Chapter 7 Chapter Seven: The Mysterious Old Man Praying for Rain in the Rainy Season

It seems unreasonable to hold a rain praying ceremony during the rainy season, but on the other hand, if you don't practice well and wait until the dry season to pray for rain, you will not be able to succeed if you are not perfect. Therefore, it is reasonable to pray for rain in the rainy season. Also, since the dry season is called the dry season, it is normal to have no rain, and praying for rain is superfluous. For example, if you want to see bears temporarily in winter, don’t expect to find them in the forest, because the bears in the forest are all digging holes to hide and hibernate. , If you really want to see it, you have to go to the circus to watch the insomniac bear step on the dragon ball.If you don't pray for rain in the rainy season, you will miss praying for rain

substantive meaning. Therefore, it is reasonable to pray for rain in the rainy season. Furthermore, if tourists pay to watch the rain praying ceremony during the dry season, they will definitely not be able to wait for the rain. Not to mention the fact that the tourists can't hide their disappointment and anger of "Damn it! I've been cheated!", and the priests who held the rain praying ceremony also felt that their faces were dull and their national self-confidence was low. Therefore, praying for rain in the rainy season is very reasonable. Having figured out the above three points, I came to a certain tribe with Jim on a cloudy day with a cheerful mood.

Jim found five old people who are good at praying for rain in the rainy season in two or three times. Seeing how they recommended themselves desperately, and even swearing at the rain praying technique used by the other party (of course Jim translated it to me), I couldn't help it Asked about the price of the rain praying ceremony. "Thirty guilders a rain," said Jim, adding: "If you pay fifty guilders, you can see heavy rain." I laughed, it has been raining heavily these past few afternoons, when will it be light rain? "Well, the five of them come together, and I will pay one hundred and fifty guilders. I want to see the very, very heavy rain." I said.

But after Jim translated my words, the five old people shook their hands quickly and said a few words with solemn expressions. Jim explained that those old people are not willing to create a big flood to endanger the whole village for a little money, that is a disaster. At this time, I felt quite guilty. Although I was having fun (adding 150 guilders is really a small amount), I behaved like a self-righteous nouveau riche, completely ignoring the professionalism of those old men who prayed for rain. "Okay, then I'll pay fifty guilders, and the old man will execute it." I pointed to an old man who seemed to be the oldest. Silly and kindly intimacy.

The rest of the old people who failed the election had no choice but to walk away disappointed, spitting while walking to vent their anger. Next, there is the restricted-level rain praying ceremony. It is said to be restricted because we want to slaughter animals and sacrifice elves. Just to clarify, the religion of Gambia belongs to animism in the division of anthropology. All kinds of natural phenomena are controlled by all kinds of elves. These elves are not supreme and irresistible gods, but a kind of "Anthropomorphic spirits with preferences" are very close to people, such as the Chinese tree gods, stone gods, and Hebo, or humanoid spirits transformed from animals, such as Bai Susu in The Legend of the White Snake, and Liao Zhai fox fairy.These are all available in Gambia!

Animism mythologizes many things around humans, but anthropology generally does not refer to animism as a form of "religion" but rather as "witchcraft."Why is this?Is the animistic belief of primitive tribes not qualified to be called a religion, but can only be reduced to weird witchcraft? No, it's not, it's a matter of definition. In the definition of "religion", the positioning of "God's well-being" is relatively high, so high that "human beings cannot change the intention of God's well-being through any methods or rituals", such as the Lutheran doctrine of election, or as large as the entire Christian religion. Civilization, Traditional Buddhism.

That is to say, as long as the "god" in the belief system can understand what the "god" is thinking through human methods such as "burning paper money", "bye-bye", and "throwing rice", and even change the will of the god to conform to it. According to the actual needs of the worshipers, this "god" is actually very inferior, and is actually controlled by the worshipers. Under this definition, the ritual of praying for rain, which is an exchange contract with the gods to achieve the goal, is of course also a kind of witchcraft. I think this kind of definition has something to do with the fact that the headquarters of anthropology are located in Western countries that believe in Christian civilization. They always flatter themselves without forgetting to mislead others.

The class is over, now back to the restricted rain ceremony. I'm going to be forced to kill a calf. "No? Must I do it?" I was stunned, looking into the calf's intelligent eyes. The calf was very thin, almost a wild cat with horns, trembling all over, as if it had foreseen the bloody fate that awaited. Just because of the curiosity of a dead tourist. "Yes, this action must be performed by the person who asked for the rain, but because the heavy rain fell on the land of the whole village, the sacrificed calf belongs to the whole village in the end, not you, so it can't be regarded as your killing. Mavericks." Jim explained, seeming to see that I didn't want to kill a calf.

