When I think of this word, I always subconsciously rule out its connection with Qu Yuan and Mi Luojiang. Sweet and soft, linked with patriotic poets who are loved and respected, writing is not a love song, but a kind of sadness full of helplessness. Maybe this is the root of my resistance.
I still remember when I was a child, the Dragon Boat Festival was quite grand, and the festive atmosphere was rendered early.
At the beginning of the fifth lunar month, everyone is busy buying glutinous rice, beating reed leaves, inquiring with others or stepping on their own to find out which reeds are more lush and which ones have not been swept away. Reed leaves should be broad, fresh and tender, free from insect eyes and cracks, and free from spider silk entanglement. Knives and scissors were prepared in advance, the list was made, the date and place were set, and the party began in a mighty way.
At that time, I was still young, and I didn't realize that I was insatiable, so I broke a reed that grew just right. These days, my master will concentrate on guarding it. It's not that I am stingy with those reed leaves, but that I allow you to pick them, and even accompany you to pick them. I know it's not the master who has leisure time. He is afraid of this wave of monkeys and children. He didn't know it was money to protect the well-growing reeds. If the host is not active, he will be miserable wherever he goes. Therefore, every time he meets his incorrigible master, his face really turns black.
Even so, nobody cares. Become an unattended reed and continue to go its own way. My fingers were strangled by sharp reed leaves, and my body was covered with impurities falling from the old tree. Being tickled all over by unidentified floating objects can't offset the excitement of picking reed leaves to play.
After the reed leaves are picked, they are trimmed first, and then rolled in boiling water in a large pot. The dried straw is soaked in water to soften and used as a tie for binding rice. The next step is to choose rice soaked in rice. Generally, it is soaked in some relatively large basins of clean groundwater. That is, drilling tens of meters of groundwater with machines is clean, sweet and pollution-free. How much glutinous rice is soaked in how much water, and how long it takes to package, the impression is based on feelings, because I have never seen an old man weigh rice and measure water, nor have I ever seen a fixed point and timing, but they are properly matched every time. I specifically asked my grandmother and my mother, and they all just smiled.
Glutinous rice is a specialty of my hometown, and it tastes mellow and thick. However, if it is soft, it may pull down many rain-rich places in the south, which is also due to soil quality. Our hometown is located in the south of the eastern part of the country, and most of the sandy land has no water storage, so the rain has been penetrating deeply, so it is not suitable for planting rice. The other is clay land, which can store water but is airtight. The rice we grow is the kind we often eat. It is rough and dry.
Most fillings are prepared according to their own tastes, such as candied dates, peanuts, red beans, salted egg yolk, waxy meat, fresh meat, diced ham and so on. It's spicy, sweet and delicious, with all kinds of flavors. While helping parents, we have innovated a pure white rice wrapped in reed leaves in a flat triangle, which can be swallowed in one gulp.
There is also the most classic one, that is, a bamboo tube filled with five colors of glutinous rice, dates, peanuts and black sesame seeds, which are sold along the street. The bamboo tube is made of cyan tender bamboo, polished inside and outside, split in two, leaving half as the bottom, sealed with reed leaves or lotus leaves, steamed and neatly placed in a clean wooden barrel, covered with a small white cotton bag for insulation. When someone comes to buy it, the seller will help you open the bamboo tube and adjust the taste you want, pile it in a delicate white plate and eat it on the endless street. No one makes a fuss. Bamboo tube stuffing is pleasing to the eye, loose and soft in taste, and has a clear fragrance of mixed reed leaves and bamboo leaves, which is completely different from the stuffing wrapped with reed leaves.
I still remember that the seller was an old lady from other places. Every night, she speaks the dialect of their hometown and shouts, "Hey, hot rice, hot rice-". In fact, she shouted glutinous rice, but the inarticulate cry became her exclusive signboard.
In fact, in the final analysis, the dishes she cooked are authentic and the materials used are exquisite. Later, she gradually became one of the four snacks in the town, such as the petals of hemp leaves and broad beans, fat biscuits and "Liu's hot soup". They are far ahead of similar snacks in taste. Of course, it is absolutely nothing among all kinds of desserts and snacks that have been refurbished, but it brought us great satisfaction at that time. Now that the conditions are good, we hardly have the urge to look forward to and can't wait to taste a certain food, which is a pity.
The steaming bamboo tube quilt stretched by the sunset and the freeze-frame of "Ai, warm rice, hot quilt-"warmed our whole childhood memory.
During the Dragon Boat Festival, I have recalled the scene of my childhood Dragon Boat Festival many times: eating rice balls and watching the dragon boat paddle, missing the whistle bought by 10 cents, made of yellow mud, a little colored paper, a bamboo stick and two or three chicken feathers, and blowing the sound of "beep". These childhood memories make me look back on the past from time to time, and the unforgettable significance of the old days still exists. When I was alone in a foreign land, or when the rain knocked on the window at night, these beautiful memories have accompanied me through many lonely times. Now I smell the fragrance floating outside the window and know that the Dragon Boat Festival is coming. That cherished memory is still filled with the sweetness of the years, and it is even stronger in my heart.
