Golden Fishing Village

China's culture of praying for rain has a long history.

"Lüshi Chunqiu·Ji Qiu Ji·Shun Min Pian" records: "In the past, Tang conquered Xia and rectified the world. There was a severe drought and no harvest for five years. Tang prayed in the mulberry forest and said: 'I am guilty of one person, but not ten thousand men; ten thousand men are guilty of one person. Don't let the gods and ghosts hurt the lives of the people because of one person's negligence.' Then he cut his hair and sacrificed himself to pray to God. The people were very happy, and the rain came heavily."

This is the story of Cheng Tang praying for rain for the people. It was widely circulated. This behavior was later inherited by successive generations. Therefore, praying for rain became a government behavior in ancient times. From the emperor to the county magistrate, such activities would be held.

In ancient Hongyang, there were naturally rain-praying activities. The local proverb says: guard against thieves every night and prevent drought every year.

Longtou Village has no experience in this regard, because the large-scale rain-praying activities in the past were at least organized by the county-level leadership departments. Most villages could not hold such activities and were not qualified to do so.

Now Ao Muyang wants to hold a rain-praying activity for the Dragon King, which is actually quite difficult. The village has never held it before, and he has no experience. He needs help from others.

Yang Shuyong is willing to help him. He has a much wider network of contacts in rural areas than Ao Muyang. He promised to help him ask the villages in the mountains to see if they have held rain-praying activities and whether there are any experiences and tools that can be borrowed.

There is a local saying that the Red Ocean Islands are half a thousand lotus. Although the entire area is surrounded by water on three sides, it is sea water, and freshwater resources are still very tight.

Qiantan Town, especially Longtou Village, Wangjia Village, Longwangzhuang and other villages, were built around the Ambergris Lake, so the water supply problem has never been big in history, and there are few rain-praying activities. On the contrary, some towns and villages in the mountains lack groundwater resources, and occasionally they will hold rain-praying activities during the drought season. The scale of these activities is definitely not as large as that of the county, but there are some experiences that can be used after all.

Yang Shuyong helped him contact other villages, and he went to the town to find Lv Zhichao himself.

Lv Zhichao received him even more enthusiastically. The staff of the entire town government were very enthusiastic about him. When the old man who was guarding the gate met him, he said he wanted to spar with him. All this naturally stemmed from the fact that he had defeated Guo Xiaoxi in the ring and won glory for the town.

Entering the office, Lv Zhichao handed him a bottle of iced herbal tea and sighed: "The weather is getting hotter and hotter. It's not even August yet. It's so hot that it can kill people."

Coincidentally, he took the initiative to bring up this topic, and Ao Muyang took it up: "Yes, it's just hot, but there is no water. It hasn't rained for a long time. What should I do? I decided to organize a rain-praying event."

He mentioned this to Lv Zhichao on the phone a few days ago. When he heard him mention it again today, Lv Zhichao was not surprised and understood what he meant: "Well, is it the villagers who put pressure on you?"

Ao Muyang said: "Yes, one is to try it out, and the other is for everyone to find something to do , not really for the purpose of praying for rain, but to entertain each other and boost everyone's enthusiasm. "

Lv Zhichao stretched out his finger and pointed and said: "This is good, I agree. Since ancient times, this rain-praying activity reflects the unyielding spirit of the working people in fighting drought. This is a kind of courage and wit to dare to punish the gods when praying to God, a positive and optimistic attitude in hardship, and shows the will of our fishermen to unite and cooperate in the face of natural disasters and seek hope with one heart and one mind!"

These words made Lao Ao blink, and it took him a while to react: Don't say anything, just applaud.

Now he understands that Lv Zhichao can be a high-ranking official in the town not because of his background, but also because of his eloquence. The same activity, when he says it is superstition, is a manifestation of the Yanhuang spirit when he says it.

After listening to Lv Zhichao's words, Ao Muyang even felt that this rain-praying activity must be carried out, otherwise it would be unfair to the drought that he finally encountered.

Lv Zhichao is not just a man of few words. He continued, "Like other fishing traditions, the rain-praying activity is disappearing. This is not okay. It is the spiritual embodiment of our fishing culture. It should be passed down and carried forward."

"Why? Because future generations will encounter natural disasters in the future. We must let them know what our ancestors did when they did not have the support of advanced scientific and technological strength!"

He talked for a while and suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Director Ao, our local rain-praying custom will not cause death, right?"

Ao Muyang waved his hand and said, "That's definitely not possible..."

"That's fine. Let's prepare together and organize a rain-praying activity. But let's just treat it as a traditional activity and don't over-promote it, because it will rain soon." Lv Zhichao said.

Ao Muyang nodded subconsciously, and when he reacted, he was stunned: "Ah? It's going to rain in the near future? I saw the weather forecast saying that there will be no rain in the next fifteen days, and at most there will be a few cloudy days next month."

Lv Zhichao smiled and said: "When cloudy days appear, it will rain. You can't think of this?"

"Artificial rainfall?"

"Besides this, what else can it be?"

Knowing that artificial rainfall can be made, Ao Muyang was refreshed: "Secretary Lu, since artificial rainfall can be made, why do we still hold rain-praying activities? Isn't that redundant?"

Lv Zhichao said: "After all, it is a traditional activity of our fishing family. It hasn't been done for many years. It's interesting to do it, isn't it?"

He was more active than Ao Muyang in this matter.

After some inquiries, the specific process of praying for rain came out.

There are temples in towns along the coast. The Mazu Temple is in the south, and the Dragon King Temple is in the north. There is also such a small temple in Qiantan Town, called the Ersheng Temple, which enshrines the Dragon King and Guanyin Bodhisattva.

When praying for rain, you first find someone to go to the temple to read a post, introducing the drought in the area, and then carry the enshrined Dragon King statue to the yard to be exposed to the sun for three days. During these three days, the people participating in the rain-praying activities must fast and bathe.

After three days, the formal rain-praying activities will be held. First, gongs and drums will be beaten, dragons and lions will be danced in the temple, and then the "dragon spirit" will be invited to the sea. After the dragon spirit is invited, the Dragon King will be enshrined, and then a rain-praying book will be read, and the matter will be considered complete.

Because the city has begun to organize artificial rainfall in local towns, they have to speed up the preparation of the activities.

The first thing is to select a person to go to the temple to read the document and the sacrificial post. According to the customs that Yang Shuyong has inquired about, this matter used to be done by the highest local leaders.

Hearing this, Lv Zhichao quickly waved his hands: "No, no, our party members can participate in this activity, but we can't be the first to take the lead. Let's change the candidate."

Yang Shuyong said: "Then we have to use the oldest person."

Lv Zhichao nodded and said: "That's fine."

Yang Shuyong and Ao Muyang looked at each other, with embarrassment on their faces: "But there are many conflicts in the villages in our town, and the seniority is not unified. Who knows who is the oldest?"