But if the calf dies, how can it be said that it has nothing to do with me? "Oh my god, can I take back my request to pray for rain? I'll pay the money." I sighed, unable to do anything at all. "Then I suggest that it is enough to hold a light rain ceremony that only costs 30 guilders, so that you don't have to kill the calf." Jim said. Truly an understanding guide. "I didn't say it earlier, but what is the Xiaoyu ceremony going to kill?" I breathed a sigh of relief. "Kill the bumps," Jim said, and spent some time fidgeting, trying to explain to me what bumps were.

"Forget it, let's kill the oil lump." I don't understand, but it's better to kill the oil lump than kill the calf, right? Although I have regretted it too late, it is hard to get off at this time. So, the old man slowly took out a small bucket from home, and then used a small shovel to dig out a strange thing that looked like a combination of a snail and a starfish. It crawled slowly, and its tentacles continued to expand. I know what you're thinking, but I must say, it's not a simian, and it's not a mutated snail.Not at all like that. Huh, anyway, I finally breathed a sigh of relief after making sure he wasn't a mammal.When human beings face moral problems, there will always be some seemingly correct moral outlets in order to relieve their guilt.

"How to kill?" I asked. "Whatever." Jim made a gesture that it would be right to cut it down. When I picked up the knife and was about to chop off Youda's head, suddenly and by coincidence, the sky began to drizzle. It is really a coincidence that it is not covered in disorder. After all, the dark clouds have accumulated so thickly that it is not surprising even if the heavy rain pours down in one breath. At this time, I felt embarrassed for the old man praying for rain and even Jim. After all, it started to rain before the rain praying ceremony. But there was no embarrassment on the faces of the old man and Jim, they were just waiting for me to make a move. "Go! Inazhong Billiards Club!" I chopped it off with a knife, and chopped it several times. I always feel that reducing the struggle is definitely a good thing, so I hardly hesitated from the second cut, and the first cut was more straightforward than the first cut.Even though the oil bumps really don't seem like painful things, being cut into scum is not something worth remembering. The old man hummed a flat-toned song, took out a few strange-looking and slightly colored pebbles, and slowly placed them near Youba’s corpse in accordance with a seemingly well-thought-out philosophy. Within ten minutes of coming down, Jim and I jumped up and down with the old man in the heavy rain, and continued to pray for rain in the heavy rain. Jump clockwise, and then the old man will bend down and move the stone, as if making adjustments, and after each adjustment, it will change from clockwise to counterclockwise, then adjust again, and clockwise again.On and on, completely unaffected by the fact that it was already raining. "What a people of courage and determination." I secretly admired it, guessing that the old man may be adjusting the arrangement of the stones to control the length of time for the heavy rain to fall. Seeing his confident appearance, I am very happy for him. At this time, I remembered a hilarious experience in the interesting anti-bone anthropological masterpiece "The Naive Anthropologist". When they took out the most critical tool of the rain praying ceremony: "a few mysterious stones inlaid with rainbow colors inside", the researchers were surprised that those stones were just a few "transparent marbles".The slash on the researcher's face can be imagined. I was sure that the few pebbles placed by the old man praying for rain in front of me were not marbles, and I couldn't help but feel relieved to avoid embarrassing situations. After a long time, the old man entered the house, took out a handful of spices, sprinkled it on the body of Youba, and lit it on fire. Surprisingly, the oily corpse burned very well in the heavy rain, and it was not affected by the heavy rain at all.I think there must be very tall and fat oil stains on the body of this special monster, plus special spices, so the fire burns more and more intensely. The smell of burning oily body was so bad that I couldn't help frowning. The old man who looked exactly like Grandpa Chibi Maruko noticed my expression, so he announced the end of the ceremony very humanely. We went into the old man's house and waited for the rain to stop. Jim took out a coarse cloth and asked me to wipe my body. The old man sat quietly under the eaves smoking tobacco and ignored us. According to the usual practice, the heavy rain will last for at least another hour. Jim and I dried off our bodies, sat next to the old man under the eaves, and begged for some tobacco to smoke. I didn't hesitate, although I only smoked secretly once in the alley when I was a child in the country. At that time, I was choked and coughed continuously, and my throat was inflamed after returning home.I have never had a good opinion of cigarettes. "But this is Gambia." I happily took the tobacco. It rained heavily.