I’m a Witch In Dongying

But this year, because the popularity of Tenmoku Shrine has been initially opened, so many guests come to pray for blessings.

Bai Shuiqiu performed several Kagura dances one after another, and when he came out of the dance hall, the tip of his nose was already a little sweaty.

Bringing Jiexia to Bai Shui Jiashi, who had been watching for a while, handed over a handkerchief at the right time, motioning her to wipe her sweat.

"……thanks."

Bai Shuiqiu took the handkerchief and thanked him politely.

Up to now, her positioning of Bai Shui Heren and his wife has been almost at the level of "ordinary relatives who came to visit the elderly". Although she won't take the initiative to get close, if the other party releases kindness, she will respond accordingly. But this kind of feedback is only out of courtesy and has nothing to do with family affection...

In any case, the previous experience of neglecting for nearly ten years cannot be offset by this little favor.

What's more, things like family affection are not originally a business, nor should they follow the principle of equivalent exchange.

Symbolically wiped a little sweat, Bai Shuiqiu handed the handkerchief back.

At this time, Jiexia approached enthusiastically again, and poked the Kagura bell that she was holding in her hand a few times, listening to the bell on it making a crisp sound, her expression was novel.

Bai Shuiqiu glanced down at the girl—from her perspective, only the hair on Yuxia’s head could be seen, but the little girl’s movements of poking Kagura bell with her fingers from time to time were quite clear. , It's a bit like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn.

What's so fun about this kind of stuff...

Bai Shuiqiu pursed his lips. He didn't quite understand the child's thoughts, but when he saw the little girl was very interested, he handed the Kagura bell out: "Hold it and play, be careful, don't break the bell. Just do it."

"Thank you Sister Qiu."

Bai Shui Yuxia held Kagura Bell in her arms with joy, and as if suddenly remembering something, she turned her head and glanced around: "Hey, I clearly saw a blue fox here just now, why? I can't find it in a blink of an eye...It's the one lying on your shoulders of Sister Qiu last night."

"The cyan... fox?"

Bai Shuiqiu was taken aback for a moment, and a strange expression appeared behind him.

This little girl said, I'm afraid it's a wind raccoon, right?

Baishui Yuxia has the quality of spiritual media, and naturally has the ability of "spiritual vision", and because the spiritual power is stronger than Kanako, compared to Kanako who can only "perceive" the outline of the wind raccoon, Yuxia seems Can clearly see the look of the wind raccoon. However, Bai Shui Jiashi didn't know this, and for a while, she glanced at Bai Shuiqiu's shoulder with a little surprise, her expression slightly flustered.

Bai Shuiqiu didn't care about this either, just patted Jiexia's back casually, and whispered:

"You probably read it wrong. How could there be foxes with that coat color in the world... I'll do things first, and you can play here with your mother."

As he said, Bai Shuiqiu turned and walked to the other side.

When I walked through the courtyard, I saw a fluffy head poking out from Yuyuan, looking around in a ghostly manner.

When he noticed Bai Shuiqiu, the little thing trot over happily and touched her leg affectionately.

Bai Shuiqiu squatted down, letting the wind raccoon follow her arm to climb onto her shoulders, then stood up again and glanced at this little thing a little speechlessly:

"I said...can you stop running around next time?"

She did tell the wind raccoon to stay in the shrine and take care of it, but she did not let it run around. Seeing that the wind raccoon is so happy everywhere now, I don't know if I think it is a dog monster. It doesn't matter if ordinary people can't see its existence, but Bai Shui Jiexia is capable of vision. If this little girl notices it, it may not be a good thing...

After giving the wind raccoon a few more words, Bai Shuiqiu came to the granting office and shared the work of selling the gods from Kanako.

It's busy again.

Until the evening, the sun sets.

As Bon dances, various parades, and temple fairs began in various neighborhoods in Narita City, the number of guests on Tianmu Mountain gradually decreased.

This time, Kanako did not stay in the shrine to eat, so he left and went home.

The dinner during the Obon Festival is still very important these days. It is generally related to the ancestor worship ceremony. Therefore, it is reasonable for the girl to choose to go home to eat. Bai Shuiqiu naturally agreed very readily.

After Kanako left, Bai Shuiqiu went back to the inner room and cleaned up briefly, and took a shower in the bathroom with a clean change of clothes to wash away the sweat on his body.

Chiyo and Shirasui Jiashi started to prepare dinner for the day in the kitchen.

Plain noodles, red bean rice, sushi...

They are basically vegetarian.

This is also related to the custom of the Dongying people to celebrate the Obon Festival. According to tradition, these days during the Obon Festival are actually vegetarian. Now, the observance of these traditional customs is not so strict, but the dishes on the table must be vegetarian, and they need to be prepared in a state that can be eaten directly.

For example, fruits such as apples and grapes should be washed and peeled; snacks and plain noodles should be taken out of the box, and chopsticks should be prepared so that the ancestors can eat them at any time.

As for whether the ancestors can really eat these tributes...

