The legendary "nian" is an extremely cruel and tyrannical beast, so it is said that "the New Year is like customs clearance". When I was a child, every winter, someone "burned the pot without food." For the heads of these poor families, it is really more difficult to spend the New Year than to go through customs. I remember that on the night of the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, a distant uncle still borrowed rice from our house, saying that he was 30 years old and wanted to let his children eat rice for a hot year anyway ... I don't remember what he said to his mother at that time. I only remember that night in the dead of night, his mother crustily skin of head pinched him a few liters of furry millet.
Afterwards, I asked my mother how long Xiaomi could last. My mother sighed slightly and said slowly, "How much longer can it last?" ? Forty catties of hairy millet can only make twenty-seven catties of rice. Your uncle has a family of eight. How long do you think he can eat? "I don't know how my uncle spent the New Year. I only remember that on the morning of New Year's Eve, our family ate sauerkraut rice, and finally found a meal! Although the New Year's Eve dinner came a little late, we boys were glad to see the glistening rice-although we were too hungry to stand it, we finally made a hearty meal. Nowadays, children have no chance to experience the feeling of being hungry for a long time, then their stomachs are pressed on their backs and their stomachs are bulging, painful, comfortable and happy.
As soon as the farmer's children arrive at the "Count Nine" cold weather, they break their fingers and look forward to the New Year. Because there is delicious food in the New Year, no matter how poor people are, they have to spend all their money to prepare a "New Year's Eve". Bacon is often indispensable. After the land is decentralized, some families will push "rice tofu", and the slightly richer ones will go to the streets to buy beans to push tofu. Pushing tofu pudding is too extravagant, unless there are guests coming to the door, my mother will not agree anyway; Pushing "rice tofu" is different. Soak three bowls of half broken rice, grind it into pulp with a stone mill, find some quicklime to melt half a bowl of water, add some dry wood and get it easily.
My mother cooks "rice tofu" every year. Every time my mother cooks "rice tofu", I try to make a fire. Mother often pretends to blame: "You don't want to eat too much. What is your doll doing behind the stove?" Explain that I am a ghost and have a head that fights for fire! Every time I finish tofu, my mother will boil the crispy rice with slow fire and then shovel it with a kitchen knife in front of the kang. When the crispy rice is baked to "yellow on both sides" and exudes an attractive fragrance, my mother will reward her according to her seniority. After being busy for a long time, welfare is indispensable. My neighbors' brothers and sisters naturally envy me ... when they finish eating the rice crust in their hands, I will slowly break the remaining rice crust and throw it into my mouth together, chew it up and down in front of them with deliberate exaggeration, and will also encourage my brothers and sisters to follow my ass ... The overflowing scene and the proud look are still there.
(2) New Year greetings
"Candy box, take your hands off, go to the owner and flee to the west ..."
"A box of candy, play a game; Three noodles, rest for one night; A bottle of wine, eaten up ... "Children who grew up singing these children's songs will follow adults in New Year's greetings every time. Aunt seven, aunt eight, leave my aunt and relatives behind. ...
"Water is not stirred and muddy, and people are inseparable!" Mom always says that. When I was a child, I didn't like to pay New Year's greetings. Because every time I go to a restaurant, there are endless "sour radishes". In that era of extreme material shortage, stewed radish soup with bacon was of course a rare delicacy. Therefore, during the Chinese New Year holiday, every household must stew a large casserole radish when simmering bacon. From the first day to the fifteenth day, it is heavy again and again. Even if the soup is sour and the radish is yellow, it will not change. Treat every guest. Except sour radish, I am not used to the excessive hospitality of poor relatives.
Say "please" first, and then the host will add dishes to the guests. As usual, it's another big fight. Sometimes, the hostess will push a few pieces of fat and thick bacon with the elderly guests for a long time, and the bacon will finally be put into the guest's rice bowl, and then it will arrive in the guest's stomach in the blink of an eye ... Anyway, the result is the same, so why bother? I'm just a little annoyed, sometimes even a little annoyed-because my mother is such an expert in "asking for food", and her old man will always "ask for food" when she meets guests, and she will never stop until she reaches her goal. It is often because she has worked hard for a long time that a lot of "Ding Zhen" bacon has been invited, but she doesn't even know whether the meat tastes salty or light.
"Inviting food" is stubborn, and mother "adding rice" is also generous. At that time, "three bowls were not enough" was "exquisite", and the average person had a large appetite, and three or four meals were often added to a meal. Some guests are obviously able to eat, but they are worried that the host family's "Longshan" will be destroyed, so they are deliberately polite. At this time, the hostess made a grand appearance. They bombarded the guests with several spoonfuls of white rice in turn. No matter what they can and can't eat, they try their best to persuade them to add more: the dust is flying, and I see the "rice spoon" flying up and down, and sometimes even glistening rice is scattered all over the floor.
You know, in that special era, it was not easy for people to eat enough, let alone eat. My mother often says, "Be careful in charge, and be fat in the guests!" "My mother is always the hardest during the Chinese New Year. Needless to say, she is usually in a hurry, and every time she plays "rich food", she runs alone. Just say that her mother is busy "inviting food" and "adding rice" every time she comes to the guests. That extraordinary skill, soaring energy and heroic spirit are enough to make people bow to their knees!
(3) Speaking of God of Wealth
As soon as the new year arrives, someone will come to "send the God of Wealth". The so-called "God of Wealth" is the image of "God of Wealth" copied on a piece of red paper, which reads auspicious words such as "Happy Birthday" and "Lucky for Wealth". Most people who say "God of Wealth" are old people. They often carry a small backpack, a crutch, a cloth bag and a stack of statues of God of Wealth. Every time I go to a house, if I meet a dog on the road, crutches will come in handy; If someone comes to drive the dog away, the man who sent the god of wealth will start singing.
