Firmament

One side is one side of the people, one side is customary.

- Yao proverb

In the blink of an eye, Ibrahim was 18 years old.

In the autumn of that year, Niu Ersa heard that Manuri, the daughter of Mayub in Benkang Village, was 16 years old this year, with a cheerful personality and a strong body, and was a good woman who lived a good life in charge of the family. He then commissioned Ma Hesan to go and tell Ibrahim about it.

The Sarta people were very strict about marriage. Young men and women are not allowed to talk to each other privately, let alone fall in love freely. Lifelong events must be decided by the parents. All questions before marriage have to be passed through the matchmaker in the middle.

Mayub had long heard that Ibrahim, the eldest son of Gayin Dai Niu Ersa, was handsome and had studied scriptures and Chinese, and was a rare talent in the mountain villages. Now seeing that the matchmaker took the initiative to come to the door to propose, he was so happy that he immediately agreed.

Niu Ersa was very happy to learn that Mayyub had agreed to this marriage, and immediately bought tea, rock sugar, red dates and walnuts, wrapped one copy in each of the four colors of red, yellow, green and blue paper, and formed a four-color ceremony, and sent a "drop-talk ceremony" to Mayub's family through Ma Hesan.

Soon, the Niu and Ma families officially completed the engagement procedures. Nursa was to send a bride price to Mayob's house.

According to the current custom, Mai Liyan grinds the new wheat harvested that year into flour and prepares to steam the snow-white steamed buns and send them to her in-laws. She kneaded the steamed buns on the board, smeared a few drops of turmeric water on the top, and then used a kitchen knife to cut a "ten" on it. The steamed bun is like a blooming calendula, which means that I wish my in-laws a good harvest and perfect harvest in the coming year.

Mai Liyan put the steamed buns in the cage drawer and steamed them for half an hour. The smell of steamed buns wafted through the room. She lifted the lid and saw the big steamed buns, fat and white, and her heart was full of joy and happiness.

On the day of the engagement, Niu Ersa, Ibrahim, Ma Hesan, and several other people went straight to Mayyub's house with tea, brown sugar, cakes, clothes, earrings, bracelets and other dowries.

The Ma family received them warmly and ceremoniously.

Mayyub is a bit older than Nursa. White beard, a pleasant smile, a pair of shrewd big eyes, a wide fleshy nose, and a noticeable scar on the left corner of the mouth.

Mayyub invited the eldest of the guests, Niu Ersa, to sit on the upper seat in the middle of the kang, and then arranged for the others to sit in turn according to their age and generation.

Mayub's son, Ma Aili, served the guests a three-bubble bowl of tea.

Everyone drank tea and talked and laughed.

After three rounds of tea, Ma Aili served crispy golden oil cakes, a few plates of stir-fried vegetables and hand-grabbed mutton to the guests.

The last dish is the chicken nuggets that are most valued by the Saltas.

The Salta people cooked the chicken and broke it into 13 pieces according to the parts of the chicken. First decompose the two legs and two crotches of the chicken, then chop the chicken wings into 4 small pieces, chop the chicken breast into two pieces, and the last remaining piece is the tailbone, also called the chicken tip. Unlike other regions where they do not eat chicken tips, the Sarta people believe that chicken tips are the best chicken.

Mayyub used chopsticks to clip the tip of the chicken to Niu Ersa.

Niu Ersa and Mayub humbled each other, and then gave the tip of the chicken to Ma Hesan.

Giving each other the tip of the chicken is an essential part of the sarta feast. This not only dispels the inhibition between the host and the guest, but also increases the opportunity to greet and praise each other, and can enliven the atmosphere of the banquet. However, ordinary people can't just accept the courtesy of others. For whoever eats the tip of the chicken at the feast indicates that he is the guest of honor of the day, and that the feast is specially prepared for him, and that he accepts the hospitality of the host on behalf of all the guests at the table. If anyone eats the chicken tip under the enthusiastic persuasion of everyone, he will feel respected and enjoy extra respect.

