When I was a child, the greatest pleasure was to light the "trotter lamp" at 30 nights.

This is a homemade lamp. When it is lit, it is held high above the head, like a small torch.

In fact, the greatest pleasure of playing with trotter lights lies in its manufacturing process.

As early as the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, many people began to kill pigs. Of course, our children's families are very interested in killing pigs to eat meat, but they have long been eager to get sharp pig's hoof shells and covet a small piece of lard to make pig's hoof lights.

The slaughtered big fat pig, soaked in hot soup, shaved off its mane, laid the fat on the chopping board in vain, and four pointed pig hooves were stuck high.

We took a long nail, hooked it hard with the nail cap, and then hooked the pig's hoof shell down. Adults are very generous, even if you hook up with them, it's no use to them anyway.

However, it is difficult to get a piece of lard. You can't make a trotter lamp without lard. Therefore, we are always begging for lard. And they always say that such a piece of lard is enough to fry a dish.

We said we would rather eat one less dish than a piece of lard.

The Chinese New Year is coming, and adults don't want to hit their children in the face, so they can always meet our requirements and cut off a piece of lard for us in the end.

Use lard, ask your mother for a cotton twist, wrap it in lard, put it into the pig's trotter shell, and a lamp will be ready.

The last process is much simpler. Find a sorghum stalk, split one end, and clamp the trotter lamp, and you're done.

On the thirtieth night, they lit pig's trotters, greeted each other, and then walked into the street together.

Many children appeared in the street with all kinds of lanterns. Their lights can only be carried, shining low on a small piece of land under their feet; Our trotter lamp can always be held above our heads, shining very high and far.

What we are most proud of is that we made our own lamps.

Pumped gyroscope

"Yang Liuhuo, top."

These are two sentences from a nursery rhyme I learned when I was a child. It is about a game that children often play in early spring.

Gyro is a very simple toy that children can make by themselves. Find a piece of wood, cut it into a cylinder with a height of more than one inch and a diameter of more than one inch, then sharpen the lower end and put a ball at the top, and the gyro will be ready; One more whip and you can play.

When playing, you must wrap the whip from the tip and wrap it around the top. Put it straight on the ground, grab the top of the gyro with your fingers, pull the whip rope hard, and the gyro will turn on the ground, and then keep pumping it, and the more you pump it, the faster it turns.

We often play on the ice to make the top spin faster. The whip crackled and the top turned round and round. Although it is freezing, no one feels cold.

In my impression, the game of spinning top seems to be limited to boys. Now that I think about it, it may be because the game is so exciting that you must whip it once and for all before it turns; A little negligence, it will stop and tilt.

Rotating gyroscopes are also very aggressive. Several people whip together on the ice, often with whips, so that their gyroscopes can hit other people's gyroscopes at a very fast speed in order to win by knocking others down.

What impressed me most was that after the victory of 1945 in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, I don't know who changed the name of "spinning top" to "spinning traitor". The new name was quickly recognized by everyone. Speaking of "beating traitors", our whip is louder and more powerful. We regard defectors and traitors as gyroscopes and swing them around on the ice, which is very Japanese.

Sometimes, when adults watch, they will come forward and whip it with us.

Rabbit-headed clay figurine

The white rabbit has always been a child's pet. Its snow-white fluff, red eyes, and especially its docile personality make us particularly fond of it.

Every Mid-Autumn Festival, in addition to selling moon cakes, fruits and dried fruits, clay male prostitutes attract the most interest of our children.

This is a rabbit, but it is also commensurate with "Ye". There is no such honor among other animals. The word "ye" has always been associated with elders and majesty. Needless to say, when I was a child, I knew that there were "kitchen gods", "earth gods" and "wealth gods", so I should be especially awed by these "gods" so as not to get into trouble.

Although this prostitute is a "god rabbit" in Guanghan Palace, we are not afraid even if she is called "Ye". On the contrary, everyone thinks that male prostitutes are the most equal and closest to us. Every Mid-Autumn Festival, we are willing to "invite" a prostitute to play with us. The happiness it brings us is irreplaceable by other toys.

My love for male prostitutes is not only because of the warmth of real white rabbits in life, but also because of the fairy tale color of male prostitutes.

The male prostitute looks very strange. The rabbit face and human body are simply fascinating.

At that time, whenever I bought a prostitute, I always held it in my arms and looked at it face to face for a long time. Male prostitutes have wide eyes and strange clothes. Some people wear dahongpao, some people wear armor and some people wear flags. They look terrible.

Male prostitutes are not lying there, but riding tigers, lions or unicorns, as if ready to go out at any time, invincible.

Among the many male prostitutes I have bought, my favorite is a kind of male prostitute called "scratching and scratching". The prostitute's lips will move, and when she moves, she will make a "scratching" sound. It turns out that there is a line on the lip, which extends from the hollow body to the foot. When you pull it with your hand, your mouth will open and close and make a sound.

Speaking of male prostitutes, this is a symbol of the Mid-Autumn Festival; It is also a myth to replace the moon with rabbits. Rabbits live on the moon and play tricks on drugs. Yue Bai, a woman, provided a "moonlight yard"; We children imitate women and make contributions to male prostitutes. For us children, Yue Bai is a game, and male prostitutes have become our toys.

When I was a child, I would buy male prostitutes every Mid-Autumn Festival. At first, I was young, so I bought one two or three inches high. As I get older, I buy more and more male prostitutes. The biggest one I bought was a male prostitute, one foot tall.

The biggest male prostitute is two or three feet tall. I have never bought such a high one. For one thing, I can't hold it, and for another, I have no place to put it.

I haven't seen a prostitute for many years; If there are male prostitutes now, I will definitely buy a big one.

Extended data writing background:

After deeply enjoying the fun and significance brought by childhood toys, the author recalled and wrote this article, aiming to let people experience the wisdom, folk customs and history of China people in a colorful world. Feel the history of China, the culture of China and other people's childhood experiences, which reflects the wisdom of the people of China.

About the author:

Originally known as Wang Jinbo and pen name Jin Bo, he was born in 1935. Beijinger, originally from Ji County, Hebei Province (now jizhou city, Hebei Province). 196 1 Graduated from Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University. Professor of Beijing Normal University, member of Children's Literature Committee of Chinese Writers Association, director of Beijing Writers Association and director of Children's Literature Creation Committee. Published works range from 65438 to 0957. 65438-0979 Join the Chinese Writers Association.

Mr. Jin Bo started his literary creation when he was in college. His published poems include Echo, green watermelon, My Snowman, Between You and Me, Moonlit Night in the Woods, Trees in the Wind, Flowers with Rain, Let's Go and See the Sea-Sonnets for Children of Jinbo, etc. Yuben

Fairy Tales Collection: Little Leaves Fairy Tales, Golden Conch House, Adventures of Apple Lilliput, Eye Tree, shadow people, White Castle, Tracking little green men and many other works; In addition, there are prose collections such as Waiting for Good Friends, Waiting for You to Knock on the Door, Thanks for the Past and so on. Commentary collection "Pursuing the Elves".

Selected Works of Jin Bo, Selected Poems of Jin Bo's Children, Selected Works of Jin Bo, Collection of Jin Bo's Poems and Songs, etc. Many works have been included in Chinese and music textbooks for primary and secondary schools. Such as "Let's go to see the sea" and "Listen with our eyes".