Jingchuan is the birthplace of the Queen Mother of the West, and the folk customs of the ancient Queen Mother of the West are widely spread in Jingchuan area, and caves are one of them. Shan Hai Jing? "Wild West Sutra" says, "Some people are named Dai Sheng, and they are called the Queen Mother of the West". It is conceivable that before the deification of the Queen Mother of the West, the tribal chiefs who were half-man, half-beast were in the primitive desert era and could only live in caves. At the foot of Yaochi Cliff on the right side of Jingchuan Mountain, there are still the remains of ancient caves, which is the inheritance and development of "caves" and a long historical record of Jingchuan ancestors who dug holes in this unique yellow land to live, work, multiply, survive and develop for generations in order to keep out the cold and shelter from the wind. Cave dwellings have played an important role in the social development and human civilization of the Yellow River Basin.
Jingchuan loess is deep, with agriculture as the county and a long history. To develop agriculture, we must settle down. Because farming is limited by weather and space, we can live and work in peace and contentment, and caves are also branded with the imprint of farming civilization. From ancient times to the present, people living in Jingchuan land live in peace with the mountains, rivers, terraces and cape on this yellow land. Loess kilns and caves have formed an inseparable fate with people year after year, which is also a proof of the evolution and extension of the "cave land" which is inextricably linked with the folk culture of the Western Queen Mother.
The loess layer in Jingchuan is as deep as100-200m. This deep and soft loess layer has become the only choice for ancestors to live in. According to the circumstantial evidence of unearthed cultural relics, there were traces of human activities in Jinghechuan and Heihe 3000 ~ 65438+ 10,000 years ago, such as the "skull fossil of Jingchuan Homo sapiens" unearthed in Niujiaogou (Jinghechuan Road) in Jinghechuan Township, and a number of Neolithic stone axes unearthed in Heihechuan District, Shangliang Village and Qianjiagou Village in Lianghe Township. It shows that Jingchuan ancestors should not only choose places with thick loess, shelter from the wind and warm water to live and settle down, but also carry out primitive primary farming, create tools and survive. Jingchuan has high temperature, strong light and fast plant growth. In particular, there are rivers and waters in Sichuan, and the ancestors first dug kilns and built villages in Sichuan along the mountains and rivers to settle down and live. It is snowy and cold in winter and spring in Jingchuan, so the cave is dug by the north mountain to avoid the wind and the sun. At the mountain root or hillside platform, dig a cliff face vertically and dig three kilns at equal intervals. The flat place is the courtyard, or open the courtyard wall or install the gate, which is flat and flat. This is Zhuang Ming. This kind of cave dwelling is well known and common in Sichuan, mountainous areas and villages near terraces and ditches.
Zhuangming is built on high cliffs and dry terrain, but it must be close to rivers and streams, so drinking water is very convenient. "Zhuangzi by the tableland" or "Zhuangzi by the ditch" must be built near ditches or springs. Dig the cliff face vertically with the sunny high cliff first, then dig three or five earth kilns on average according to the cliff face and yard size, and dig the height, length, width and length of the hole with soil stalks at one time; If the soil is too wet, dig a little first and live here. After three to five years, the soil is basically dry, and then deep holes are dug and reshaped. The number of kilns to be dug depends on the site size and soil quality. Cave dwellings in Zhuang Ming are generally 3-4m high, 5-6m deep and 3-4m wide. Dry and hard soil can increase the height, width and depth, and it is firm and practical. The two sides of the kiln must be equidistant and parallel, and the top of the kiln is semicircular arch, so the supporting strength is stable. The excavated soft soil is beaten into adobe, dried in the sun, and the kiln shoulder is built. According to the size of the kiln mouth, doors and windows are installed to make a heatable kang. Some even put the heatable adobe sleeping platform in a kiln, and dug a small kiln as wide as heatable adobe sleeping platform, that is, heatable adobe sleeping platform. Putting a heatable adobe sleeping platform in a heatable adobe sleeping platform kiln is particularly warm in winter, but if a big man wants to stand up on the heatable adobe sleeping platform, he will meet again. This kang kiln can increase the width of the cave. Zhuangzi, a cave dwelling, is the "home" of several generations.
