At that time, the New Year was always late, making children break their fingers and look forward to it. As soon as January entered, there were jubilant people everywhere, decorated with lanterns, children chasing and playing, setting off firecrackers, adults coming in and out, busy, red candles shining in the door, and couplets shining outside. On New Year's Day, our children can eat good things that they can't usually eat, put on new clothes, hold lanterns, and see dragons playing with lions. The happiest thing is to count the lucky money given by their mothers over and over again, although it is only a few cents, mostly less than one dollar, which is also a great happy event!
The happy Chinese New Year atmosphere began in the twelfth lunar month. La 23rd, take a broom and tie it to a bamboo pole, and carefully clean it from the house to the yard. La 28th began to cook the meat, fry fish, fry rice cakes ... Little friends got together and tasted their own ostentatious food in advance. The exaggerated, funny and boastful expression of joy is now in stitches. On the afternoon of the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, it's time to put up couplets. No matter the gate or the small door, even the pigsty doors and doorframes with a single place are pasted with small couplets.
New Year's Eve is a time for family reunion, and there are many taboos on that day. We children are not allowed to talk casually, such as "dead", "broken", "missing" and "gone" ... and so on. Adults say it is because they are afraid of offending God and our ancestors. In three meals, we have to worship the gods and ancestors, put all the food on the table, burn incense and serve wine at the bottom of the table, and finally the family kowtows in turn. The most standard action is my mother. I saw her bow down first, kneel on her knees, crawl with her hands on the ground, and even put her forehead on the ground. When she stood up slowly, her hands were folded and she murmured from beginning to end. The whole action was solemn and sacred.
in the eyes of our children, Chinese New Year means "eating the best". For breakfast on New Year's Eve, according to the custom in our hometown, stewed chicken and dried noodles with glutinous rice balls, which contain a few coins. According to the old people, if you can eat the money wrapped in glutinous rice balls, you will be prosperous in one year, and what you do is a symbol of good luck. At the beginning, the four of us scrambled to grab more glutinous rice balls, fearing that others would pay for them first. Everyone's bowls at each end, standing and sitting, kept eating with their heads down. From time to time, my younger brother went to look at the glutinous rice balls in the pot, put the remaining half of them in the bowl, glanced at this and then looked at that with his eyes, and then quickly dialed another bowl, causing my little sister to call "Mom" ... In most cases, my sister got the money first, and when I ate the money, my younger brother began to shout. After that, I stopped biting and eating one by one, but tried one by one with chopsticks. In the end, each of our children could get a dumpling wrapped in money. However, after so many years, my mother didn't eat it once, so I was puzzled. It was only after I was a little older that I realized that my mother had marked the dumpling wrapped in money. In order to eat more for my younger brother, my mother was always the last one to give it to him. When I had children, I really understood my parents' deeper wish: they hoped that each of our children could grow up safely and happily. Every time I think of it, I feel a twinge of sadness in my heart. Poor inherit the wind!
New Year's Eve dinner is the core of Chinese New Year, and it is the most abundant one in a year. Some dishes can only be eaten that night. At that time, there was no electric light, and the family sat around the fire in the middle of the night after New Year's Eve, telling stories at home and sticking to the last moment of the year. I always can't keep up with my birthday, so I'm trapped by the fire and put to bed by my mother. Before dawn on the first day of the new year, firecrackers will crackle, and I will wake up in my sleep, skid up and shout loudly for new clothes. In fact, the new clothes have been ready for a long time, so I will gesture on my chest again and again from time to time, but I will never wear them. I will definitely wear them until the first day of the New Year. After breakfast on New Year's Day, people came and went in the small streets of the town, and the children didn't come to buy things, but to show off and compare, to see whose clothes were better. On the first day of the new year, it is also the time to shoot guns. Most boys hold incense in their left hand and guns in their right hand. They find a slightly larger place to light and throw it in the air. The louder it is, the louder the voices of their friends will be. Every year, my guns are very small, and they are released one by one after the guns are dissolved, which naturally attracts everyone's attention. Every time, "Black Egg" is the most popular. The cannon insects he brought are big and loud, especially when he lit them for a while and then threw them higher and louder, which attracted the friends to marvel and cheer. I remember one time the ground was muddy everywhere. The cannon bug of "Black Egg" didn't explode at high altitude, but fell into the mud and exploded, splashing my new clothes with mud spots. I cried and called him to pay for it ... Finally, I ended up getting the advance payment from his two pieces of fruit candy. I went home crying and spent the first three days of the New Year wearing my sister's flowered clothes.
