Chapter 449: Kavalala
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du had an old-fashioned Nokia phone; he gave it to him. “Let’s trade.”
The old man shook his head. “No, not this phone. I meant a smartphone, like Apple, Samsung… I want a phone that can install apps!”
Hans sneered, “You’re quite updated. You know so much about the outside world.”
The old man giggled, “We Hopi are not like the Amish. We accept advancement.”
“If that’s the case,” Li Du said, “why don’t you use dollars to trade in your tribe?”
The old man said, “Our ancestors set this rule!”
Alright, another rule set by the ancestors. Li Du sighed and waved to Hans. Hans unwillingly took out his phone and gave it to him.
After he saw the new iPhone, the old man’s eyes lit up. “Yes, this is what I’m talking about!”
Li Du said, “I can give it to you, but to trade for a copper plate only? I wouldn’t do such business unless I were crazy.”
“What else do you want?” the old man asked.
Li Du took everything from the drawer and said, “I want all of this.”
The old man shook his head. “No way, you are too greedy.”
Li Du said, “Then I want half of this.”
He divided the copper and metal into two piles. The copper glove was in the pile that he wanted to take.
The old man touched his chin and thought about it. After a while, he sighed, “Alright, since all of you are good friends of our tribe, that’s a deal!”
The Hopi had a lot of good stuff. Most of their crafts, especially the statues, were very old. The little bug was eager to get to their time energy.
Li Du tried his best to obtain wood carvings and crafts that the little bug was interested in. After getting items, he would let the little bug absorb their time energy. But he didn’t let it absorb the time energy of the items he didn’t buy.
Li Du had his principles when he was doing business. If nobody messed with him or bullied him, he would treat them nicely like a gentleman. But if someone betrayed him, he would make them pay for it!
During the evening, there was a campfire at the open ground between the second and third terrace. The treasure hunters were brought to the open ground to join the Hopi’s kavalala.
The color of the soil on the open ground was reddish-black. The material of the soil was very solid—apparently it had been walked on many times before. When they walked on the ground, they felt like they were walking on an ordinary road.
Li Du looked at the ground; the surface was very seamless and smooth. He asked curiously, “Is this a big red stone? I mean, are we standing on one big red stone?”
The security chief shook his head. “Oh, no, this is soil.”
Li Du nodded. “It is really hard and solid—is this red soil?”
The security chief laughed, “No, this is ordinary soil. The reddish-black color on the ground is due to blood. The ground is hard and solid because we poured blood onto the ground and pack it in.”
Li Du was shocked. He looked around and wondered. This piece of land was at least a hundred acres. It was a big plaza and every inch of the ground was reddish-black in color. If it was due to blood, how much blood had they used? How many people did they kill?
Then, what they saw afterwards proved that the security chief was right and Li Du had misunderstood.
There were people who slaughtered different animals such as cows, goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese and fish. They slaughtered the animals at the plaza and poured the fresh blood into buckets.
A few strong men carried the buckets and poured the blood on the ground. Then, there were people who added soil on top of the blood. Next, some of them rammed the ground repetitively with a road roller.
The security chief said, “We used manpower to ram the ground in the old days. But we use machines now, it’s more convenient. “
“But what is the purpose of doing this?” Li Du asked. “When the fresh blood soaks in the ground, germs and bacteria can breed easily. It could cause diseases.”
The security chief said, “Don’t worry. We burn the ground immediately. The germs and bacteria can’t survive in the high temperatures. Burning the ground can help to pack the ground in as well.
“The purpose? This is our gymnasium to train our warriors. The fresh blood can stimulate them to be braver and this can bring blessings from the Lady Warrior!”
There were many piles of wood at the plaza. They poured fuel on the wood and lit them up. The fire spread quickly and the plaza became very hot.
The goats, pig, chicken, ducks and geese were roasted on top of the flame. The cow and deer were divided into halves before they were roasted.
The security chief asked, “You bought a few pairs of double knives. Do you have the smaller knife with you now?”
Li Du shook his head. The security chief waved his hands and someone passed him a short knife which looked like a dagger.
He passed the knife to a few people and said, “If you see anything that you’d like to eat, just cut it with the knife and eat it.”
Li Du exclaimed, “This is really wild! Very good, that’s what a real man should do!”
That was not the end of it. Someone gave them cubes of rough semi-pure stones.
“What are these?”
Big Quinn took a look and said, “These are salt blocks. We add them to the meat later, how much depends on how much you like.”
Li Du had never tried to eat like this; he said, “This is even more like a real man!”
The Hopi brewed their own wine. Their wines were thick and greenish, they looked quite weird. Some of the treasure hunters were shocked. “What are these wines? Grass wine? Fruit wine? Why are they green?”
Most of the treasure hunters didn’t know how to answer this question. But Li Du knew why; he said, ‘I think they use the traditional brewing method. They allow grains to ferment and they steam the fermented grains. After cooling, they don’t filter them. That’s why the wines are thick and greenish.’
He learned about this while he was reading a poem. One of the lines said, “The freshly brewed wine is green and there’s a stove near the red soil.” He had wondered why the poet described the wine as green, so he did some research.
The wine barrels were rough pieces of pottery. The shape of the taps were like beaks and everyone filled their bowls with wines.
Li Du poured a bowl of wine for himself and tasted it—the alcohol was very strong. They added some fruit, so the taste of the wine was fruity. It was difficult to describe the taste but it was better than ordinary white and red wines.
As night was falling, the crowd in the plaza grew bigger and bigger.
Some women were dancing in the middle of the crowd, wearing Hopi traditional costumes. The men raised their bowls which were filled with wine, drinking and cheering.
As the crowd grew bigger, more women were dancing at the middle of the crowd. Finally, a few hundred women came to the middle. They surrounded each campfire and danced happily.
Li Du thought kavalala was about singing, dancing, eating and drinking. But after the women finished dancing, the men took their cutting knives and danced in the middle of the crowd.
After a few dances, all of them kneeled on the ground suddenly. They were worshipping the biggest campfire. Li Du and the others followed their custom. They put their bowls aside immediately and kneeled on the ground.
When they were worshipping, the Native Americans said their prayers. Li Du and the others didn’t speak Shoshoni language so they didn’t understand what they were saying. They just tried to babble blindly along.
About a minute later, some of the elder Native Americans stood up and the rest of them followed. The next activity began.
