Gold Heart, Warm Soul

19| Priestess Nan

The Great priestess resides in Mountain Nan where her quarters are located high up the mountain. The sky was clear and blue with many clouds. Our private cars could only reached halfway, before we had to stop and hike up the mountain. Today, all of us were in comfortable traditional clothes called the Himwari with our respective colours. These clothes were made for easy movement and is gender neutral. We hiked up the mountains with our mountain guide. It is part of the ritual to hike up the mountain and drink the water from the clear rivers when we reached the priestess quarters for the cleansing ceremony. Hiking up the mountain was an exercise for me, as it took a lot of effort. I was envious of my brother and Ethan who did not break a sweat at all when we finally reached the quarters. They were right in front of me while hiking, and they could still have a casual conversation, while I had to focus on hiking so I would not faint of exhaustion. Once we were in front of the priestess quarters, we each took a ladle full of the pure water from the river and had our fill. Legends say the water from Mountain Nan was blessed by the Golden dragon when it resided in the mountain in the past. Ethan handed me a bottle of water to keep me hydrated and I nodded in thanks. These days he seemed more caring towards me, but I'm sure he treats me like a little sister, despite my mother non-stop gushing about how cute we were together. Besides, we've been great friends since middle school, so I've seen a lot of his embarrassing moments and likewise he did too.

Everyone gathered at the courtyard of the quarters and the priestess presented herself. She wore red robes with blue hydrangeas printed on it. She has a timeless beauty which showcase her simple features, although she was already more than 50 decades old. Her eyes showed her wisdom and reflected her emotions clearly like day and night. She rang the bell and performed the introductory dance while she sang in ancient language. As the introduction was over, she ushered us into the main hall. All family members were split into 2 groups; male and females. For the cleansing ceremony, the males had to drink a cup of ginger alcohol and receive 18 lashes to purify the body. Although the cleansing ceremony sounds morbid, the males would not be whip by a metal rod like they used to in ancient times. Now, the whip is made of bamboo covered with horse skin to lessen the pain of the blow. The one in charge of the lashing would not be the priestess, but the male apprentice of the priest who came with us today. For females, we have to go through a cold bath in the waterfall behind the priestess quarters. Women  at the age between 20 to 30 would have to undergo painful acupuncture to cleanse the body of impurities. Each session takes about 15 minutes and I have not experience the acupuncture yet. My mother described it the pain like small explosions under your skin and tissue and Felicia describes it as a pain you would not be able to phantom. I was the only woman who had not experience the cleansing ceremony due to my accident. All the ladies in the room were very willing to describe their traumatic experience to me. Since I missed my first ceremony, I had to do the acupuncture twice as long compared to others. In a lifetime, women in the family would at least get the acupuncture for 5 times. So, Niya Hong, Mila Zhang (wife of Jonathan Zhang), Felicia and I would be getting the acupuncture before having the cold bath. Also, the tradition allows you to have a support system. For example, you can have male to be beside you while you're doing the acupuncture as it hurts very much. However, the male candidate will not be able to change throughout all the acupuncture's you will be receiving. So, normally it will be the your loved ones, such as your husband or fiancé, that will accompany you during the painful acupuncture. During my mother's experience, it was my dad who accompanied her. My dad told me that it was hard watching my mum in pain and his hand was wounded from my mother's tight grip. Some of the women there told me that the pain is comparable to giving birth. In the past, you had two options for females during the cleansing ceremony. You could choose to drink poison and receive the antidote after a day, or do the acupuncture. Since drinking poison had took many lives in the process, the practice was abolished.

The cleansing ceremony starts with the women first. While the women have their cold bath after the acupuncture, it will be the males turn to receive their lashes. The first female to go was Niya Hong. She did not have anyone to accompanying. She approached the priestess like a General for training with a determined faced. I sat back, leaning towards the wall to spectate. Ethan sat next to me, careful not to cross the marked line on the wooden floor that divides males and females. "Are you scared of the acupuncture?" He asked. "I don't know. I think I'll be fine," I replied him casually. The truth is, I'm very calm about the whole process. Maybe being in the hospital and having needles sticking into me became a normal occurrence. I wasn't scared of needles or the pain anymore because there's nothing scarier than oblivion. I believe that would be my greatest fear. "Well, if you need someone to accompany you, I take up on the offer," Ethan suggests with a kind smile. "No, I can't ask you to do that. You would be stuck with for years, being by my side during all the acupuncture sessions!" I exclaimed proving my point. He glance at me sideways with an amused expression, " And what's wrong with it?"
"There's a lot of wrong with it. What if you get a fiancée in the future. She would have to go through the cleansing ceremony even when she's 40, alright. It's part of the introductory to our families," I said giving the cons to him. "Yes, I do know about our tradition," he said looking at me. "If you knew about our tradition, I don't think you should do it. It's going to hurt your future fiancée's feelings. It gonna be bad to see your man supporting another women,"I said seriously. "I do get your point. But I want to," he said adamantly. I sighed. He wasn't getting the point I was trying to convey. At my side, Felicia was shaking her head and I raised my eyebrows at her action. She look pitifully towards me and sighed. "Fine. I'll take up your offer, if I ever need in the future, but I'm saving your chance for a special someone in the future," I said looking at him as though as I'm saying to not argue with me. "Sure, I'll be a willing candidate for you in the near future," he said ending our conversation with a sly smile on his face. Niya's muffled scream caught our attention. We could see her tears running down her face. All the women in the room could sympathise with her as they had gone through the same, while the men was grateful they had lashings instead. I could see fear in Felicia's eyes as she watched Niya. I was the last to go as I was the youngest. After Niya had gone through the painful procedure, she staggered back to her seat, where her mother praised her for being tough and getting her a wet towel and drink to soothe the pain. Next, it was Mila's turn. Mila's husband, Jonathan Zhang (the eldest son in the Zhang Family) accompanied her. It was smooth sailing for Mila as she had a high tolerance of pain after giving birth. Although she did sprained Jonathan's hand from her tight grip and her face contorted due to pain, she did not screamed nor cry.

After Mila, it was Felicia's turn.