For a time, in anticipation, ushered in the annual Dragon Boat Festival. In order to watch the dragon boat race in Qingxi River, I got up early because I couldn't sleep. With two children, together with the children next door, I rushed to the Qingxi River outside the south gate to watch the dragon boat race. The leading child is Wang Wu, who ranks fifth in the family. We all call him Five. Usually, he always takes the lead in climbing mountains and wading, catching sparrows and crickets, and today is no exception. The children's faces are filled with happy smiles, and you chase after me and skip to the river port. We walked through Xiao Su Street paved with stone slabs, and the old street in the morning woke up in my sleep. Zhao Jia Teahouse is also crowded with people who get up early to drink tea. Guys are shouting "Tea" and shuttling through the teahouse to pour tea for the tea drinkers. Snack vendors echoed in the street, including "spiced broad beans", "rice cake" and "glutinous rice cake". The most unforgettable thing is the rich fragrance floating over the market. It really makes people feel that the different atmosphere of the Dragon Boat Festival permeates the ancient streets.
The stone floor in the street is covered with green calamus and mugwort leaves, and the fragrance of leaves is floating in the market. This is sold by farmers in the suburbs of the city. During the Dragon Boat Festival, every household hangs mugwort leaves at the gate to ward off evil spirits. Using calamus as a sword and inserting it on the lintel has the magical effect of exorcising ghosts. This is something that every family must do. My mother bought it yesterday and put it at home. At dawn, she hung calamus and mugwort leaves on the lintel to ward off evil spirits and pray for peace for one year.
Out of the old street, came to the mottled incomplete gate, * * * covered with dirt on the wall covered with vines, unknown wildflowers are still open. The arch-shaped city gate hole dripped with water, and I walked into the city gate hole in broken walls, and the cool wind came to me. A group of our friends came to Qingxi River. The river is crystal clear and the waves are rough under the bridge. The river beat against the rocks under the bridge, splashing several feet high. The first people crowded on the river bank to help the old and young. Some children sit on the shoulders of adults and play bamboo flutes with rooster hair. Several children also climbed to the willow tree by the river with their necks crooked. There are noisy people everywhere, and there are turbulent people everywhere. Tongji Bridge is also crowded with people. It's a perfect booth, and the whole boiling river can be seen at a glance.
I can only see more than a dozen dragon boats in the upper reaches of the river. They are different from ordinary fishing boats. They are long and narrow, with a faucet on the helmet and a dragon tail at the stern. The head and tail of the dragon are carved with wood and colored. The colors of faucets are red, yellow and white, and the beard on the faucets is brought to life by the river wind. The dragon boat is full of gongs and drums, and the sailors are eager to try. In front of the dragon boat, there is a big float in new clothes, which is covered with paint, just like a big stage on the water, with colorful flags fluttering in the wind. At the same time, the ship was full of drums and music, and Hua Dan, Xiao Sheng and the clown in costume seemed to be putting on a costume drama. Clowns turn hollow somersaults at the bow, one after another dazzling.
With the deafening cries on the dragon boat and the cheers of the people on the shore, a burst of gongs and drums resounded through the Qingxi River, and the dragon boat race began. I saw a dragon boat sailing down the river like an arrow leaving the string, and white waves paved a white practice path behind the boat. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, a colorful chain is flying in the river. My five children and I cheered in the crowd and ran along the shore with the dragon boat. The whole river was boiling. The river rushed to the shore, and our shoes were soaked by the river while running. With the sound of gongs and drums on the dragon boat, we and the people on the shore crowded and ran to the lower reaches of the river, cheering for the dragon boat like arrows.
At noon, we hurried home for dinner. "Dragon Boat Festival is early, Mid-Autumn Festival is late". Today's lunch must be rich. We must drink realgar wine, which is the wine of Dragon Boat Festival. But only adults can drink it, and children can't. Adults dip their hands in wine and rub foam on children's faces, ears, nose, palms and feet, saying that this can exorcise evil spirits and detoxify. In Legend of the White Snake, the white snake didn't show its true body until it drank realgar wine, and the ashes of time were also afraid of realgar wine.
It's cool outside on the night of Dragon Boat Festival, and the night sky in summer is so deep and quiet. Listening to my mother chatting with her neighbors, I know that the Dragon Boat Festival is to commemorate the ancient patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Beautiful and touching stories lit up my dim heart like twinkling stars in the night sky.
The fragrance floated out of the window again. The traditional delicacies and rich folk culture charm of Dragon Boat Festival are still passed down silently with the passage of time. It is a national spirit and a long history, which makes the folk culture of the Dragon Boat Festival endless and precious in the long river of years! Although time has passed, things have changed. But I still repeat these unforgettable stories in my mind, savoring the ups and downs of life in silence.
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