Chapter 077: A Novel Ceremony

What should be honored in a ceremony? Tribes worshiping deities usually have totems etched on stones, tattooed on their bodies, or carved on wooden totem poles. However, the Han tribe has no such totems, prompting Luo Chong to worship something else—a flag.

Indeed, Luo Chong conceived the idea of a flag as a symbol of spiritual sustenance. While modern nations have national flags and the Han tribe isn't yet a nation, it still requires one. Of course, the flag would not bear the slogan "Act for heaven, kill the rich to help the poor"…

Instead, the flag of the Han tribe features a single character: "Han." Lacking fabric, the tribe must use animal hide for the flag, thankfully abundant in their current resources.

Luo Chong selected a complete large elk hide, the fur already scraped off, and cut it into a rectangle. The character "Han" was sewn onto this using boiled bones, crudely forming the symbol. Bones were used simply because there was nothing else available. Although Luo Chong could produce pine soot ink, it would wash away with the rain, and he had not yet developed other dyes. Using boiled bones, which are naturally preservative, seemed the best choice.

A flag sewn from bones on hide could not flutter horizontally, so Luo Chong designed it as a vertical banner. Holes were punched along the top edge, and it was hung like a curtain on a pole.

The flagpole was placed in the central district of the settlement, a non-residential area where a small square could be established without issue. The flagpole was made from fir because it grows straight and was the right thickness—fir was even used as utility poles in China during the 70s and 80s.

With a symbol of spirit now chosen, a ceremonial feeling had to be cultivated, a serious matter that required formal observance. However, the Han tribe lacked any traditional knowledge of such ceremonies, as they had no prior religious beliefs or ritualistic practices, leaving them to improvise with Luo Chong's slightly broader experience.

Ceremonial instruments like bells and cauldrons were too complex and resource-intensive to produce, so Luo Chong decided to make a drum, a much simpler and versatile choice. Drums only require some wood and a couple of animal hides and can produce a loud, resonant sound that unites and motivates people.

The drum could also serve practical purposes outside of ceremonies, such as signaling alarms against enemy attacks, calling people back for meals in the evening, or even for military training.

To make the drum, Luo Chong designed a bottomless barrel, calculated its dimensions using the circumference ratio, and directed the crafting of tapered oak planks. The drum's structure was held together with two flat copper rings, cast from the tribe's remaining copper reserves, which also provided the necessary copper nails.

The drumhead was crafted from two buffalo hides, stretched tightly and nailed to each end of the drum, with fish bladder glue sealing the seams. Thus, a large drum with a diameter of 1.2 meters was completed, standing taller than a child.

Wood Pork, Cripple, and Bucket, who helped Luo Chong, did not understand its purpose, and the tribe's children curiously patted the drum, startled by the booming sound it produced.

"Chief, what's this 'drum' for? Why does it make such a loud noise?" Cripple asked, startled by the sound.

"Ha, it's meant to be struck, but not with hands—use a drumstick," Luo Chong explained, asking Wood Pork about the progress on the drumsticks he had commissioned.

"They'll be ready soon. I'm just smoothing them out now; don't want any splinters to cause injuries," replied Wood Pork.

"Make sure to sand them well; we don't want the drumheads tearing during the ceremony," Luo Chong advised.

As spring's first day passed with a light, continuous rain—valued like oil in some sayings but seemingly cheap and endless on this day—the flag, stitched by the women, was hoisted on a wooden pole. Big Power led the men to erect the flagpole at Luo Chong's designated spot, topping it with a wooden pulley crafted by Luo Chong himself, through which a long hemp rope was threaded for raising the flag.

Bucket, accompanied by four boys, completed the frame for the buffalo hide drum, now temporarily housed within the compound.

By dinner, Wood Pork had finished the drumsticks, which Luo Chong inspected and approved, wrapping the heads in snake skin to complete them. The ceremony awaited only clear weather.

On the second day of spring, as the first rays of sunlight cleared the clouds, revealing a rain-washed azure sky and a vibrant rainbow bridging heaven and earth, Luo Chong led the entire tribe—from the oldest elder to the youngest nursing child—to the designated site for the new settlement.

Beneath the towering flagpole, on a temporary platform made of green bricks, weapons, a large fish, a bull's head, and the remaining twenty kilograms of rice grains were neatly arranged.

Luo Chong and the elder stood below the platform to conduct the ceremony, with the large buffalo hide drum set on a side stand. Big Power, shirtless, stood by with two drumsticks as the tribe formed a neat square in front of the platform, all eyes on Luo Chong.

"The ceremony begins. Sound the drum, raise the flag," Luo Chong commanded, and with his shout, Big Power energetically beat the drum.

Thump… Thump… Thump… Thump…

The compelling drumbeats filled the air, and as they resonated, a group of seven men marched neatly from the crowd toward the flagpole.

Leading the procession was Big Tree, wielding a bronze spear; followed by Beast Tooth and One Ear, the former with a quiver and bow. Feather, Stone, Wood Pork, and Bucket each held a corner of the large "Han" flag, alternating hands between a bronze spear and lifting the flag high above their heads as they marched in rhythm to the drum toward the flagpole.