Tian ying
Squeezing a small sugar man and a small noodle man is the craft work of folk artists in my hometown when I was a child. Every time I think about it, I always have a sweet feeling in my heart.
The first time I met Xiao Tangren and Xiao Mianren was at a temple fair near my aunt's house in the rural area of southern Liaoning. In the early 1950s, I went to my aunt's house in the countryside. It snowed lightly every day, and I caught up with the Lantern Festival temple fair to set off lanterns. My aunt said, "It snows and lights on the fifteenth day of the first month. This year is another great scene. The temple fair will be more lively. Let's go to the temple fair. " The temple fair is not far from my aunt's house. Very lively. Besides selling new year's goods, I am also interested in roller skating boats, yangko, foreign movies and donkey shadow play. Suddenly, I heard a small gong, followed by "little sugar seller!" " Shouts, I saw a corner of the temple fair surrounded by a lot of people, near to have a look, in the middle of the crowd, there is a red paint peddler's box, the box surface has a box like a small stage, in front of a few sugar people, there are the Monkey King holding an awning, Pig Bajie carrying his daughter-in-law, red-faced Guan Gong, Nezha holding a red ring of fire and the zodiac. And the box pulled out from the back of the box contains syrup and bamboo sticks. The old artist standing behind the vendor's box stirred a bamboo stick in a small bucket of boiled brown syrup. Soon, the soft syrup became as thin as cicada's wings after being rubbed in his hand, leaving a part to form a tube, blowing it with your mouth, bulging it, kneading the bulging part into the shape of the Monkey King, embellishing it with syrup, inserting a small wooden stick and kneading it in a blink of an eye. The old artist holds the little sugar man and sells it.
"I want the Monkey King."
"I want Zhu Bajie." Children are scrambling to buy.
Next to the sugar-kneading stall, there is also a noodle-kneading craftsman. The dough kneading people are more complicated and the colors are more vivid. This is a mixture of flour and japonica rice flour, steamed until it is cooked, and then colored. Holding a bamboo stick in his hand, he also rubbed it seven times and eight times, and became a little face of various images.
Later, during the Spring Festival and the Lantern Festival, I occasionally saw people squeezing sugar people and noodles in the streets and alleys of the city. I also joined in to watch the fun, but I have never seen such a simple folk scene at the temple fair in rural menstruation.
Years are fragrant. This year, at the lantern festival in the city labor park, I saw the charming little sugar man and little noodle man in my memory again.
A craftsman is busy under the colorful lights. The 38-year-old craftsman told me that he was a family-owned craftsman and learned it from his father. He indulges in it every holiday. During the conversation, an old lady asked, "Can I buy three for seven dollars?" "Yes, I can't!" He answered brightly. "Pinch sugar people don't want money, figure a sum, two gratis can also! Everyone is happy. "
Listening to this conversation in colorful lanterns reminds me of the real feelings of sugar people when I was a child. Memory is sweet. The memories of the past are more fragrant and sweeter.
People's Daily Overseas Edition (7th Edition, March 08, 2004)