For people who are busy all day, the twelfth lunar month always comes suddenly and inadvertently, prompting people to quickly recall and summarize the coming year.
The twelfth lunar month is the end of the year, in the dead of winter. It's freezing cold, freezing snow, killing everything, and the earth is silent. At this time, farmers can finally slow down and turn to the activities of welcoming and busy years.
In the twelfth lunar month, the curtain of the New Year opens.
Spring river plumbing duck prophet. Wanderers who have left their homes are always the first to hear the call of "Nian", even though Qian Shan is full of water and Wan Li is Wan Li, they can't stop it! In folklore, Nian is a fierce and unusual beast. Probably, setting off fireworks is not enough to make it retreat. The whole family needs to get together and avoid its disaster with everyone's help.
I can't forget the twelfth lunar month of 197 1 year. That year, I studied in an English teacher training class in Lintong County (now Lintong District, Xi). Near the winter vacation, it suddenly snowed heavily, the road was closed, the bus stopped, and the Weihe River was blocked! As the year is approaching, anxious to return, a few of us can't wait, pushing bicycles and braving the heavy snow in the middle of the night to embark on the journey home. The snow on the road was too thick to ride. Everyone walked to Xinfeng Ferry on the Weihe River before dawn (there was no bridge here at that time), but the boatman refused to ferry on the grounds of falling water level. Finally, we persuaded the boatman to sail, but the boat ran aground in the river. We were trapped in the middle of the river, and the fierce river wind stung people until the ferry was pulled out in the afternoon. After walking for nearly a day and a night for 70 or 80 miles, I still remember the feeling of being cold and hungry, but what I can't forget is the eagerness to go home for the New Year!
In China, people prepare for the Spring Festival in December of the lunar calendar.
Children in the market
The twelfth lunar month fair is one of the theme activities of the old farmers before the Spring Festival. The market in the twelfth lunar month tries its best to show people its richness. There is no need to turn around suddenly, and goods that are usually invisible or rare will appear at this time. Women who seldom go out in a year, men who work hard in the fields, and even slow-moving old ladies will take a walk and have a look at the market in the twelfth lunar month. Maybe they will choose an item that they have been thinking about for a long time, or they may start buying necessities for the New Year, from furniture and clothes to meat, vegetables and candy. More people don't buy anything, in their words, they just "shop". "Shopping" for new year's collection is a kind of enjoyment of life, which is a bit like city people visiting parks to see the scenery. But the temptations in the market are colorful and endless. How can you have so much fun in the park?
The market in the twelfth lunar month is full of simplicity, kindness and kindness, filled with deep homesickness.
The market in the twelfth lunar month is a paradise for children, and the warmth of family can always be perfectly reflected here. Usually stingy parents will become generous when they come to the market in the twelfth month. As long as their children like toys and clothes, they will not hesitate to pay them. A greedy child can get anything he wants at this time. In the previous twelfth lunar month market, there were folk acrobatic performances, and children were the most loyal audience in the market.
At that time, there was no "double eleven" now, and people didn't know what a "pickpocket party" was. The market in the twelfth lunar month is a carnival for buyers and sellers. In the 1980s and 1990s, I was lucky enough to play the role of a seller and feel the excitement and madness of the twelfth lunar month market. At that time, as soon as we entered the twelfth lunar month, the number of people in the market suddenly increased, and then it was jostling and bustling. It is very unwise and difficult to push a bicycle around in a crowd. Crowds may make it difficult for you to move. At that time, I was a small trader with a scientific name of "individual businessman", dealing in sweaters and wool, which was not fashionable and could not be regarded as the mainstream of new year's goods. But I can also see the enthusiasm of the annual collection. At that time, the highest necessities were household appliances, first TV sets, washing machines, and then VCD. Nevertheless, the turnover of this small vendor in the twelfth lunar month market always doubles. The twelfth lunar month is regarded as the "golden moment" of sales, and one day cannot be delayed. One year, on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, it snowed heavily. I hate bad weather and waste this good opportunity to make money. So I took 30 sweaters to the market and hung them under the eaves of a shop to avoid the wind and snow. Who knows that people braved the heavy snow to go to the market in an endless stream, only after noon, the sweaters I brought were sold out! I usually care about the styles and colors I don't want to buy when I look at them, but suddenly I become extravagant and almost no longer bargain. Just one word: "buy"! In the twelfth lunar month, people seem to be "pickpockets", and even frugal people are inevitably extravagant at this time.
In recent years, young people buy new year's goods through online shopping, and the flow of people in the twelfth lunar month market has decreased, but its bustling and warm atmosphere is as always. It is a folk custom to catch up with the Spring Festival, and everyone has his own memories.
The twelfth lunar month was originally a month of sacrifice. "La" is an ancient name for "offering sacrifices" to ancestors and gods. In ancient times, every year on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, animals were hunted and sacrificed to God and ancestors to pray for longevity and avoid disaster. This memorial ceremony is called "hunting sacrifice". Because "La" and "Hunting" passed the festival, the "Hunting Festival" became "La Worship"! During the Qin Dynasty, the calendar was drawn up. December, when the old and the new alternate, was called "twelfth month" and the eighth day was called "twelfth day".
Everyone in China knows that "Laba porridge" is to be drunk in "La Ri"! Before, as the name implies, I thought "Laba porridge" was made of eight ingredients, but later I realized that it was all wet. The ancients believed that Laba porridge is a mixture of food from all directions and cooked in the same pot with rice, which means to gather all things and reconcile thousands of souls. There are different opinions about the origin of "Laba porridge", some say it comes from Buddhists, some say it comes from people's nostalgia for Yue Fei, and so on. I heard a different story when I was a child. Mother said that a long time ago, there was a young man who was lazy and didn't eat anything. By Laba this year, his family had no food to eat. The young man was hungry, so he searched the bottom of the rice jar and finally collected a little powder and grains to cook a bowl of porridge. From then on, he made up his mind to repent. This is the origin of Laba porridge. My mother's story has always influenced me, and it is also my deepest memory of Laba.
If the whole twelfth lunar month is compared to a Chinese New Year overture, Laba is the first climax of its development. From then on, as if the rapid drums sounded, "Year" officially entered a fast pace! "The kitchen god's real name is Zhang, and a bowl of rotten noodle soup every year" and "God speaks well and sends good luck back to the palace". When I heard these words, it was already next year! The most important folk activity in off-year is offering sacrifices to the kitchen god. "Twenty-three, honey melon sticks", a bowl of rotten noodle soup sent away the kitchen god, and people began to clean the courtyard and living room, remove dirt, make holiday food, and uncover the lid of "Nian Nian Girl" step by step, just like the well-known song: "Sweep the house, grinding bean curd, stew pork, kill fat chickens, make noodles, steam steamed buns ..." We have to be busy until New Year's Eve.
Memories of the twelfth lunar month are rich and colorful, and many folk customs in my hometown are unforgettable, such as killing pigs, steaming cakes and posting couplets ... Ouyang Xiu, a poet in the Song Dynasty, once said that "the light of the twelfth lunar month is like a raging wave". In a year, the twelfth lunar month is indeed a special month, and every day is full of excitement and expectation, emitting attractive fragrance. If the Chinese New Year is compared to drinking the wine of life, then the twelfth lunar month is the process of brewing this nectar. In a sense, it is this kind of experience that we enjoy during the Spring Festival. The so-called taste of the year is all in the process.
(Author: Gao Mingyu, Xi yanliang district Writers Association)