Lv Renjie
Humen is a mountain and a legend. This mountain range that belongs to Jinan outlines the past of the village with its rich and plump trees. Crossing the winding mountain road and heading south, we will reach the village guarding Humen. It was a harsh winter, and looking out into the distance along the mountain villages, trees, reeds, and villages were surrounded by pure white clouds.
In the past, this mountain was called Baihumen, ten kilometers southeast of Caishi, people living in this land enjoyed thousands of acres of natural oxygen bars and natural springs, and the stone house roofs sheltered them from the wind and rain, and multiplied in the forest with the most simple rural lifestyle. Men and women they give birth to lovely children, and people have lived here for generations. The natural fruits in the ditch nourish the people in the mountains, and the spring water that knocks down the well flows slowly into the cave, clear to the bottom, the big hole is like a guangsha, the small hole is like a cat's ear, and the drop of pearl-like spring water nourishes every stone of Humen Mountain, which is the legendary tiger's nest, the length of the cave is about thirty meters.
I stood at the mouth of the cave, looking inside, my eyes were frozen by the cold wind, it seemed to emit a threatening momentum like a tiger, I imagined the appearance of the tiger, I wanted to see the king of the tiger's head in the cave, it showed sharp teeth when it opened its mouth, at this time the image of the tiger was just my imagination, but there was no tiger appearance, but just an ordinary cave. The cave is full of mystery, I always want to explore, here was the past, touch the rocks in the cave, very much want to see the weathered tiger hair on the rock many years ago, looking for a trace left by the tiger, and at this time there is no tiger's breath, nor the majesty of the tiger, touching the rock, only a trace of coolness.
Standing here, if we extend our line of sight indefinitely, we can have a panoramic view of the eight major landscapes of Humen Mountain: Skimming Stone Cliff, Big Shade, Little Shade, Little Buddha Yu, Hollow Mountain, Moving Down Well, Three Eyes, Tiger's Nest, depicting a mountain pastoral life map.
It is necessary to acknowledge that there are many protective legends in history, and those beautiful stories constitute the origin of history, so that future generations can understand its ancient history. Passed down from generation to generation through word of mouth. This kind of dictation makes up for the lack of written records. In the past era, people, things, places and things trace the history of ethnic groups in an individual way, and present geographical space, humanistic pulse and collective memory with individual unique examinations. Standing in front of the tiger's den, not for tourism but for a cultural and geographical archaeology. Humen is not only a place name, its legend and the blood connection of the village, through the performance of the geographical edge, we find a way to Humen Mountain to find history.
I heard a friend tell me this legend, and with the sound of the narration, I entered the past history. "A long time ago, the people living in Baihugou moved out of this place because of the white tiger's entry and exit, hurting people, and merged Dongshan Village and Xishan Village to become the current Humen Village. The mountain village is sparsely populated and full of trees, and the looming caves have become a place where many wild beasts are found, which often harm the people and livestock in the village, and the villagers complain. This matter was known to the mountain god, and he could not bear to let people be invaded by wild beasts anymore, so he merged the eastern and western villages and sent the tiger god to bless them. The tiger hid in the tiger cave during the day, and came out at night to patrol the hill, its breath drifted around with the night wind, the beast hidden in the distance, smelled this smell, knew that the mountain king was guarding the village, frightened and did not dare to come out, nor did he dare to invade the people and things in the village, and the village was safe and sound from then on. In order to commemorate the public virtue of the tiger god, the village was renamed Humen Village. ”
Through the Tiger Cave, there is the Hidden Dragon Palace on the Hollow Mountain. Among the four sacred beasts, the one that can be compared with the dragon is the white tiger, among the hundred beasts, it is a yang divine beast, and "cloud from the dragon, wind from the tiger" are the two fierce divine beasts that surrender the monster in the legend. The original name of this mountain was Spotted Dove Yu, dark green as a green dragon, because there is a dragon palace hidden in the mountain, and people nearby have the saying of "green dragon pressing white tiger", so the mountain is named Qinglongyu. Walking through the mountains, the red tile houses are twinkling like flames, and the white cooking smoke is dotted among them, as if seeing a green dragon and a white tiger in the mountain totem. People are afraid of it, but they revere it as a mountain god.
That year, I went to Humen Primary School to donate books, and I accidentally saw an old man at the door with several pairs of tiger head shoes, yellow uppers, red shoe ropes, with golden bells on the tiger's head, embroidered tiger eyes that looked bright and energetic, eyebrows, nose, and tiger mouth exaggerated to show the mighty tiger. It is popular in the village to give children a first birthday, also called "grabbing the birthday", on the birthday of the child to wear tiger head shoes, hope that the child looks like a tiger, pray for the child to eliminate disasters and blessings. In fact, the more important reason is that the tiger head shoes are wide, the soles of the shoes are comfortable, the children learn to walk more down-to-earth and more stable, and they also hope that the children will stand up to the sky in the future. Until now, the old people in the village still have dolls who can drive away diseases and ward off evil spirits as long as they wear tiger shoes. In the village, these seemingly bizarre myths have been passed down from generation to generation, and the tiger has become the protector of the child, but also from the mother's love.
From the White Tiger Gate to the Tiger Gate, the difference between Bai and The Tiger is only one word, which is not only a word difference, but different geographical backgrounds, changes in people and things that occur, and even the dialects are slightly different, which has produced a special regional culture.
Humen is a gate and a cultural symbol of the village. Whenever the year gets closer and closer, the villagers who return home will think of this gate, and when they see two old locust trees that have gone through vicissitudes guarding the village, there is a special sense of closeness and the warmth of home, and they enter the door. Chinese New Year's Eve night, people light hay at the door of the house, the warmth of the fire dispels the cold of the winter night, bringing the breath of the New Year, then the burned hay ash is sprinkled into the door, close the door, and invite the deceased ancestors to go home for the New Year. The cold wind blew up the hay, as if the footsteps of the ancestors rushed to their homes to reunite with their loved ones. The tribute table was set up, the small wine cup was filled with wine, and on this special night, we were reunited with our families.
When I walked outside the village, I saw the old man holding a toddler in his hand, he was walking home in tiger shoes, the Year of the Tiger was coming, in this village with tiger characters, people's daily lives also appeared in the image of tigers from time to time, and the tiger character became the cultural symbol of this village, and people were proud of it.
The ancient village of Wenjie