Zhuang Mingjian was easily unearthed, and when digging, he dumped the soil under the mountain or in the ditch; Drainage is smooth, and the water diversion channel is changed to along the river or along the ravine. Zhuang Ming is open, sunny and dry. As the saying goes, "Earth kilns are like Shenxian Cave, which is warm in winter and cool in summer". This "Zhuang Ming" was established one after another, forming one village after another. Jinghechuan, from Zhujiajian Island, Zhang Cun, Shanglei and Wanyan villages in Wangcun, to Yangpo Village, Shuiquansi Village, Lanjiashan Village, Dongan Village, Fenghuang Village and Jiangjia Village in Luohandong Township, and then to Zhangbamiao Village, Zhang Yao Village and Jingjia Village in Jingming Township, on the platform of Beishangen or hillside, there are Zhuang Ming earth kilns and earth frames everywhere. Heihe River Road, from Qixianguan to Qianjiagou Village, Lianghe Township, is a village-wide and uninhabited cave at the foot of Beishan Mountain or halfway up the mountain. This Sichuan road was civilized a long time ago, but now it is too far from the bustling place, showing the backwardness and desolation of ancient times. Most people have moved to Dayuan or other places, leaving behind ancient black earth caves and ancient Zhuang names and place names.
The population of the past dynasties has greatly increased and the livelihood is not enough. A large number of people migrated to Yuan Shang and mountainous areas. The ancestors of Jingchuan cherished cultivated land very much. They cherish this land more than today. They let the plateau grow grain in a large area, and a large number of people concentrated on digging kilns to build villages. They lived on the plateau (there must be water in the ditch) and built villages near the plateau and ditch, which formed today's plateau and ditch. This kind of tableland village and ditch village can still be seen completely in Jingchuan. For example, Dang Zhang Cun, Wudong Village, Xiwu Village and Dingzhai Village in Dangyuan Township, Liuzhai Village and Gaoya Village in Hedao Township, Yinjiawa Village, Majian Village, Wangzhai Village, Berlin Village, Baiqi Village, Wuzhu cun Village, Xitouwang Village, Jiaojia Village and Jianbian Village in Fengtai Township, Hujiayu Village and Dongpo Village in Gaoping Township of South Plateau, and Dongjiayun Village in Feiyun Township.
The population of Jingchuan and tableland is growing, and the contradiction between population and land is becoming increasingly prominent. A large number of people moved to the wild mountains and opened up new living areas. First of all, I dug a kiln for a living and cultivated land for a living in Yang Shan. This began the great project of digging mountains by Jingchuan ancestors for thousands of years, which was a great invention of Jingchuan ancestors. Thousands of years ago, the backward social environment, primitive and clumsy tools, and the ravages of nature, our ancestors have been ploughing mountains for generations. It was they who dug all the barren hills on the mountains, ditches, depressions, headlands and beams of the four tablelands in Jingchuan and the three rivers in Sanchuan into terraces, fields and crops, and dug them in the kiln. They have been working hard for generations and never stopped. This is a world-class soil improvement project initiated by Jingchuan ancestors, which is a great contribution to the immortal interests of our ancestors for generations. Show your eyes. The terraces on any mountain in Jingchuan are flat and tidy, which makes people all fascinated and amazed. This is a great human miracle in the yellow land of Jingchuan. Shan Ye in Jingchuan is printed with the industrious and simple folk customs of our ancestors and the footprints of transforming nature and creating human civilization. Terraces of Zhuangzi earth kilns in these mountains can be seen everywhere in Jingchuan today. Today's land reclamation is the follow-up of Jingchuan ancestors digging mountains and fields.
