers’ enthusiastic calls.

They pray that when the new land god comes, he will see their piety and vision and bless them with good weather and good harvest every year.

The stone statue is carried up by five strong guys, symbolizing the five kinds of grains.

Under the command of Chen Ling, tributes were carried up, mainly various cakes and pastries, as well as fruits and three kinds of meat.

The team was then asked to take turns to light new incense sticks, put them into the incense burner and kneel down to worship.

It's quite cumbersome, and it goes back and forth again.

Only then did Chen Ling fire the cannon.

Ruirui followed Liu Ni'er and the others, a group of kids big and small, holding small torches and watching attentively.

Without blinking.

Children, when they are young, always show great interest in such lively and mysterious things.

Ruirui was too young to remember anything.

But I'm also curious.

And the most curious.

When Wang Susu and the others came forward, he couldn't help but come forward and hand the torch to Chen Ling.

They pulled Chen Ling over there, and then his two little hands held his father and mother's hands respectively, and followed the large group to worship the gods.

After experiencing this special ceremony, he patted his knees and rushed into the temple to take the offerings.

"Hey, come back!"

Chen Ling was quick-witted and quick-handed. He grabbed the back of his collar and let the brat kick his calves in mid-air.

They caught him and put him among the pile of dolls outside.

"Just wait until I give it to you! If you try to steal it again, you are not allowed to be dishonest!"

The cakes and pastries among the tributes are best eaten by children. Adults are actually dispensable. It is a good thing if they can get one, but it doesn’t matter if they can’t.

After all, there are so many people in the village, how can everyone have a share?

I usually share the food with the children.

It symbolizes just eating something.

"Uncle Fugui, hurry up, we can't wait any longer."

I don’t know who shouted, but it wasn’t the kid.

It sounds like a duck's voice, and he's in the voice change period. I don't know whose child he is.

"How old are you? Aren't you ashamed?"

Chen Ling laughed and scolded: "I can hear you over there, I will go around you later."

Everybody burst into laughter. At this time, they had finished worshipping the new land god and it was time to relax and have fun.

Just wait for Chen Ling to start scattering cakes and pastries.

Chen Ling didn't delay any longer and walked out of the temple carrying a basket.

The whole basket of cakes was thrown into the air.

"Ah, Uncle Fugui, you are so kind. Let the wedding cakes crush me to death..."

The little kids excitedly took off their cotton-padded jackets and ran over to catch them, screaming.

"Uncle, this way, throw it over here!"

"Uncle, I'm Xiao Ming, I want to eat rice cakes..."

"Uncle, I'm Xiao Lizi, I want to eat rice cakes too!"

There were too many people, and every kid thought that Uncle Fugui was closest to them, so they all said their own names, but Chen Ling couldn't hear anyone.

They started throwing the balls around with the basket, and whoever picked them up kept them.

All of a sudden, everyone went crazy scrambling for it.

The adults, especially the young men, jumped up or rushed out to help their children grab the items.

His child is so close to Chen Ling, but when something happens, he only thinks of Uncle Fugui and can't remember his biological father.

Today they have to prove themselves.

As a result, someone fell down with a bruised face and nose after a while. There were too many people, and the whole village was here. It was impossible not to fall down as everyone was pushing and shoving each other.

Fortunately, the cakes and pastries were limited in number, so they only fought for a while and then dispersed.

Otherwise, Chen Ling would have to worry about them causing a stampede.

After grabbing the wedding cakes and cookies, the children held torches and ate happily.

Some people also throw the wedding cakes in front of the land temple. The ashes after burning make the wedding cakes charred and crispy, and then they break them apart and eat them deliciously.

"Dad, mom..."

Ruirui came running over with two big dogs, holding up a piece of rice cake with a crying face.

"You, why are you in such a hurry to eat outside when you don't eat well at home? You can't eat this now. You have to heat it up at home before you can eat it."

Chen Ling took the rice cake from him: "The rice cake is hard when it's cold, so you need to heat it up. Ask your brother or sister if you can eat it?"

He looked at Yaya, Little Fatty and Little Lizi who were running over. The three children pouted and shook their heads unhappily, "We can't eat it. If we had known, we would have grabbed the wedding cakes."

Everyone smiled.

Liang Hongyu laughed at her grandson: "Xiao Ming, you are the most greedy and the most foolish. You have no experience at all. You are not as cunning as Liu Ni'er and the others."

That's true, city kids have no experience in this area.

"Grandma, why do you always say I'm stupid?" The little fat boy groaned and said angrily.

"Okay, don't be unhappy."

Chen Ling waved his hand, picked up Ruirui, and said, "Come on, I'll go bake two wedding cakes for you with the remaining charcoal. I know who grabbed more just now."

Then he walked to the boy from Chen Yongsheng's family and said, "Come on, you shameless one. Do you think I won't know it's you just because you call me uncle? Bring out the wedding cakes!"

This kid is already fifteen years old, and he was the most aggressive in grabbing just now.

"Brother, I'm still a kid too." The boy with thick eyebrows, a big face and an expression like a big cricket looked aggrieved.

"You are not ashamed, you really are not ashamed."

Chen Ling slapped him on the head, and he smiled and handed over the two cakes.

"Let's go and make some pancakes. Isn't that right?"

Chen Ling called the kids to walk closer to the land temple, and sure enough, the children became happy again.

With smiles on their faces, they held small torches and started to gather around the fire pit, jumping and cheering.

"Bakeries, bakeries!" (End of this chapter)