"The flavor of the year in my hometown"-when I wrote this title, I understood that it was not eye-catching at all, even vulgar. But I can't find a more appropriate expression to express my feelings.
when the years pass through my life leisurely, I will be polished into an old woman. And I have no strength to fight back, so I have to admit my cowardice. Sometimes I will try to look back and see the place where the time passed by, only to find that it didn't leave me nothing, but secretly put down many, many gifts of life. Time has not wronged me.
For example, it left its distant hometown there. The more I turn around and look back, the clearer my hometown becomes. It seems to have deliberately buried a line of memories, and secretly tied one end of the line to my heart, while the other end was tied to my hometown.
I seem to miss my hometown more and more. Always in a certain mood, the thread rooted in my heart will pull me back to my hometown village. I can't help thinking. I think of my childhood and everything related to youth, which makes me forget the present and even how old I am.
Especially in recent years, homesickness has become more and more serious, and even the most beautiful place in the world is there. And when every "year" that counts life comes, my memories become particularly rich. No matter from hearing to sight to taste, memories are so real that the whole body is surrounded by the flavor of the year. Whenever I put my infinite affection back, hold on to every clue of my memory, gather every wisp of the flavor of the year in my hometown, and piece together the pictures of the New Year in my hometown, my hometown will be alive and vivid.
That year's flavor in my hometown, even if we pile up a splendid sky with gold and silver and create a gluttonous feast with delicacies, it can't be reproduced as full as it is.
The New Year in the north must be accompanied by snow. There is no snow-covered Spring Festival, and I can't imagine what it should look like. I once lived in married with children and spent several years in the south of the Yangtze River. In my eyes, the scene of that year was a little out of date, so I can't confirm that it was the New Year.
(2)
"The north wind blows, snow in the wind and snow in the wind float, and the year comes ..." This song, since I was sensible, my mother hummed and sang as soon as the root of the year approached, with high frequency. I can't appreciate the sadness of the white-haired girl, but I can hear the taste of the year from my mother's gentle and thin tone. I don't have to turn over the calendar card to know that the Chinese New Year is coming.
So, I began to think, will my parents buy me new clothes and shoes? When I think about the feeling that I can put on new clothes on Chinese New Year's Day, pick up small lanterns made of canned bottles at night, and go door to door with my good playmates to show off my new clothes, I can't help longing. I will also think, will mom buy me a new head cloth? I want a pair of pink, green, yellow and red. The headcloth made of soft tussah silk tied the messy hair and pulled out a petal, which was the love of all the little girls in the village at that time!
the smell of that year, just in my expectation, is getting stronger and stronger.
(3)
As soon as Inner Mongolia enters the twelfth lunar month, it's time to kill Nian pig. On a quiet morning, if I suddenly hear the whine of pigs piercing the sky and ringing over the village, I will suddenly wake up, push away the big civet cat under the bed with me and sit up inexplicably and excitedly! In recent years, during the twelfth lunar month, pigs wail almost every day in the morning! I figured, when will the big fat pig in my pigsty be slaughtered? Although I don't give it up and lose my life, I still want to eat its delicious meat. If I don't sacrifice it, the year will not last. The whine of pigs, in my heart, is not sad but happy, which is the opening movement of the year! As good as the white-haired girl hummed by mom, but louder and more exciting for adults and children!
As long as I can remember, every year at this time, I have climbed the northernmost hillside of the village and stood in the snow to get a panoramic view of the village. The wafting smoke from cooking stoves pervades the village, as if smelling the smell of pork. The winter sun scatters golden light all over the sky, reflecting the village surrounded by snow, which is like a fairy tale. The blue sky and the smoke rising from the kitchen combine to create a kind of power, which drags me into a deep emotion. I feel that the whole village is filled with the flavor of the year.
If you want to know whose pigs howl in the morning, you can see whose yard has bright pig blood sprayed in the snow, just like the red berries in the New Year pictures, blooming in the snow. If someone's door suddenly opens, a thick fog will pour out, and a thick smell of killing pig dishes will rush out. If I don't live up to expectations, I will swallow my saliva.
for this memorable taste, I have planned many times to go back to my hometown with my second brother and sister who live in Dalian, and spend the New Year with my eldest brother who lives in Inner Mongolia, so that my eldest brother can kill a pig, eat a few dishes to relieve the lovesickness of these years, but it never happens. After leaving my hometown, I feel that the dishes that kill pigs are not the taste of pure memory. Some people say I'm melodramatic, but I'm not.