There are four tablelands in Jingchuan, Dikeng Village, which is a typical fully enclosed residence. Dig a square flat pit on the plain, generally 8- 10 meters deep, or square or rectangular, depending on the terrain and waterway. While digging a hole, dig a row of cliff walls with drainage waves with a special shovel head. Dig three kilns in the front, the middle is bigger than the sides. When building the kiln shoulder, press the lower door and window, and a high window will be opened from the top of the door to the top of the kiln for ventilation. Generally, the windows of the kiln where people live are very high. If you are loading grain or cooking stoves, you must open two high windows, one is ventilated and breathable, and the other is open in summer and does not regain moisture. Dig two kilns on both sides, symmetrical on both sides, to live, grind, raise cattle and put farm tools. A well must be drilled in the middle of the side kiln. Because Yuan Shang is too far away from the ditch, the wells are generally sixty or seventy meters deep. Turn the crank roller to wind the long well rope and lift the water. Above the well, ordinary farmers also have a memorial tablet of Xiao Mu, the "God of Jing Quan Dragon King", who worships at 4: 00 and 8: 00 every year and burns incense to show his respect. Draught is the top priority in life. It is an ancient folk custom that people in water-deficient areas put water and rainwater on gods to worship the dragon king in the well. A seepage pit must be dug in the center of the underground courtyard, and the accumulated water in the courtyard will seep into the ground through the seepage pit in rainy days. Several small kilns were dug in the lower room and corner to raise pigs and chickens and make toilets. When the pit reaches the water level, dig a turning roadway with a slope of 50-60 degrees at the corner of the pit, and install a gate at the 90-degree corner of the roadway. Generally, Zhuangzi also digs a rotary kiln next to the gate. Because of the unrest in the old society, there were many bandits. If there are bad guys trying to rob the village, grind the grain wheel on the back of the cliff and roll down from the mouth of the roadway. With the momentum of inertia, they will burst the gate at once. In addition, as soon as there is any movement, the wife in the village immediately hides in the small rotary kiln next to the gate and is processed by the camera. There is generally a small fence with a height of 1- 1.5 meters above the pit in the pit village, which can prevent people and animals from falling into the pit; Second, it can prevent wind and dust from being caught in the pit, and rainwater cannot flow into the pit; Third, it plays a defensive role. In the old society, most poor families in Yuan Shang lived in pits like Zhuangzi, because they couldn't afford bricks to build houses. It is characterized by a pit, safety, warm in winter and cool in summer, and a single house. However, the construction of this pit village is time-consuming and laborious. Every time a shovel is dug, people have to use a small back bucket, and a back bucket comes up from the back of the roadway and falls to the level of the pit. It will take many years to build a Zhuangzi and dig caves the size of the surrounding area, and the soil on the back will be enough to pour down a small earthen mountain. Before liberation, most wealthy families built quadrangles on the plain with tile roofs around them, but digging a pit in the middle of the courtyard and digging a turning roadway up and down would make the roadway safe. Vegetables, soft goods and wives are generally in the pit, and outsiders are not allowed to into the pit at will. General visitors and foreign affairs receptions are placed in the upper rooms and wing rooms of quadrangles. Tourists also walk through the tunnel from the pit, eat bowls of dishes and entertain them in the living room. Crops are generally ground and dried in the north field of Kengya or outside the gate. The grain is packed in black wool woven bags (the bags are long, usually packed in five buckets and two hundred catties), carried on the shoulders, got down the roadway, and stored in the grain depot in the kiln for classified storage. There are more than 500 pit villages preserved in Jingchuan.
Half-bright and half-dark villages are more common in the tableland, ditch-side villages in Jingchuan tableland area, or on both sides of Dalu Hutong. This kind of Zhuangzi is backed by a high capping beam, which is dug below, and then a shallow and narrow pit of 1.5-2 meters is taken at the cliff root, and three earth kilns are dug at the front. The first half of the upper surface is a flat courtyard, which is not too steep up and down the ramp. Some built three rooms on the edge of the flat courtyard, or did not repair them. The upper half of the circle was fenced with earth and the door was installed. Outside the door are fields or vegetable fields. This half-bright and half-dark village is characterized by a single courtyard. There are both earthen kilns and houses beside the yard. Bikeng village is spacious and bright, and not so dark and humid. There are many such Zhuangzi in Jingchuan, all of which have become big villages. Such as Aoxinnan Hutong in Yaodian Township, Ximen Jiaojia Hutong in Feiyun Township, Shangcheng Village in Huangjiabao Township, Dongpo Village, Dujia Village, Huijiawa Village, Fengtai Dun Village in Fengtai Township, Wuzhong Village, Taiyangdun Village in Duyu Town, Xiaao Village, Guolu Village, Maguo Village, Chenliu Village in Dangyuan Township, Zhao Jia Village, Hedao Village in Hedao Township and Baoli Town.