Resignation is also a custom in our hometown. After the New Year's Eve dinner, all neighboring villages should walk around each other, regardless of whether they are relatives or not. As long as they know each other, they will resign and greet each other. When you arrive at someone else's home, no matter the elders or peers, you will say, "Happy Chinese New Year, I'll give you my resignation!" " The host will symbolically give you a handful of fried New Year's goods, including peanuts, melon seeds, dried sweet potatoes, popcorn and broad beans ... all of which are produced in rural areas, and there are few ready-made foods bought from shops, such as fruit candy and biscuits. Because too many people left, the small pockets on the clothes were filled early, and everyone was in high spirits. The most lively thing is to go to the neighboring village to resign, and the crowds are magnificent. Walking in front of the team are hand-held lanterns, slung small flower bags, and jumping dolls, followed by older brothers and sisters, and finally, women sisters-in-law. They are always chattering and laughing. When I arrived in the neighboring village, the children in front entered the house door, scrambling to say goodbye, and quickly turned around to prepare for the next one after opening the small bag to get the fried new year's goods. At this time, the children behind have not entered the house door, and even some sisters-in-law have not entered the courtyard door. Those who enter the courtyard gate may be pushed back by the children who go out, and some even have to turn around and leave before they can say a word. Occasionally, when someone gives a fruit candy, some smart dolls will wait outside the door for a while and ask for another one with the next person. Although the harvest is small, it is only for a fruit candy, but it is also cheering.
festive lanterns are the most fun in the spring festival. At first, when there was no little sister and little brother, my lantern was the best among my friends in the village. It was made of bamboo strips, especially with beautiful pictures sewn with red silk outside. Actually, making lanterns is very simple. Take a slightly thick piece of bamboo, longitudinally break it into two equal parts at the top, such as four parts, six parts and eight parts, tie it tightly at the top, cross it with several equal sticks in the middle, paste it with thin oily red paper on the outside, and light candles in a small door. There is a simpler way. Take an empty can bottle, tie the bottle mouth with a pig's hoof buckle, and stick a word or pattern cut by red paper on the outside of the bottle to look good, light a candle and carry it with a stick. This can bottle lantern has poor light transmission and can only walk behind its friends, so we all call it "smelly fart lantern".
As long as I can remember, my father worked in Ningxia and hardly went home for the New Year. My sister always stayed with my mother. Before going out, she took the initiative to help us with lanterns, carefully lit candles, and told me who I met and told them that my sister would not resign tonight and go to pay a New Year call tomorrow morning. When we went out, my sister called our nickname with trepidation, paying attention to where there was a ditch and where there was a ridge. When I walked to the corner, I looked back and saw my sister still standing there by the light in the room, shaking hands and saying something about taking care of lanterns and candles with my younger brother and sister. At that time, I thought it was because my sister didn't have lanterns, so I had to stay and help my mother. Now I think that my sister lost a lot of happiness that should have belonged to her for our family.
The most lively thing in Chinese New Year is to watch the performance of the Lion Stilts Team. At noon on the fifteenth day of the first month, the mobile Lion Stilts Team will rush from the village head. The scene is like a fair. As soon as the gong rings in the distance, people gather in a place like a flood. We children just got into the crowd, shuttling back and forth and left and right like little barracuda, watching one game after another, and running tirelessly as the team moved. I grew up unconsciously year after year in this running, until I left school, my partner and my hometown with strong local flavor for life and family. It's been more than 2 years, and when I look back, I've lost my head ...
Now, many people don't want to celebrate the New Year, saying that the New Year is getting more and more boring, and there is not much to eat at the New Year's Eve dinner, and even wearing new clothes has no interest. Look at our parents' enthusiasm for the Chinese New Year. Although we are short of materials, we are full of spirit. What about us? Material wealth, in the end found that the heart is empty.
Let's learn from our predecessors. Every year, we should have new meanings and new prospects, have new connotations and new hopes, and live richer and more splendid year by year. This is not only the wish of our elders, but also our responsibility as children and parents!