寒食、岁阳与冤案：禁火节民俗考 Cold Foods, Heliobi, and Injustice: A Study of the Custom of the Fire Taboo Festival

一位博识学会成员对仙舟「禁火节」之民俗学来源的研究报告。 A research report on the folkloric origins of the Fire Taboo Festival on Xianzhou by a member of the Intelligentsia Guild.

对仙舟联盟而言，「禁火节」是每个星历年的大日子。节日当天，各仙舟会联袂举办一场盛大的歌舞晚会，向全宇宙的友邦直播，各仙舟之间也会用黄钟共鸣系统互道节日祝愿，而每座洞天也都会举办热闹非凡的庆典。

The Fire Taboo Festival is a huge day in the Xianzhou Alliance's calendar each Star Calendar year. On this day, each Xianzhou ship stages a grand gala festival that is simulcast across all friendly factions in the universe. Best wishes are sent between ships using the Yellowbell Resonance System, and each delve also holds its own uproarious party.

到那一天，仙舟联盟的家家户户都会准备好很多提前煮制好的琼实鸟蛋，那些蛋壳上都雕刻着复杂华丽的吉祥纹样。也许在更古老的岁月里，仙舟人会自己雕刻蛋壳，但随着世代变迁，越来越多的人开始选择购买用机巧雕刻好的成品。

On this day, every household in the Xianzhou Alliance will pre-cook berrypheasant eggs, each shell intricately engraved with gorgeous patterning that symbolizes auspice. Perhaps back in the olden days, the Xianzhou people would engrave these eggshells themselves, but over the generations, people gradually began to buy up machine-engraved eggs instead.

对于那些初来乍到，不熟悉本地风俗的化外之民而言，禁火节固然热闹，却总伴随着一些奇怪的禁忌——不允许燃放烟花、非必要不允许生火、不允许食用热食、甚至要避免提到「火」字。

The Fire Taboo Festival certainly seems lively to Outworlders, but there are also some strange restrictions to follow: No fireworks may be lit, no non-essential fires may be started, hot food is forbidden, and even the mention of the word "fire" is to be avoided.

每当这时，仙舟人总是不遗余力地向对方解释道：禁火节是为了纪念火劫时代陨于岁阳*之乱的亡者，也是为了纪念为了守护仙舟而与「燧皇」共同燃烧殆尽的大英雄（传闻祂即是后来的帝弓司命）。为了尊重这些英灵，仙舟人选择了一天去避讳与火（也即是火精岁阳）有关的一切。

During this time, the Xianzhou people spare no effort in explaining how the Fire Taboo Festival commemorates those who passed during the Flaming Catastrophe in the Heliobi* Wars. It also celebrates the great hero who burned themselves to cinders to save the Xianzhou alongside the Flint Emperor (legend has it the hero would later be known as the Reignbow Arbiter). In honor of these heroes, the Xianzhou people have chosen a day to avoid anything to do with fire (that is, the heliobi fire-spirits).

注：岁阳，我不知道其他世界里如何称呼这种纯粹的能量寄生物。在博识学会星空生态学派的记录中，这种无形目生灵也被称为「光之精」「无形妖火」和「附魂者」。

Note: I am unsure what parasites of pure energy such as heliobi are called on other planets. The Intelligentsia Guild records at the Astral Ecology School call these formless creatures "Spirits of Light," "Formless Fiendfire," or "Soul Possessor."

这听起来是一个非常合理的起源故事。唯一的问题是，禁火节的起源远早于岁阳之乱，甚至远早于仙舟联盟。它是一个极为古老的传统，甚至可以追溯到仙舟尚未起航的古国世代。

This sounds like a plausible origin story. The only problem is that the Fire Taboo Festival pre-dates the Heliobi Wars and even pre-dates the Xianzhou Alliance itself. This extremely ancient tradition can be traced back to even before the days of the Xianzhous' launch.

改火寒食，这是人类的古老传统。几乎在任何一颗有人类居住且有季节更迭的星球上，都可以看到类似的节日（尽管仙舟联盟早已没有了真正意义上的季节更迭，但传统还在）。如果对比这些域外文明中的节日民俗，我们会发现一些有趣的共性。

The tradition of eating cold foods and avoiding fire is an ancient one among humans. Similar festivals occur on most human-occupied planets that exhibits seasons (despite the lack of actual seasons aboard any Xianzhou ships, the tradition remains). Comparing the festivals of these different civilizations reveals certain interesting commonalities.

