In kelan county and northwest Shanxi, people will light oil lamps on several nights from the 10th day of the first month to the 2nd day of February. Every household in the village is brightly lit, full of laughter and joy.
People in kelan county pinch lamps with flour, including buckwheat flour and cake flour. Pinch buckwheat noodles and lamps, and put them into a steamer; The cake surface, that is, the soft yellow wheat lamp, is first made into steamed vegetarian cake and then kneaded into a lamp shape.
Crane lamps have many styles. The simplest and most common is to knead into a single lamp. This kind of lamp forms the shape of a small teacup by simply clamping the base and then clamping the lamp on the base. This kind of lamp has a cylindrical lamp mouth in the middle, and a wick can be inserted on the side, surrounded by a place for storing lamp oil.
When local women pinch lamps, they are required to pinch them as thin as possible. As the locals say, it is extremely thin, and the eyelids are thin and smart after giving birth. The locals pinch the lamp and pinch the corner of the lamp mouth to indicate the month. The wick lit in this lamp can be twisted with cotton or wrapped in hemp paper.
In order to make the lights here look good, local people often pinch out various figures or animals as decorations beside the lights. Or carry, or question, all kinds of gestures, lifelike, full of life breath. The locals made it into a "kang kang", in the shape of a lively villain with his hands folded around a lamp. There is also a requirement that the number of these little people should be equal to their own families. This kind of oil lamp is often lit on the kang to wish the whole family happiness and safety.
"Looking at the rice wife (Han)" is an old man or wife holding a lamp and sitting on the rice jar with a smile on her face, showing the joy of harvest. "Water ducks" and "drinking horses" often float in the water according to local customs, hoping for good weather. "Cow trough lamp", put in the cowshed, is intended to bless the cattle to be strong and prosperous. Cat lights, placed in places frequented by cats, are used to kill rats.
Crane people light lamps, which has a wide range of connotations. Lighting on the fifteenth day of the first month is to drive away rodents. Add small positions on the 20th of the first month, and increase positions on the 25th. Lighting is intended to provide food and clothing for the coming year. Add warehouse node lights, but also hit the ash kiln, the lights are all grains, the lights are fat pigs, and the lights are all grains. If the germination rate is high, it means that there will be a bumper harvest in this year, and farmers will choose this variety. On February 2, the dragon looks up and lights up. This kind of lamp is specially lit for sheep "many lambs and many fat sheep".
Every time you light a lamp, Lanqi people have the custom of stealing it for fun. Children are particularly active in stealing lights these days, and the color of stealing lights is mysterious, and it is acquiesced by parents, and every household is. In order to cope with this situation, local people should enrich lamps and avoid having no spare lamps after being stolen.
In a word, lighting a lamp is a very interesting thing for the crane people, and it often makes people happy.