Ordinary people may not know it, but as clergy members, Bai Shuiqiu and Chiyo couldn't be more clear about whether the spirit of their grandfather had returned from Huangquan and returned to the shrine.

But in any case, these sacrificial rituals have been passed down from ancient times to the present. Just like the paper money and paper horses burned by the Chinese people when they worship their ancestors, it does not matter whether they can be delivered to the underworld. And wish.

Therefore, Bai Shuiqiu also went to the village to follow the customs and strictly abide by these etiquette regulations.

Anyway, most of these tributes and things were prepared by Chiyo. No matter how bad they were, Bai Shui and the couple were standing by, and she didn't need to do anything.

In addition, the old man deliberately made a pot of hagi cakes.

This thing is also called "peony cake". It is said to be a special snack in the Tang Dynasty. It was popular in Luoyang, and then introduced to Dongying, where it became the favorite food of the ancient Dongying people. Although there is "peony" in the name, it has nothing to do with flowers. It is a pie food that is mixed with rice and glutinous rice and stuffed with red bean paste, which means exorcism and richness of grains. It is quite common at the Bon Festival. .

By the way, "peony cakes" also exist in Luoyang area of ​​China, but the method is very different from that of Dongying, and this "peony cake" is really added with peony petals, basically it is already two kinds of food.

Compared with yesterday, because Keiko Kanako, Keiko Kanako and others were absent, Asuka Hyuga was the only "outsider" at this table, and the expression on his face was obviously a bit cramped.

Bai Shuiqiu gave a few words of consolation, and took a few hagi cakes from the middle of the table and placed them on the Hyuga Asuka plate.

Upon seeing this, Chiyo also smiled: "Asuka, you are welcome, just treat this as your own home. Sometimes when I see you, I feel like seeing another granddaughter. I have been bothering you in the shrine during this time. It's really hard to help with the family."

"Grandma is too polite, this is what I should do."

Hyuga Asuka roared with a flushed face.

On the other side, Bai Shui and Ren and his wife also echoed a few sentences.

The two of them had already learned a little about Hyuga Asuka from Chiyo before. Although they didn't say it very clearly, they had a general understanding of the girl's situation. At this time, they also showed goodwill. For a while, Hyuga Asuka was a little flattered. .

And such exchanges also made the atmosphere on the table a little bit more lively.

Of course, there are still not many direct exchanges between Bai Shuiqiu and his husband and wife, but taking into account Chiyo's thoughts, Bai Shuiqiu still said something to his cheap parents, maintaining the superficial father. Female relationship.

After a supper, Chiyo and Baishui Jiashi began to clean up their dishes.

At this time, Bai Shui Yuxia became interested in the "elf horse" on the offering table again.

The so-called "elf horse" is actually a horse-like prop made of cucumbers. The ancient Dongying people believed that this kind of thing could cross the yin and yang realms, so they would make it before the Obon Festival and put it at the door of the house or on the altar table. , So that the ancestor's spirit can ride on it and rush home as soon as possible.

The "elf cow" placed after dinner on the 16th is made of eggplant, meaning that the ancestors will return to the underworld with the "gifts" tributed by the strangers.

——As for why we use this kind of crop, one said it was because the eggplant was bigger and could bring a little more things back; the other said the eggplant was bulkier and walked slowly, allowing the ancestors to stay in the sun for a while longer.

In order to prevent Jiexia from destroying the offering table, Bai Shui Jiashi brought a small basket of cucumbers over and let her go and play by herself.

Jie Xia originally wanted to hold Bai Shuiqiu together.

But Bai Shuiqiu was past the age of playing mud and had no interest in this kind of children's game, so he declined it altogether, so Jie Xia ran to the floor by the corridor and sat down on his own. Happy.

Bai Shuiqiu glanced at his nominal "sister", shook his head, then stepped on the floor with bare feet, and walked a few steps outside.

Standing on the edge of the corridor, he took a deep breath, then looked up at the night sky.

Mime private 589

On a summer night, the moon and stars are scarce.

The air in the mountains is also very fresh.

With full vision, even at night, Bai Shuiqiu can see the sky in the night clearly, but...

"Today's moon does not seem to be round..."

Today is August 14th, and it's just the eve of Obon.

But in Bai Shuiqiu's sight, the moon was not only not round, but it was even missing a big piece.

Speaking of it, when the Dongying people first celebrated the Zhongyuan Festival and the Obon Festival, it was the same as that of China. They all took the 15th of the lunar calendar as the positive day until after the Meiji Restoration, because the Dongying government changed the calendar from the lunar calendar. It is the Gregorian calendar, so the Obon Day is fixed to the 15th day of August in the Gregorian calendar every year.

Except for a few areas, the old calendar continues. Obon festivals are held around the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Most places, including Kyoto and Tokyo, follow the solar calendar.

The two days seem to be the same, but the problem is...

The fifteenth of the lunar calendar is a full moon.

But the fifteenth of the solar calendar is uncertain. Basically any moon phase may appear, and there may even be a new moon—that is, when the moon is completely invisible on the first day of each month.