After singing a paragraph according to the routine, I took out three cannons from the "bag making", "pa, pa", put down the "dog gun" at the door of the host's house, and then sang again. In addition to the usual compliments, there are some nice words, such as "opening the door and making a scene", "Blessed to stay in the sky", "Being the fifth child in the exam" and "being the top scholar". He sang for a long time before the host opened the door. After entering the door, you worship cigarettes, and he sings the story of cigarettes; If you serve tea, he will have to sing about the origin of tea ... The funniest thing is that the host will make a "money oath" at last. If the host takes less, the God of Wealth will keep singing "Add up and grow up, and future generations are top students in high school …" until you are embarrassed enough to "touch the bag".
To tell the truth, not all families like to talk about the god of wealth. Some people close the door and pretend not to be at home as soon as they see the "God of Wealth" coming. Waiting for the "God of Wealth" to sing at the gate, they were thirsty and indifferent to the breeze. At this time, some "God of Wealth" with low self-cultivation will secretly scold a few words to vent their hatred. If you are not careful to be heard by the host, there will inevitably be a "war of words." Generally speaking, in this case, it is a great misfortune to say that the "God of Wealth" is a strong dragon, but it is difficult for the local snake. What's more, the "God of Wealth" is a dragon, let alone a strong dragon.
When I was a child, I liked "talking about the god of wealth" most, not because I believed his deceptive stories, but because I thought it was fun. In particular, Wang Guanghui, the "God of Wealth" in Jianshanzi, said that the God of Wealth is well-known and well-known. In addition to saying the "God of Wealth" routine, he can also make up "four words and eight sentences" according to the specific situation of each household. He can talk from the last three generations of his master's family until now, and he can improvise what flies in the sky, crawls on the ground and swims in the water. Sometimes humorous, sometimes humorous, sometimes harmonious, sometimes elegant and popular, making people bow down and laugh. Every year, Brother Guanghui comes to talk about the God of Wealth. Every year, the villagers happily wait for Brother Guanghui to talk about the God of Wealth. Every year, Brother Guanghui comes to our village to talk about the God of Wealth. Wherever glory goes, there is always applause and laughter. Before he said "grow up together", the villagers would use money to pay for it. If there was no money, they would pinch rice, and if there was no rice, they would pinch wheat. ...
(4) Set off firecrackers and paste Spring Festival couplets.
According to the wonderful book "Nerve", there is a one-legged ghost named Shan Sao in the mountains of ancient west. It looks strange, and always likes to sneak up on people. If you hit it, it will cause chills and fever; But Mrs. Shan was afraid of light, fire and noise, so they immediately came up with a simple way-burning bamboo tubes and making a scratching noise on purpose, so Mrs. Shan would hide.
People in their hometown should set off firecrackers before eating New Year's Eve, so that the coming year can be auspicious and safe. "In addition to the firecrackers at the age of one, the spring breeze sends warmth to Tu Su; Thousands of families trade new peaches for old ones. " This little poem by Wang Anshi means that firecrackers sounded, and one year passed, safe and sound. This may be a taste that has been chewed more and more for thousands of years.
On New Year's Eve, someone came to the door with red paper and asked his father to write Spring Festival couplets. My father was a high school graduate in the early days of liberation. He has been an accountant in the production team for many years, and he is also a "pen" in the village. His brush is particularly vigorous and powerful. Most of the Spring Festival couplets of hundreds of families in Huaqiangou came from him.
My mother used to complain that my father did all these chores to delay things, but my father was always busy as usual. Every year, he prepares several good brushes and bottles of ink in advance, casually finds a coarse sand bowl as an inkstone, and happily accepts the red paper sent by the villagers. He first calculated the method of paper-cutting according to the number of portals. After simply folding in half, he cut the paper with a few brushes instead of a knife.
Then choose the right brush according to the size of the paper, dip it in the inkstone bowl, concentrate, hang your wrist and stay away from the dragon and snake in one go, and a pair of colorful and fragrant Spring Festival couplets will be completed in one go. Whenever this time, my father always smiles at the newly written Spring Festival couplets, as if looking at his beloved flesh and blood, and his bright eyes are shining with spiritual light ... At this moment, the person who wrote the Spring Festival couplets is drunk, and the person who wrote the Spring Festival couplets is also on cloud nine. Not to mention how exciting the scene is.
After watching the villagers' Spring Festival couplets, my father always forgets to write some couplets for himself. Starting from the gate, he gave a pair of 36-character king's "unique", and then took care of the small doors and windows. In addition to blessing auspicious words and beautiful sentences, he also wrote articles on the national economy and people's livelihood and major policies in a timely manner, sweeping away the stale atmosphere and giving people a feeling of kindness and joy. As soon as my father wrote it right, the two brothers couldn't wait to put it in the right place, and the family was happy, even if they ate cold water, it was sweet. ...
(5) aftertaste
"How wide the heart is, how big the stage is." Needless to say now, whether you are flying in the sky, crawling on the ground or swimming in the water, you can eat whatever you want! Don't worry about eating, don't worry about wearing, and have a better time. However, people feel that happiness is getting farther and farther away from themselves. ...
During the Chinese New Year, I often hear people sigh: "The Chinese New Year in Wang Xiaoer is getting worse every year"! Old people always complain that the world is cold and human feelings are weak; Young people always think that Chinese New Year is no different. In short, the taste of Chinese New Year is getting weaker and weaker!
……
Who moved our cheese? What's the smell this year?