High kilns and pits (hidden kilns) are ancillary buildings of residential buildings. In the old society, wars were constantly raging, and people were in dire straits. To adapt to the war situation at that time. Designed "high kiln" and "pit" for defense and refuge. A small high kiln was dug between the two kilns in front of Zhuangzi, which was higher than the kiln. The kiln mouth is sealed, leaving only air holes or manholes. A step passage was dug on the side of the main kiln, or a long ladder was built on the cliff outside, and the ladder was removed. No outsiders are allowed in. Gao Yao usually hides valuables at home, or in Gao Yao-to monitor the robbery of villains in case of emergency. It is precisely because of the commanding advantages of high kiln that people build and apply it at the height of the cliff. The trimmer only has air holes, and the entrance and exit are open in the shade, which is not easy for people to find. Usually use boxes or wood firewood as hidden cover, and only in an emergency can you take off the seal and hide inside. Before liberation, many people hid in caves in ancient Zhuangzi to escape the war. Rich people built villages and dug caves in the old society, and in Zhuangzi they built pits to prevent accidents. Some earthen pits not only hide valuables, but also flush the passage to the bottom of the ditch. When something happened, into the pit escaped from the bottom of the ditch. In some places, they also dug holes behind several Zhuangzi and colluded with each other, just like the "tunnel warfare" of that year. This kind of hole is mainly opened by clan in-laws for mutual communication and prevention. There are seven or eight pits in Xiangzhuang Village, Duyu Town, Zhuangzi, which are connected by tunnels. But now it has been pushed down and filled in. Another example is Du Wencheng, Majiashan in Leijiagou, and a plot of land 1-2 in Jingming Songjiayou. I wonder when these pits were built.
The hoop kiln is a transitional building from the pit to the house, just like the ancient people in Jingchuan used a piece of wood to hoop a barrel. The hoop kiln uses local materials instead of wood, so the cost is low. The loess on the land is used to make adobe with a wide end and a narrow end. After drying, add mud. The wide end is always on the outer edge, and the narrow end is always on the inner edge. It is glued with mud page by page. It is circled into a semicircle cave style, and the foundation walls are equidistant and parallel. When it is ten feet high, slowly hoop it into a semi-circular roof, and hundreds of laps overlap into one. After drying, fill the roof with soil from two eaves and cover it with blue tiles. The shape is completely like a tile house, and the interior is like an earthen kiln. Because the adobe is about 38 cm long and the kiln with hoop is about 42 cm thick, it is durable, warm in winter and cool in summer. The service life of hoop kiln, as long as the hoop technology is good and it is kept dry all the year round, is generally between 50 and 70 years on average. The hoop kiln is technically difficult, which non-professional craftsmen can't do. This kind of earthen house created by Jingchuan ancestors not only embodies the simple folk customs, but also shows people's mentality of renewal and development. In Qiu Chi Village, Fengtai Township, Jingchuan County, we can see more quadrangles. From the square pit built by our ancestors, a hoop kiln was built on it, and now a modern tile house with brand-new glass doors and windows has been built. From earthen kiln dwellings to modern civilized bedrooms, it is an extension of the folk culture of the Western Queen Mother.