According to legends since ancient times, the moon belongs to the “luo Yin”. The night of the full moon is the peak time of the month. Therefore, the dates of Shang Yuan, Zhong Yuan, and Xia Yuan are all on the fifteenth of the same month. There are too many ghosts and legends about this.

That……

Is the Zhongyuan Festival calculated according to the solar calendar or the lunar calendar?

Bai Shuiqiu suddenly thought of this question.

"The countermeasure team should have considered the difference between these two calendars..."

After thinking for a while, Bai Shuiqiu took out his mobile phone from his pocket and sent a message to Fujiwara Nanami on LINE.

The latter’s reply quickly appeared on the phone screen:

"Seven Seas: It should be the lunar calendar."

"Autumn: ...should?"

"Seven Seas: The information about the'Yellow Spring Kingdom','Santuchuan', and'Ghost Gate' is almost one of the deepest secrets in the spiritual world. For thousands of years, there have been few such records that can be accurately confirmed, and almost No one has seen the opening scene of the "Ghost Gate" with their own eyes. Almost all the rumors are derived from folklore legends that have been passed down through the ages.

Only from the observation of the changing trends of Yin Qi and Yang Qi in the spiritual world, it is true that only on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, Yin Qi is the heaviest, and many sneaky people will be active on that day.

However, in the past two centuries, perhaps due to the official change of the calendar to the solar calendar, there will be some anomalies on August 15th, so it is difficult to be precise..."

"..."

Co-authoring these sneaky is because of the changes in the holiday habits of the human world, and passively changed one's own holiday habits, and also passed the active days?

Bai Shuiqiu was a little weak to complain.

But thinking about it carefully, this is actually understandable.

The vast majority of sneaky spirits will remain in the world for a period of time when their obsessions are not eliminated. If these souls still retain part of their memories and rationality during their lifetime, they will naturally be worshipped by future generations. Run out to respond and enjoy the tribute or something. And the original July 15th, because it was no longer a holiday, it was useless to come out, and the spirits of these ancestors naturally didn't bother to be active.

As for the ancestors who have "became Buddha"...

It involves the term "Ghost Gate Closed". Even if this door is really opened every year, not anyone can come back.

I am afraid that most of the people who can really come into the world from the world over there are evil like ghosts...

Soon, Fujiwara Nanami sent another message:

"Nanikai: In addition, there is a generally accepted speculation in the spiritual world that the'Ghost Gate' is actually opened every year-at least before the Heian period. That's why the legend of Hyakki Yayuki is left behind.

But because that "door" is not the same concept as the "door" we usually understand, and the spiritual power possessed by most practitioners is not enough to allow them to see the existence of this door, at most it is just I can feel that the yin in a certain place is extremely deep, so any legend about this can only be a guess, and it cannot be confirmed with certainty.

If there is a "Ghost Gate" in Chiba Prefecture, it will most likely appear in Lantern Mountain, and Mami and others will stay there, so you shouldn't worry too much.

If you really encounter a situation beyond control...I will contact you in time. "

"Autumn: I see..."

After the chat, Bai Shuiqiu went online to check the perpetual calendar.

Well, the "two" Midyear Festivals this year are not very far apart, only two days apart. In other words, the seventeenth of the Gregorian calendar is the night of the full moon of this month. If something really happens, it will probably be in these two days.

"Just be a little more vigilant these days, especially every night..."

With Bai Shuiqiu's current age and spiritual power level, in fact, he can survive two or three days all night, but things have not been so severe yet.

The main pressure of the Zhongyuan Festival this time was concentrated on Lantern Mountain. Asakura Asami and others were standing in front of him. As long as I have more snacks on my side, I often stare at the movement around Tianmu Mountain. I think there is no big problem. . It's a big deal to stay up a few days and nights, and then take two more days to make up for sleep and get back to sleep.

Bai Shuiqiu secretly made up his mind.

The next day, the shrine opened for business as usual, and another group of guests came to pray for their ancestors.

Bai Shuiqiu had to step on the stage again as her own witch and presided over several sacrifices.

no way.

Other things in the shrine can be entrusted to Hyuga Asuka and others for help, but only things like praying for blessings and dancing Kagura must be made by Shirasuiqiu himself. After all, she is the only person who meets the requirement of "the maiden of her own position" in the entire Tenme Shrine.

——Chiyo is getting older, and since he got married decades ago, this old man can no longer serve as a witch. As for Shirasui Kazuto, this cheap father used to serve as a priest at Tenmou Shrine for several years, but he was only half-hearted. At best, he was to beat Chiyo. When it comes to business ability, it is far worse than the current Shirasuiqiu. Up.

Baishui Yuxia could be a candidate for her own witch.

But the little girl is still too young, and if she really wants to stay in such a small place as Narita City, and take on the responsibility of maintaining the shrine, I am afraid that married couples will not be very willing...

It was night in a blink of an eye.

According to custom, tonight is the day to put the river lantern.