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Chapter 143 Painted Pottery
The end of the tribal meeting is a sign of the arrival of cold weather.

According to the old rules, from the day when the hunters returned, the members of the Dahe Tribe would stop all hunting and gathering activities, and live in caves until the weather warmed up, the ice and snow melted, and everything recovered.

This cold day is obviously different from the past.

They are about to hold an unprecedented ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven as half of the host!Except for the three big tribes, other tribes will send people to participate!

Last year, this was something they couldn't even imagine.

Everyone was very excited, and the clansmen who were selected to form the orchestra and dance troupe were even more uneasy. For the first time in their lives, they felt pressure from outside of survival.

The ancestors are watching from the sky, the music we play and dance, the ancestors can see clearly, what if we mess up?What if the ancestors don't like it?just in case……

Thinking that there are so many things that can never happen, they practice music and dance even more desperately.

Snow stopped.

White snow adorns the hilltops in the forest, dotted on the barren land.

The river gradually froze, and the ice was so thin that it would break when it was hit. When the men fetched water, they would bring back ice cubes and burn them on the fire. The process of ice turning into water was very miraculous to them. Water is naturally stronger than ordinary water. As for where it is stronger, no one can say clearly, but it is right anyway.

Of course, snow water is the strongest. When there is enough snow, snow water will replace ice water as the main source of water for the tribesmen.

After returning, Zhang Tian fired several kilns of pottery one after another. These were promised to be exchanged to other tribes. Later, because of the snow, they were forced to stop for a few days, and now they continue to build.

Today, pots, bottles, jars, urns, cauldrons, tripods and other daily-use utensils are still fired, but when making pottery blanks, Zhang Tian sent everyone some ocher and black flint.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, puzzled.

Zhang Tian said: "What we are making now is to hold food and offer sacrificial vessels to the sky and ancestors. Ancestors like rich colors. You use these stones to draw patterns on pottery blanks, and they will appear after firing. A different color than pottery."

Lin Yu knew that he was going to make painted pottery.

The earliest painted pottery was painted with natural mineral pigments. Red ochre and black manganese dioxide are common coloring elements. vivid colors.

Using painted pottery as a ritual vessel is the result of discussions between the two.

Sacrifice must have sacrifices, and sacrifices are nothing more than sacrifices, food, wine, blood and ritual vessels. Zhang Tian does not want to waste too many resources in the sacrificial ceremony. Drop it, it's really not necessary.

Considering that this sacrifice is both a sacrifice to heaven and ancestors, he decided to imitate the ancient rituals and follow the rituals of "recommending shame" and "receiving humiliation", that is, offering delicacies to the ancestors first, and then accepting the ancestors after eating them. The remaining gizzard meat can be divided and eaten, which can not only achieve the purpose of sacrifice, but also avoid extravagance and waste.

As a ritual vessel for worshiping ancestors, how can ordinary pottery reflect sincerity?

Painted pottery is the most suitable, and in the process of making painted pottery, it can also cultivate the aesthetic and creative abilities of the tribesmen.

Everyone is used to seeing pottery in pure colors, but they never thought that painting on pottery can be done, and they immediately became interested in it.

"Will you draw anything?"

"Draw whatever you want. We are the children of our ancestors. No matter what we paint, as long as we are sincere, our ancestors will like it."

Zhang Tian encouraged everyone to create freely, but he put forward a rigid requirement: "After the painting is finished, everyone must draw this symbol on the bottom of the pottery."

He drew three parallel horizontal lines on the ground with a branch, and asked, "Does anyone remember what this symbol stands for?"

Everyone stared at it for a while, feeling familiar, but couldn't remember it.

Xiao recognized it at a glance, and said loudly: "This is the Qian hexagram! It represents the sky!"

"That's right." Zhang Tian smiled, "Only by painting this symbol can our pottery reach the sky, and our ancestors who live in the sky can enjoy the food we worship."

Everyone suddenly realized, and immediately began to draw the Qian Gua representing the sky on the bottom of the pottery blank, and then began to draw the fetal body.

Men generally have no experience in painting. They scratched their heads and scratched their heads for a long time, but only drew some simple lines and shapes. Women have experience in engraving patterns on bamboo tubes, and the patterns they draw are relatively complex and have certain meanings. .

The children are more imaginative, and their masterpieces are very abstract. Anyway, Zhang Tian can't understand, but the children are confident. In their view, Brother Tian's incomprehension is due to his incomprehension ability. The omniscient ancestor must understand their intentions.

Regardless of beauty or ugliness, no matter whether it is meaningful or not, they are all put into the brick kiln for roasting.

This is also the concept that Zhang Tian wants to convey to the tribe. Sacrifice should be based on people's inner emotions, and material things are not that important.

He clearly told everyone that it is not allowed to pray to the sky during the sacrificial ceremony, because the sacrificial ceremony expresses the memory of the ancestors of the descendants, as well as the meaning of gratitude and filial piety.

Everyone looked eagerly at the kiln where the smoke was steaming, and asked Zhang Tian every few minutes if it was finished. It was the first time to make painted pottery, and everyone couldn't wait to know the result.

In the past, people had to hunt and gather in the mountains, and they usually burned the pottery before going out, and it was ready when they came back. Now they are at home with nothing to do, and the waiting time is extremely long.

Seeing this, Zhang Tian organized the music and dance troupe to continue the rehearsal, and arranged for those who did not participate in the rehearsal to polish and carve stone tools. Elaborate stone tools can also be used as ritual vessels, and since making them is more time-consuming and labor-intensive than pottery, he naturally has more intentions.

Everyone wants to show their hearts and scrambles to devote themselves to the production of stone tools. If there is something to do, they don't feel that the wait is too long.

It wasn't until sunset that Zhang Tian opened the kiln to take out the painted pottery after the kiln temperature dropped.

Everyone has been waiting to claim their masterpiece.

After roasting, the color and the body of the pottery are closely integrated and integrated. For the first time, stripes and patterns of different colors appear on the orange-red carcass. It may be the earliest painted pottery in the world!

People looked at their masterpieces, and they were so happy that they ran back to the cave to show and show off to Grandma.

The children were very happy and began to compare.

"My paintings are better than yours! The ancestors must have liked my pottery more!"

"Nonsense! As far as your broken painting is concerned, I can draw better than you with my feet, and my ancestors will look down on you!"

The arguing children turned to Brother Tian for judgment.

Zhang Tian said with a smile: "The ancestors don't look at whether your paintings are good or not, but mainly depends on whether you draw with your heart. Did you paint with your heart?"

"Of course!" the children said in unison.

"So every pottery here, the ancestors will like it!"

(End of this chapter)