The New Year's bell is about to ring, and many wanderers have to start in a hurry to get home to reunite with their relatives and prepare materials for the New Year. Since I entered the stream of people who work and do business, I seldom go home for the New Year. In a modern city, you can't find the taste of Miao village for the New Year any more. Miao Village's unique way of welcoming guests evokes this yearning. Chengbu Miao Village is so close to you but so far away. What's the special flavor of Miao village? Please follow my footsteps into Miao village.
Xiatangtang
During the Spring Festival of 20 14, I returned to Chengbu Miao Autonomous County in Hunan, one of the five major ethnic autonomous counties in China, although it was the twelfth lunar month. It's freezing, but the Miao village is in full swing. Every household is preparing to kill pigs.
It is a way to enhance the feelings of relatives and friends in Miao village. Usually, because relatives and friends are busy with their own affairs, they rarely come and go. Near the end of the year, they each killed the pigs that had been raised for a year, and invited relatives and friends to sip meat, drink and chat at home. Soaking is to chop the freshly slaughtered pork and cook it with clear water, so that the fresh pork is tender, sweet and the soup is fresh.
In Miao village, it is also a kind of respect for the elders to take a sip and soak in the water during the New Year. If the younger generation invites someone to have a drink at home and doesn't invite them to have dinner with their elders, not only the elders will be angry, but even the guests who come home will be unhappy. No wonder some venerable elders are busy every year.
Miao village can also resolve the misunderstanding between Mao Dun and his family, relatives and friends. It was February 20th, 20 14, 14, and I was ruined by a relative named Wu. I witnessed with my own eyes that the eldest son of a relative is not filial to his parents and his sister-in-law is not at peace. The reason is that the eldest son and daughter-in-law work outside the home all the year round, leaving their two children at home to be taken care of by their parents in their sixties, and usually don't send money back. The old man's life is entirely borne by his youngest son. Later, after being persuaded by people present. The eldest son and daughter-in-law understood the truth and said that they should honor the elderly and inherit the civilized family style. Sister-in-law also shook hands. Everyone present was smiling.
Beat rice cakes
Miao village, there is the custom of making Ciba. Usually, no matter who holds a happy event or a holiday, it will be embarrassing. Especially during the Chinese New Year, every household should make Ciba to welcome the arrival of the New Year.
According to the old man in Miao village, this custom of beating Ciba is because 1934 the Red Army passed Miao village on the Long March. At that time, the Miao people saw the Red Army soldiers in a hurry and didn't even take needles and threads. This man was very moved by the Miao people who were bullied by bandits and rich people. They grind rice and corn into rice cakes, cook them with water, and some fry them for the Red Army soldiers. When the Red Army left Miao Village, in order to repay the Red Army and prevent the soldiers from starving on the road, Miao Village people broke the cooked rice with a mortar and made it into pieces for the soldiers to eat on the road.
Since then, people in Miao village have spread Ciba as a custom to commemorate the Red Army. Now Miao's Ciba has all kinds of flavors, fried, bean powder, peanut powder, rice flower and white milk. Stir-fried with sugar. Aroma people have the smell of soybean and peanut powder. The fragrance made of rice flowers and white milk leaves is slightly sweet and chewy.
Now Miao people treat Ciba as a high-standard custom to entertain guests. As long as guests come to Miao village, Miao people will let them eat all kinds of Ciba. This is respect for distinguished guests. On holidays, I will give my carefully prepared Ciba as a gift to my guests.
Smoked pickled vegetables
Every winter when you walk into Miao village, you can see chickens, ducks, fish, pigs and cows hanging on the kang of Miao village. The dried preserved vegetables with firewood are particularly fragrant and delicious.
Why do you smoke so many pickles? Sister Liu of Miao Village told me that fresh food is easy to go bad because it is not stored for a long time. Because of the cold weather in winter, Miao people seldom go out to do farm work, and every pig is killed during the New Year. If not smoked, all pork will go bad, and they have to buy meat when they are busy with farm work in spring.
Smoked preserved vegetables can not only make the same dish with different tastes, but also bring economic benefits.
Today, Miao's preserved vegetables are soaked in salt first, then hung on the kang, and slowly smoked when cooked and warmed. The longer the smoking time, the better the color of pickled vegetables. Smoked preserved vegetables can be eaten in the first year and will not go bad in the second autumn. At that time, pickled vegetables were golden and translucent. The entrance is sweet but not greasy. Spicy steamed balls and bacon are delicacies for entertaining guests and drinking.
People who have been to Miao village say that Miao's preserved vegetables are delicious. Now Miao people regard smoked wax vegetables as a career to get rich. They sell smoked preserved vegetables to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hangzhou and other places, so that Miao children who work outside can also eat warm hometown dishes in foreign restaurants. This not only increased their income, but also changed the homesickness of Miao children far away from home.
Dance dragon lantern
The dragon is a symbol of good luck. In order to inherit the spirit of the dragon, the descendants of the Chinese people. Dragon lanterns will also be danced in China New Year and major festivals. To show peace, auspiciousness and good luck. In Chengbu Miao Village, they also celebrate their festivals with the unique dragon dance of Miao people.
There are many ways to dance dragons in Chengbu Miao Village, including hanging dragons, rolling dragons and grass dragons. Among them, the 36-meter-long hanging dragon is unique At night, the dragon body lights up like a purple ghost roaming in the night sky. The deafening sound of gongs and drums echoed in the night. Broke the peace of the night. It seems that the ominous plague has been driven out of Miao village.
In Chengbu Miao Village, every village has a dragon dance team, including men's dragon dance team, women's dragon dance team and mixed dragon dance team. During the Chinese New Year, dragon dancers with gongs and drums carry dragon lanterns and go from village to village to celebrate the New Year for a hundred years. Then go out of this village to another village to pay New Year greetings to relatives and friends.
Dragon dance requires high standards, good physical fitness, skilled dance steps and dexterity. The hardest thing is to tie the dragon lantern. In order to tie dragon lanterns, the old people in the stockade are very picky about the selection of materials. They cut bamboo from the mountain and broke it into thin bamboo strips. First the dragon body, the dragon tail, and finally the dragon head. The faucet is tied, please ask the respected patriarch in the stockade to give the dragon some eyes.
Through the inheritance of ancestors, the hanging dragon of Chengbu Miao Village entered the Shanghai World Expo from Hunan in 20 10. His superb dancing skills have won praise from Chinese and foreign guests. And broke the Guinness Book of Records with a length of 36 meters. The dragon hanging dance in Miao village shows the spiritual outlook of the Miao people and the customs and habits of the Miao people.
About the author: Dai, pen name: Clear sky after the rain, born in Shaoyang, Hunan Province, is now a member of Guangdong Prose Poetry Association. He has published poems and essays in China Poetry Network, China, China, Nanfang Daily, Hunan Red Network, Shaoyang Daily, Shaoyang News Network, Nanning Railway News, honorary president of Qinglan Literature Society of Chengbu Mao Ping Middle School, Miao Ling Literature and Art, Jiangshan Literature, etc. Now he is the editor-in-chief of Jiangshan Sandalwood Bookstore.