Cliff kiln is an ancient fortress left over from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with villages or ethnic groups as the main body. The terrain of the castle is built in a dangerous area, facing the cliff and leading to the village on one side. Along the hanging ditch, there are dozens or hundreds of caves around the castle. When war breaks out, people will bring food and water, and men, women and children will live in caves together. The city gate is closed, and the Tucheng wall will be guarded by able-bodied men. The wall is equipped with broadswords, spears, stones and wood. This kind of castle is different from the official castle. People from one village or several villages enter the castle as a family. The caves on the edge of the deep ditch cliff are generally in collusion with each other. Some caves only leave air holes, the kiln mouth is sealed, and the kiln will meet. Some cliff kilns are dug on the surrounding semi-cliffs. The villagers went up to get the ladder and pulled it down. No strong enemy can get up. But if the thief adopts the method of long-term siege and cuts off food, water and other daily necessities, that is the biggest crisis. In one place, several villages jointly built a fortress, which was the safest defense system at that time. Some villages are sparsely populated and have no castles, so people dig a cliff kiln in a deep ditch and a half cliff, and the whole family lives there for a long time with ladders to avoid the danger of soldiers, thieves and bandits. There are 100 many such castles and cliff kilns in Jingchuan, some of which are well preserved so far, such as Fengtai Nanbeibaozi, Fengtai Beishanbaozi, Fengtai Dunbaozi, Baolimiaoli, Linanlibaozi, Chenjiabaozi in Lianghe Township, Yinjiawa in Duyu Town, Dujia Village in Gaoping Township and Gao Xi Temple in Feiyun Township. There are still ancient steamed stuffed bun caves in Baiqi villages and towns in Du Yu, including more than a dozen large kilns, with a depth of 30-50m and a height of 6-8m. Although uninhabited for many years, these ancient ruins have been preserved.
"Red Kiln" is a tattered cave on the hanging wall of Gegou Chibi, and it is also the oldest cave in Jingchuan. From the profile of mountain collapse and the profile of county cliff, it can be seen that the red soil layer (called red clay by the masses) is about 100 meters below the loess layer, followed by the stone soil layer and the weathered rock layer to the riverbed layer.
Generally, the red kiln is about tens of meters away from the bottom of the ditch. At the bottom of the ditch, you can only look up at the broken kiln mouth in the dark. Due to years of rain erosion and weathering, most of the gully earth cliffs have become strange cliffs. In this tens of meters high red kiln, some are buried by mud, leaving only half of the kiln mouth, some are covered by wild vines and shrubs, and some are only outline relics. Only from the mountains or far away can we see the landform of the red kiln completely.
Jingchuan is located in the transitional zone between the Central Plains and the northwest ethnic minorities. Since the Zhou and Qin Dynasties, there have been many seesaw battles here in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In order to escape the war, the ancestors dug a kiln by the ditch in the deep mountains to survive. The red kiln has a longer history than the castle cave. Most of the existing red kilns on cliffs in Jingchuan are sporadic and in twos and threes, which proves that the territory was sparsely populated at that time, and Zhuangzi and villages have not yet formed in residential areas. Due to thousands of years of mountain torrents, the earth kiln at the bottom of the ditch was washed deeper and deeper year by year, hanging on the steep wall of the deserted deep ditch cliff, leaving a historical trace of the survival of Jingchuan ancestors at that time. These ancient red kilns with deep canyons and steep cliffs are now uninhabited, and people can't easily enter them now. Most of them have become safe nests for owls, thrushes and red-billed crows. There are no fewer than 500 red kilns in the deep ditch of villages in China, which can truly see the original appearance of the remains. These remains of the Red Kiln bear witness to the ancestors' adaptation to the war-torn environment at that time, and also confirm the long-standing folk culture of the Queen Mother of the West.
When people in Jingchuan build Zhuangzi earth-digging kilns, there are always odd caves in the front, three to five, and never even rows. This may be related to the ranking of the ancestors of mankind, the three emperors and five emperors, and the custom of odd arrangement of palaces, temples, official houses and offices in ancient yamen. Even the buttons made by folk women nowadays are odd, three, five and seven, and will never be even.
Jingchuan caves have brought people into an era of civilization, progress and development since ancient times, and made great contributions to the evolution of human civilization and social development. Xiwangmu cave culture is the carrier of social development in the past. In the earth cave, the ancestors used their limited lives to advance wave after wave, crossing the long river of history and creating a world-class project to open mountains and improve soil. In the long years of struggle with nature, they left layers of terraces for future generations in Jingchuan. There are nearly 100 kinds of world-famous snacks in Jingchuan, most of which were invented and created by grandma, mom and sister-in-law in earth caves. The ancestors created all kinds of production tools suitable for farming in caves, which developed the countryside and ensured survival. Female ancestors created spinning and weaving in caves and created all kinds of cloth clothes. Jingchuan Cave has nurtured countless people with lofty ideals, and has created a new civilization in various posts at home and abroad.