The way to celebrate the mountain festival

Every year, on the sixth day of the third lunar month, every household in the village collects money to buy chickens and sheep for slaughter before going to the sacred mountain or temple in the village as a carving room. Every August 15, a mountain festival hosted by religious wizards is held in Apollo Tibetan area in Wenxian County, southern Gansu Province. Cattle are slaughtered every day to sacrifice to mountain gods. After the sacrifice, the whole village shared beef and begged for happiness.

Every year, on the sixth day of the third lunar month, every household in the village will chip in to buy some chickens and sheep for slaughter, and then go to the holy mountain in the village or serve as a temple carving room. The worship of mountain gods must be presided over by religious wizards. A well-built stone pile represents the mountain god, also known as the "Mountain Bodhisattva". This kind of stone pile is generally about two meters high, and the top layer is piled with white stones. The Tibetan Mountain Sacrifice in Miaoding usually takes the family as the unit, while the Tibetan Mountain Sacrifice in Wulabao is a religious sacrifice held in the whole village.

After the collective worship activities, couples who have been childless for many years after marriage should prepare special sacrifices, pray and make wishes to the mountain gods and beg for children. The mountain festival on the sixth day of March is also considered as an auspicious day for women to move from their parents' homes to their in-laws after marriage. Miaoding Tibetans believe that mountain gods have the function of reproduction and prosperity. Pleasing it can not only ensure a bumper harvest of material production, but also ensure the prosperity of the family. After the sacrifice of the mountain gods, from March to October in the lunar calendar, and before the harvest, no one is allowed to go into the mountains to collect firewood and shoot pigs, otherwise it will offend the mountain gods and punish people with hail and drought. Behind the old Oubao and Miaodingbao villages, a large area of sacred mountain is reserved, and a public cemetery is arranged near the sacred mountain. The sacred mountain belongs to the whole village. Because it is the mountain god, it is forbidden to cut down trees and cut grass and graze on the mountain god.

On February 1 1, there was also a large-scale mountain worship festival in Caopogezhai Village, Wenchuan, Jiarong. In the festival of mountain gods, the main purpose is to pray for mountain gods to bless the harvest of crops. When offering sacrifices to mountain gods, cypress branches and pepper branches are tied into a bundle, and the lower ends are divided into three forks and placed on the ground. There is a paper sutra printed in the fork, that is, a dragon, and 49 square firewood blocks are piled on each corner of the paper. In front of the branches, the sun, moon and stars made of highland barley flour are displayed, and two sheep are enshrined. Slates are placed next to the branches, five bundles of cypress branches (about two inches) are placed in the middle, and 25 highland barley dough and candy are placed on both sides. Small plates made of highland barley flour are arranged in five rows, symbolizing the number of "five elements". Then the Lama chanted scriptures, fiddled with the organ, lit cypress branches, and threw the displayed offerings from top to bottom, from left to right (highland barley dough first, cypress branches second, candy platter second) into the fire. Then take a pepper branch, hang it with decals, and take a little burnt ash with you. Pepper branches are inserted in the ground. Don't eat or smoke the next morning, quietly withdraw the ashes in the ground to avoid pests.

In mid-March or April 15, after sowing, Tibetans in Jinchuan and Sichuan also went up the mountain to worship the mountain gods and "smoke cigarettes". Before the festival, every household in each village should divide half a liter of grain in advance, with walnut shells as one liter, make one liter and one stone, measure five-color grain for the mountain gods, and scatter it on the mountains as food for the mountain gods. At the same time, it is smoked with cypress branches to eliminate pests and diseases. And put some sheep, pigs and chickens on the mountain, or keep them at home without killing them. The mountain also began to close, smoking and killing sheep and chickens to worship the mountain god. The Lama chanted and worshipped the mountain gods, and lit a kilo or two of butter lamps. Cutting wood, logs and burning charcoal are prohibited in the future. Kill a pig. If you commit a crime, there will be a snowstorm, and lamas will plant flags in the mountains. Carve a mantra with wood, put rapeseed on rosin, and face the direction of the storm. In order to prevent the storm, rapeseed will jump around in your hand, which can repel the gale and hail. In addition to smoking in the mountains, you can recite scriptures at home for a day. Don't bring white things up the mountain this holiday. The stripped branches have been cut down and covered with branches and leaves. Closing hillsides can be seen everywhere, on the first day, the twelfth day and the fifteenth day of March and April. After closing the mountain, the mountain was not "cut" until the autumn harvest. Each family still gives a handful of grains to the mountain god, and measures five-color grains in small cups to serve the mountain god.

August15th is a Tibetan mountain festival in Apollo, Wenxian County, southern Gansu Province. On this day, all villages will kill cows to sacrifice to mountain gods, and all parties will kill cows to sacrifice to mountain gods every three years. At that time, every household will collect food, money, wine and food, and Gaba will build a two-foot-high, long-horned god "Sodom at an oblique angle". God is dressed in paper, and there are many paper-cut sheep and chickens in its four corners. After Gaba recited the scriptures, a man in a sheepskin vest walked around the house three times with Sodom's chickens, sheep and scissors. Then, Gaba recited a spell in front, and everyone shouted behind, sending Domagon to the holy mountain. In front of the holy mountain, after the sacrifice of cattle, the whole village shared beef and begged for happiness.