Niu Ersa asked Mayub, "I heard that there is a story about the tip of the chicken." "

Mayobu said with a smile

"yes. It is said that a long time ago, there was a banquet for the leaders of the outer village and the gentlemen of the Honjo. He didn't expect that the gentleman of Honjo would unceremoniously eat the chicken tip on the banquet.

The guests thought that they were distinguished guests from afar and should eat the chicken tips by themselves, but they were eaten by the locals, and they did not get the respect they deserved, so they were very dissatisfied, and immediately left the table angrily and walked away.

In the end, after the coordination of the respected old man, the gentleman of Honjo took two fat sheep and came to apologize to resolve the dispute. "

"There must be a rule between people." I have heard the old people say that if there is only a chicken head and legs and no chicken tips at the banquet, it means that it is an incomplete chicken, and it may be leftover cold rice from someone else's eating, which is extremely disrespectful to the guests. The habit of giving the tip of the chicken at the banquet has been passed down in this way. "

While laughing, Niu Ersa and Mayyub agreed to arrange the marriage of their children on the first main day after the autumn in order to obtain auspicious and consummation.

At the end of August of the lunar calendar, after most of the farm work in the fields, the two families held their weddings for Ibrahim and Manuri.

On the same day, Ibrahim and his party came to the village of Benkang.

A group of young men blocked the entrance to the village, deliberately frightened Yi Bulahim and his son-in-law's riders with clods of earth and wicker, and tried to make them fall off their horses. This is the custom of the Sarthas when they marry a bridegroom. Even if the groom does fall off his horse or is slightly injured, he should not turn his face and get angry, but also apologize to the troublemaker.

The small courtyard of Mayyub is very lively. Relatives, friends and neighbors dressed in the best clothes were invited to congratulate the marriage of the Ma family's daughter with a gift or gift money according to the distance and friendship of the relatives and friends.

After consulting Ibrahim and Manuri, the imam of the Benkang Worship Monastery agreed with Ibrahim to pay Manuri a certain amount of nika (sarta, marriage contract) money after marriage, symbolizing his promise to Manuri of his husband's obligations and to restrain himself from abandoning his wife at will. Subsequently, the imam took Xiaomanla to recite Nika, proving that their marriage was allowed by Hu Da and was true and valid.

After the Nika ceremony, the witnesses scatter a large plate of red dates and walnuts on the adults and children, implying that the bride and groom will have children early.

Everyone cheered loudly and swarmed up to compete for dates and walnuts. Whoever grabs more dried fruits means that whoever will get more happiness in the future than others.

It was at this moment that Ibrahim saw his bride Manuri for the first time.

Manuri was taller and a little clumsy compared to the thin women around her. The upper body is dressed in a slitted front and back (Salta, long skirt). The beauty is a diagonal blouse with fake sleeves. On the legs are Sigu (sarta, trousers) with leggings banded. On his feet, he wore a pair of red cloth shoes embroidered with peony flowers.

Ibrahim couldn't help but feel a little disheartened when he saw that Manuri was not what he thought he was rare (in the northwestern dialect, he liked). However, the weddings have already taken place, and even if there are 10,000 unwilling, there is no way. The life of the parents and the words of the matchmaker have been inherited from ancient times to the present. Ibrahim felt that he was weak and powerless.

The welcoming procession returned to the village of Gayin Dai Niu Ersa. Ma Aili, who came to see off his relatives, took his sister out of the carriage and strode into the courtyard of Niu's house.

Manuri saw through the veil that the courtyard was full of villagers attending the wedding.

A middle-aged man walked up to the middle of the courtyard and shouted at the top of his voice, "Harry." "

When the villagers heard his call, they all stood up.

The middle-aged man began to sing a cheerful mountain song in the Salta language. While singing a song to congratulate happiness with the middle-aged man, the villagers high-fived or clapped their arms to the beat of the music, bent their legs into a riding posture, and circled to the left and right.

Harry is a form of performance for the Salta at weddings, singing and dancing as a solo or collective. The lyrics are improvised by the singers. The content is mostly praise for the handsome groom, the beautiful bride, the love of husband and wife, and the eternal separation.

Ma Aili sent Manuri to a new house and then came out to confess to his sister's in-laws.

