The last coffin keeper in Guizhou: The monthly salary is 300 yuan. To prevent tomb robbers, he sleeps with the coffin every night
Starting from Taohua Village, Pingba County, Anshun City, Guizhou Province, climbing up the steps, there is an unusual cave. This is the place where the coffins of the Miao people surnamed Liu were placed after death. Inside, there are large There are 567 coffins, large and small.
People who see these coffins for the first time will take a breath and feel eerie. However, in Liu Chaoxian’s view, those who sleep here are all his ancestors. There are more than a thousand people with the surname Liu. Years of history and heritage.
The place where Taohua Village is located has rolling mountains, a quiet environment and high oxygen content in the air. With these advantages, it has been gradually developed, and the local government wants to turn it into a new tourist attraction. .
Liu Chaoxian worked in the small square under construction during the day. His life went round and round. He earned a salary of 120 yuan during the day and came to this cave after get off work at night. He guarded the peace of his ancestors all year round. Everyone called him "Coffin Keeper", a job assigned by the government, can bring Liu Chaoxian 300 yuan in income every month.
Many people can’t figure out why Liu Chaoxian has stuck to this job for many years. Even the boss of the construction site joked that Liu Chaoxian was greedy for money. But what everyone doesn’t know is that it is not this person who Liu Chaoxian sticks to. Meager income, but respect for ancestors.
The cave burial method adopted by the local Miao people needs to be traced back to an ancestor named Liu about 1110 years ago. At that time, most Taohua Village adopted the burial method. After the death of this ancestor, his descendants chose a hillside with good Feng Shui for him to be buried.
However, after everything was ready, something unexpected happened on the way to the funeral. An unexpected heavy rain and flash flood completely disrupted the funeral crowd. In order to avoid the flash flood, everyone had to put down the coffin and move around. Get away.
When the flash flood subsided, people found no trace of their ancestor’s coffin, so they immediately organized everyone in the village to search for it. Because of flash floods, everyone thought that the coffin was washed downstream by flash floods. However, after three days and nights of non-stop searching, the coffin was never found in the rivers and villages downstream.
By chance, everyone found that the coffin of their ancestor was in this cave. Everyone was surprised. After all, the cave was not big, and the entrance was blocked by dense trees, so they were not familiar with the terrain. People can't find this place at all, so why did the coffins of our ancestors come here?
This question of the villagers was finally answered by the wizard in the village. According to the wizard, the reason why the ancestors’ coffins came to this cave was that the ancestors wanted to stay in their homeland and did not want to live in the cave. Far away from this hot land in my heart, I want to always be with my hometown and family.
The wizard’s statement was recognized by most of the villagers. From this time on, Taohua Village began the cave burial mode.
However, there are certain restrictions on cave hiding. Not everyone can be buried here. Only those who have a certain status in the Liu family or have made certain contributions can be buried here. This place is called In order to enter the city, those who bury their coffins here usually need a ghost master to preside over and perform the rituals. Those who are not qualified to be buried here can only choose to be buried in the ground, which is what the people of Taohua Village call going to the countryside.
With the development of society, there is only one ghost master left in the village. Like the coffin keeper Liu Chaoxian, in order to maintain his livelihood, he also found a job as a sheep herder, which provided him with daily Living expenses, otherwise the ghost master's income alone would not be able to survive.
The placement of coffins in the cave is very regular. Four areas are divided according to the four branches of the Liu surname, and coffins of different branches are placed in each area.
Most of these coffins are placed in a stacked pattern, which looks like a family staying together all the time, very warm and loving.
In the fourth area, there is also a special area where there are no rules and can be placed as you wish.
If a seriously ill clan member dies, it will be placed in the deepest part of the cave. Liu Chaoxian said that someone once died of tuberculosis and the coffin was placed here. Experts call this practice A simple concept of disease prevention.
Liu Chaoxian was the most familiar with the coffins in the cave. He pointed to the two coffins, one large and one small, and said to everyone: "Do you think this looks like a son riding a horse on his father's shoulders? It was a father and son, and the child died before he could grow up to be a father. Not long after, the child came too." Liu Chaoxian could also clearly tell which coffin his ancestors were, and at the same time he had begun to think about whether his mother would need it a hundred years later. Also placed here.
The history of cave burials for more than a thousand years has also attracted archaeologists. Through measurements of the caves, they have discovered many things of archaeological value.
For example, coffin No. 516 is the oldest one; for example, a "colorful batik pleated skirt with heron pattern" and a batik knife were found in coffin No. 415, which are very precious. This cultural relic has greatly helped and promoted the research on the development of colored batik in our country, and this piece of clothing is also stored in the Guizhou Provincial Museum as a national first-class cultural relic.
However, the large tree attracts the wind and the increasing popularity of cave burials has attracted many tomb robbers and caused great damage to the coffins. In order to protect the integrity of the coffins here, Liu Chaoxian came here and became a coffin keeper, and the government paid a monthly salary of 300 yuan. He has to check the situation in the cave every day and count the number of coffins in time to prevent them from being damaged or stolen by people with bad intentions.
In this 45-meter-long and 24-meter-wide cave, Liu Chaoxian is seen every day. He shuttles here for the faith in the hearts of the people surnamed Liu, and is the most noble thing for the people. of respect.