在斯特克克，人们会在播种季开始前七天禁止用火，仅食用冷餐。传说这是为了纪念一位反抗侵略英雄，敌人得胜后她因叛国罪被处以火刑，直到五十年后才得以平反。

On Stockirk, fires are banned for seven days before the start of planting seasons, and only cold meals are eaten. Legend has it, this commemorates a hero who fought off invaders but was burned alive for treason after the enemy won. It was not until fifty years later that she was finally exonerated.

在玉川上水，人们会在寒潮结束后禁止用火，仅食用冷餐（不过这个风俗在玉川上水高度城市化以后完全消失了）。传说这是为了纪念因抗税绝食而死的二十三位农民和一位地方父母官。

On Tamagawajosui, fire is banned after the end of the cold season, and only cold meals are eaten (a custom which has disappeared following extensive urbanization there). It's said that this commemorates the 23 farmers and the county magistrate who died from hunger strikes against taxation.

在第七新塞尔柱，人们虽然不会在春分前夜禁止生火，但会煮制大量鸟蛋（仙舟人也会），以供节日当天享用，这同样也是改火寒食的一种遗存。传说这是为了纪念一位被奸臣害死的忠志之士。

On New Seljuk-7, fire isn't banned until Chunfen, but plenty of fowl eggs are boiled up (just as on the Xianzhou) to eat on the day of the festival. This is another legacy symbol of switching hot with cold foods. This is said to commemorate a loyal patriot who was killed by a treacherous official.

从以上这些例子中不难看出，包括禁火节在内的所有这些改火寒食的节庆，归根结底都是在冬日（昼短夜长）终结之时迎接春日（昼长夜短）的仪式。禁止火源是为了迎接自然界的恒星，食用鸟蛋则是因为它象征了恒星（浑圆的、孕育了生命的、可飞上苍穹的、鸣叫预示着朝阳的）。

It's clear to see that all of these festivals — including the Fire Taboo Festival — are ultimately ceremonies to worship spring's arrival, with its longer days and shorter nights. The banning of fire is to revere the natural stars that shift with the seasons, and bird eggs are eaten to symbolize those stars (as these eggs tend to be round and nurture life, of which progeny can fly, and whose birdsongs welcome the sun).

事实上，尽管这世界上有诸多节日，但如果我们追溯这些节日的起源，会发现古人都是相当单纯的，他们只关心三件事——何时有阳光、何时有雨水、我们冤死了什么好人。

In fact, despite the various festivals around the universe, if we trace back the origins to their source, we can see that the ancients were really only interested in three things: When the sun shines, when the rain falls, and who died in injustice.

在各种各样的历史文献中，文人和史学家都不遗余力地构建出这样一种历史叙事：曾有一位英雄为对抗神降时代的贵胄而深陷冤狱，这位英雄后来被放出囚牢，与燧皇合作，以身陨为代价摧毁了造翼者的攻势，而祂此后升格成了帝弓司命。

In all kinds of historical literature, literati and historians have spared no efforts in constructing such a narrative: A hero who was framed for fighting corruption during the Theophany Era, was later freed and fought alongside the Flint Emperor to launch a self-sacrificial attack on the Wingweavers — and THEY later ascended to become the Reignbow Arbiter.

现在，让我们姑且搁置那些关于帝弓起源的学术争议，谈论一个简单的问题：为什么人们总是将各种古已有之的节庆，附会到那些被冤死的好人身上？

Let's put aside these academic disputes about the origins of Reignbow Arbiter for now, and discuss a rather simple question: Why is it that people choose to transpose good heroes who died unjust deaths onto these ancient existing festivals?

答案其实很简单。因为面对横暴的、撒谎的、可以篡改真理的、将历史笼罩在黑暗中的强权，普罗大众总是显得那样渺小而无助——但凡人有凡人的武器，他们将英烈的事迹抽象成对正义的颂歌，再将这首颂歌附会到关于阳光和雨水的仪式上，使它们重新被铸造成了一个崭新的故事。

The answer is simple. When faced with tyrannical, deceitful, and manipulative forces that can alter and shroud historical record with misinformation, the general public seems helpless. And yet mortals can wield a very mortal weapon: The re-writing of heroic deeds into songs of metaphorical justice, which are then interlaced into rituals of the sun and the rain, recasting them into a brand-new allegory.

这样一来，除非当权者可以使恒星熄灭、使雨水蒸发、使季节不再更迭、使禽鸟不再鸣叫，否则他们就永远无法禁绝这首正义颂歌的承继。

This is how the powerful are prevented from banning the passing down of such a righteous song — unless they could extinguish the very stars, evaporate the very rains, stop the very seasons from changing themselves, and stop the very birds from singing out.