There are two legendary explanations for the tradition of people wearing masks at Kazuto festivals:
The first legend is related to the royal family. It is said that the royal family of the Kingdom of the Moon cannot look directly at mortals, otherwise they will bleed to death. But in the past, there was a little prince who had lived in the palace for a long time and was very curious about the people. Every time during festivals, he would climb the walls of the palace to watch the brilliant fireworks from a distance. Seeing that his envious appearance was very pitiful, the prince's mother commissioned the skilled craftsmen in the palace to make a mask for him, so that he could blend in with the people and avoid leaving corpses everywhere around him.
The second legend is related to the rich culture of gods and ghosts in the Moon Country. Because human festivals are originally activities to pray to the gods and express thanks, it is said that the gods and various monsters will also come to participate on this day, and in order to prevent their identities from being discovered, they wear masks like this.
Because the royal family of the Kingdom of the Moon claim to be descendants of the Great Moon God, the two legends are generally not antagonistic but complementary. Although it is difficult to tell whether it is true or not, it has become a long-standing tradition that both adults and children wear masks to hide their true faces during festivals.
The firelight flickered on the roadside. At noon, the noisy procession was accompanied by the sound of drums and laughter. The shirtless young adults carried a heavy sedan to the shrine on the mountain. This was an activity called "Inviting the Gods" in the Kingdom of the Moon. After years of hard work, what they were doing was carrying the patron saint down from the mountain and walking around the village to let the god take a look at the village they were guarding.
Gongs and drums were beating continuously, the men in charge of carrying the sedan this year were shouting slogans, and the people in charge of vocal music were also working hard and enthusiastically. The children held the windmill and followed curiously as the adults played, while the vocal music came and went like this, from small to large and then from large to small again.
After several rounds of rounds, the sedan chair used as a platform for the gods will be placed in the center of the festival, and people from each household in the village will place their offerings to the gods. While the people in charge of tonight's entertainment began to set up the stage, the vendors set up mobile stalls next to them. The traveling merchants spread them out with coarse cloths, while the convoy of donkey-drawn carts that arrived later, It is to unfold the boards of the two-wheeled cart and use the cart as a display point.
Small but complete. Even in a village with only such a small population, it is still lively and lively when the festival is held.
According to the young shopkeeper who is staying temporarily, the reason why it is so lively is because the festival in this village is part of a larger festival nearby.
The festival here will last for seven or eight days. Because the village is closest to the shrine at the foot of the mountain, the first day of the celebration begins here.
After a day of touring, people from neighboring villages will come over to take the sedan and carry it to their village to continue the next round of celebrations, and so on. Because it is an annual celebration, nearby travelers and businesses will also come in an endless stream. From noon until evening, people continue to join this lively procession. In a short period of time, there were originally more than a hundred people. The number of people in the village has increased by more than three or four times.
Small stalls set up by craftsmen, merchants selling food and trinkets, performing artists, and various practitioners are lined up in rows. A huge bonfire was erected in the square next to the village, and nearby temporary camps of various sizes were also set up one by one.
These people will travel with the gods in their sedan chairs, trying to earn a full year or at least half a year's worth of silver in these few days of fun.
Along with spring, when all things are coming back to life, this vibrant festival symbolizes the beginning of a new year. Although the three Henrys who have experienced everything in Swamp Village have always found it difficult to enjoy it wholeheartedly, the people here seem to know nothing about what happened further north.
Since they didn't have a tent to carry, the three of them stayed at a small shop selling dumplings. The two-story Kazuto house is entirely made of wooden structure and paper doors and windows. Although I have some previous experience, when I walk into it, I can still feel that it is petite and narrow compared to the buildings in Rigar.
If the Luoan girl is like this, our Mr. Sage is even more so. Fortunately, the upper compartment led by the narrow stairs has its own terrace, and the second floor has a higher roof, so the overall experience is not too crowded.
The floors of Kazu people's houses are all covered with straw mats. They do not sleep on beds like the Rigar people, because the straw mats themselves are somewhat elastic and will not make the whole body sore from sleeping like wooden boards.
Then spread a layer of thick cloth made of cotton with padding on top, and it can become a sleeping room. When you wake up in the morning, roll it up and store it in the storage cabinet next to it, freeing up space so that the outside can be used as a living room.
This kind of small design details that utilize space are full of the aesthetics of the Moon Country. Together with many lifestyles, they constitute the unique exquisite life of this ancient country of more than 4,000 years.
