And now, all that had happened to Wang Dali and the others was that they had been punished with a beating by the plank, and after recuperating for so ti, they were energetically bouncing around once again. When the villagers saw them, they would rember the disgusting things they had done and remind themselves not to cross Mo Family.
This was precisely the effect Mo Yan had intended to achieve when he orchestrated this drama!
In the blink of an eye, the sixth day of June arrived, and on this day, Mo Family’s new house would have its ridgepole raised. It was the first grand occasion for Mo Family since their flight to Jing City, and they gave it great importance.
Before the official ridge-raising ceremony, most of Liu Yang Village had turned up, because not only was there a spectacle to watch, but following the traditional custom after the ridge was raised, Mo Family would also distribute candy, stead buns, and other foods, an irresistible temptation for the villagers.
In Great Chu, the ridge-raising ceremony was a very solemn occasion. Even the average household would complete the five stages of the ritual—’worship of the ridgepole,’ ’raising of the ridgepole,’ ’receiving the bundle,’ ’throwing from the ridgepole,’ and ’honoring the master craftsman’—all to pray for a sturdy ho and a fulfilled life.
In front of the main house’s hall, an altar had been arranged. The altar was laden with offerings including incense, pigs, fish, chickens, geese, eggs, tofu, and more incense.
Before raising the ridgepole, worshipping the ridgepole was an essential procedure. Mo Qingze himself stepped forward and, along with Master Lv and the others, lifted the chief ridgepole, adorned with red paper, in front of the altar. Master Lv then presided over the worship of the ridgepole; he chanted the obscure sacrificial words with a solemn expression while holding a cup of wine in homage.
After the worship of the ridgepole was complete, the carpenters tied ropes around the chief ridgepole and had several n on the roof pull it up. At that mont, firecrackers burst into a cacophony of sound, and Master Lv on the roof sang the ridge-raising song, calling out, "Raise the ridgepole, great fortune and good luck!"
Once the chief ridgepole was securely in place, Mo Qingze, as the head of the household, placed the ’Five Grains Color Bag’—containing red dates, peanuts, rice, wheat, and evergreen plants—given by families in the village with good ties to his family, in the exact center of the ridgepole, and draped a red cloth over the ridge, symbolizing a bountiful harvest.
With the ridge-raising finished, it was then ti for ’receiving the bundle.’ Master Lv wrapped up fruits symbolizing good fortune with red cloth and, while uttering blessings, tossed the bundle into the large bamboo basket that Mo Qingze was holding with both hands, signifying the catching of treasures and a life of wealth and honor.
If one were to ntion the liveliest part of the entire ridge-raising ceremony, it would be the ’throwing from the ridgepole.’
Before ’throwing from the ridgepole’ even began, the villagers sward forward, eager to jostle for position; ’throwing from the ridgepole’ ant that Mo Family would toss candies, peanuts, stead buns, Copper Coins, and the like from atop the ridgepole, and whatever you caught was yours to keep.
Seeing so many people scramble and seize was very pleasing to Mo Yan, who was holding his siblings’ hands. The more people who scrambled, the more it indicated that his family would indeed be ’rolling in wealth.’
While there was no scientific basis for this, the essence of the ridge-raising ceremony was to seek auspiciousness and create a lively atmosphere, after all!
However, seeing people push and shove, occasionally knocking soone over, Mo Yan furrowed his brow and said to Mo Qingze, who had a ruddy complexion, "Father, let’s postpone the ’throwing from the ridgepole’ for now. Let’s separate these people by gender and age first. Otherwise, if any injuries occur in the crowd, it wouldn’t be good."
There were just too many people who had co, with even more pressing forward. While adults could manage sowhat, children were easily knocked down, and if anything untoward happened on such a day of celebration, it would be very inauspicious.
Upon seeing this, Mo Qingze imdiately understood Mo Yan’s concern and quickly called out to those at the very front, "Don’t push, everyone, please don’t push!"
As he spoke, he enlisted the help of Lin Yong and others standing to the side to help separate the villagers by gender and age.
Knowing Mo Family’s concerns and seeing the pressing crowd, the villagers, eager for the ’throwing from the ridgepole,’ cooperatively moved to their designated places.
The children were surrounded only by other children, making the scramble for items a fair match. They were overjoyed, thinking of Mo Family as great benefactors for being so considerate of the needs of the small children!
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