The climax of the wedding is the teasing of the in-laws.

The villagers rushed up, smeared black ash on the faces of Niu Ersa and Mai Liyan, dressed them in sheepskin jackets, tied a string of bells around their waists, and wore a shabby hat on their heads, symbolically tying their hands and feet, and letting them ride their donkeys upside down to show the villagers.

The lively feast is over. The villagers dispersed one after another.

The rest of the time belongs to the young people who are making new houses. The boys took the pillows and threw them at Manuri. Manuli's maiden girlfriend used her body to form a line of defense, smashing the pillow back at the boys. Everyone was unrestrained, laughing and shouting, very lively.

After the excitement, Manuri's girlfriend lifted her veil, showed everyone the bride's face, and opened the box she brought to show her mother's dowry.

Early the next morning, Manuri came to the main house with a red face and officially recognized the old and young of the Niu Ersa family.

At noon, Manuri walked into the stove room in a state of distraughtness, made a ball of white noodles, rolled out the knife noodles according to traditional customs, and invited his mother-in-law and neighbors to taste his cooking skills.

Mai Liyan picked up the bowl and tasted the noodles made by Manuri, and found that his daughter-in-law's craftsmanship could not be put on the table, and he couldn't help but worry about Ibrahim's future days.

After eating the noodles, Manuri and Ibrahim returned to their new house. She made him a bowl of tea and respectfully brought it to him.

The Sarta people have been fond of tea since ancient times. They strive for perfection in the combination of tea sets, tea leaves and ingredients. The tea set consists of three layers: a lid, a tea cup and a palm plate. The fine clay, thin and translucent and delicate three-fort is the top grade in the tea set. If it is a tea bowl in Jingdezhen, it is a fine product in the tea set.

They are also very particular about the requirements for tea, with Yunnan's Chunjian tea and Tuo tea as the highest grade. If you have a guest at home, you should offer three-spice tea, five-spice tea, and eight-treasure tea to show your welcome and attention. In addition to the best tea, the tea should also be accompanied by rock sugar, longan, red dates, dried apricots, wolfberries, raisins, figs, etc. This kind of tea is bitter and sweet, sweet and sour, which can not only quench thirst and relieve heat, strengthen the heart and diuretic, but also relax the muscles and channels, and digest the accumulated food.

Ibrahim reluctantly took the teacup. He lowered his head and did not speak, holding the bottom of the tea bowl with his left hand, using the thumb, index finger and middle finger of his right hand to form an orchid shape, then clamping the lid of the bowl, scraping it diagonally on the surface of the tea water, and pushing away the tea leaves floating on it.

The juice is clear and blue, the water vapor is curling, and a pure and rich tea fragrance wafts out. But what Ibrahim smelled was a pungent musty smell.

Manuri stared at Ibrahim's face, hesitated for a while, and asked, "Ibrahim, you Amen have a face on me?" "

Ibrahim still didn't squeak and took a sip of his tea.

The following year, Manuri gave birth to a baby boy. The baby's cry was faint, his skin was blue and purple, and he lost his breath in less than half an hour.

Manuri was so saddened to see the child die that he cried to death.

The following year, in 1920, Manuli gave birth to another baby boy. The baby's cry was still faint. After Mai Liyan's careful care, the baby boy survived, but his body was relatively weak. The breeze from the lifting of the curtains could also make him shiver.

Niu Zhanxiang, Niu Zhanchuan and Niu Zhanhai sat in the courtyard, eating barley noodles and rice noodles, and said happily: "Great! Brother has finally become Ada." We also have nephews. "

Ibrahim asked the white imam to give the child a name of sarta, and then asked his father, Niusa, to give his grandson an official name.

Niu Ersa squinted his eyes and thought for a while, and said, "This Gava is very expensive. The second word is the jade character. Gayin Dai is a mountain when you look up, and it is still a mountain when you look down. The third word is the word mountain. The full name is Niu Yushan. In the future, we will have a mountain character in the name of the next generation of Gawa, so that they can firmly remember that they were born and grew up in the mountains. Their hometown is in the mountains. "