"I still need to change my clothes. Do as the Romans do, so as not to be too high-profile." The three people staying in the hotel made this decision after talking. Cloaks and other things are also used by people, so the problem is not too big. Mira and Sakura are wearing men's clothes and they obviously don't fit. Even if they are indeed in the style of Moon Country, it is best to replace them.
The biggest problem comes from our Mr. Sage. His too tall physique makes the loose-fitting Moon Country costumes look like tights when worn. This requires some effort to find.
Changing their clothing to blend into the local environment can make them more or less low-key, even if their body shape and hair color are difficult to conceal.
Rigal's aesthetic style is completely opposite to that of the Moon Country. Because of this, their original clothes can still be retained.
The clothing and armor of the east and west coasts, especially the Padrosi Empire, place great emphasis on body curves - tight pantyhose and a strongly waisted upper body. The coats favored by nobles are often accompanied by a series of cuff buttons to make the forearms slim. Perfect fit.
The people of the Moon Country go to the other extreme. Even their clothes for children have sleeves that are thick enough to accommodate an adult's thighs. They are designed entirely based on the idea of completely covering the curves and contours of the body.
For this reason, women disguising themselves as men is very popular in this country and can be easily done. In the case of Henry and Mira, they can also wear their original tight-fitting clothes and armor inside, and then cover them with Moon Country clothes on the outside.
However, it is still in the north and it is still early spring. Although all this is passable, when the weather gets warmer, wearing this will inevitably lead to overheating. But there is a trick, and for now, this kind of equipment can work. So after sorting out some money, Mira and Sakura went to the street, planning to go to a clothing merchant to buy some suitable clothes.
They both left their weapons in the house. The Luoan girl wearing a fox mask and the oiran with short hair started shopping side by side, while Henry opened the paper-wood structure door and sat in front of the terrace. , picked up the small charcoal stove that the young shopkeeper had brought to them before.
The charcoal burned with a dark red light in a square charcoal stove made of rough clay, and a square paper lantern cast an orange light in a corner of the room. Henry placed the teapot made of purple sand on the iron bar support of the charcoal stove, letting the water in the pot be slowly heated, and at the same time looked outside.
The moon at the beginning of March is still not very round, perhaps because it is related to the name of the country. The country of the moon has many adjectives for the moon. For example, this pointed crescent moon is usually called "Mika Zuqi", and with it There is also an endless stream of related poems and phrases.
In the quiet night, bustling crowds of people walked below, and the outline of a continuous field and mountains under the blue moonlight in the distance was clearly visible. It's a sunny day tonight, and just as Henry was thinking this, the charcoal stove suddenly made a slight "sizzling" sound. It was because the water was boiling and a little more was added.
"Is that how it is done?" He took out the small bamboo tube given by the young shopkeeper. After hearing the sage ask if there was any pine needle tea or the like, the shopkeeper sold him this for two copper plates.
This is tea produced in the country of the moon. Unlike the green tea that people in Rigar love to drink, the tea here is dried.
The tea leaves placed in the small bamboo tube have shrunk due to drying, and show a thick dark green color in the moonlight. Henry followed the shopkeeper's instructions, took out a bamboo sieve and put the tea leaves on a special stoneware basin, then poured the water from the boiled teapot on it and passed it through once.
Then put the sieve on the stoneware cup without a handle, pour boiling water through the tea leaves, and soak them, causing the dark tea to flow in the cup and emit hot mist in the air.
"It's begun, it's begun!" The children downstairs were so excited that they danced and shouted, but as soon as he finished speaking, several red light spots suddenly shot out into the sky with a "whoosh" sound in the distance. Then after reaching a certain height, colorful fireworks burst out with a "bang" sound.
The Luoan girl wearing a mask and holding food in her mouth turned her head and looked at the fireworks with Sakura. The merchants shouted vigorously, and the shrine maidens who were the first stop of the festival were dancing neatly in front of the mikoshi. Dance.
Wearing a snow-white top, red bottoms, and long black hair, her dancing to the gods is very moving. The drums beat one after another, the fireworks come one after another, and people cheer continuously.
"It's time to go back, everything has been bought." The oiran glanced at the white-haired girl wearing a fox mask next to him, and spoke slowly to take care of her hearing.
"I still want to eat." But Mira shook her head.
"Huh--" The torch was raised.
"One, two, lift it up!" The shirtless men in fine clothes gathered together again and lifted up the shrine. The drums kept beating, and the last round of fireworks rose into the sky under the watchful eyes of everyone.
The village, which had gathered about seven to eight hundred people, was bustling with activity. Henry, who was sitting alone on the terrace of the hut, glanced at the crowd of people playing below and took a sip of the oolong tea that was a little too hot.
"oh--"
"good."