Under normal circumstances, my big fat pig is slaughtered around Laba Festival. Although we have to raise it for a few more days, we will waste more bean cakes, but mom said she would like it to be fatter to ensure a year's oil and water. I was excited on the first day of killing pigs, and I followed my mother around. I especially like to see the two big pots of sauerkraut that she cut full, which are green and yellow on the pot table. That is the main supporting role in killing pig dishes tomorrow!
The next day, just before dawn, my parents got up on the kang. Soon, the pig-killer arrived, wearing a pig-killer knife and a shiny apron. A little while later, my pig howled and scattered plum blossoms in the yard!
on this day, the family was extremely lively. Because of a young pig, my parents invited me twice a day, two days and four days, and invited people who had friendship and people who had been in debt for a year to eat meat! That excitement is enough to resist the cold outside at MINUS 3 degrees!
after killing pigs, I started to kill chickens and geese. The delicious food that can't be eaten in ordinary days is beginning to enrich the taste buds of the family because the New Year is coming.
The flavor of the year in my hometown, because I sacrificed my mother's livestock and poultry, which have been carefully raised for four seasons, has been left in the perception system of taste, which is enough for me to touch and chew all my life.
(4)
At the end of the year, the most interesting place in the village was the supply and marketing cooperatives. Buy a few New Year pictures, how many stickers, how many firecrackers, weigh a few pounds of candy, how many pounds of frozen persimmons, how many pounds of frozen pears, and how many pounds of frozen fish. Every farmer touches the ticket in his pocket to plan. My dad, a wage earner, is not as rich as others playing with the land. But you can be poor on weekdays and rich in years. Even if the pockets are insufficient, try to meet the needs of the festival as much as possible. The door of the supply and marketing cooperative is opened in the morning and closed at dusk. During the period, people are in an endless stream. Adults may hold children with long-awaited faces in their hands, and my sister and I are willing to stay with our parents. We can always eat a few colorful sweets first. Years ago, adults could not bear to refuse their children's outstretched hands.
Snow is singing at the foot, and candy is sucked in the mouth, making a sizzling sound. The monotonous frequency, at that moment, is the most beautiful rhythm.
all kinds of fried goods, such as steamed bread, sticky bean bags, tofu, frozen skin and meat, rice dumplings with big slag, shredded radish dumplings, etc., have been frozen and stored, and the Spring Festival is almost ready. It is either hung on the beam of the barn or buried in a vat surrounded by snow. These two places have become the most attractive places before 3.
During the whole preparation year of more than one month, the cat became fat and didn't want to catch mice. Dogs get fat and become picky eaters; The children's bellies are full and their faces look like a full moon. Even adults who can eat and drink more with their children have a red face.
that flavor of the year is overflowing in the cold winter months.
At the end of the year, every household has to do a general cleaning: sweeping dust, pasting sheds and walls with paper, starching bedding, scrubbing glass, and cleaning the courtyard. It's been nearly a year. During the Chinese New Year, every household is much neater than usual, and it feels like the old look has changed.
The small year is like the big year, which is a festival climax before the new year. As soon as the off-year arrives, the Kitchen God returns to heaven to report his work to the Jade Emperor. When eating jiaozi in the evening of off-year, first take out a few and give them to the kitchen god who has been working on duty above the stove, and then light the incense sticks. After a note of incense burned out, mom knocked on three heads respectfully, chanting in her mouth: Kitchen King, I'll send you away. You have to ask for more blessings for your family when you go to heaven to ensure their safety. Then, he took down the portrait of the kitchen god, which said that God would say good things and keep the next peace, and lit it in the brazier. The portrait turned into a pile of paper dust, and the kitchen god ascended to heaven. If I saw my mother send the kitchen god one year, I would stare at the paper dust, as if I saw the kitchen god blinking, and I was cold all over, so I quickly avoided it.
When I grow up, I will understand that any traditional festival in China actually has a certain color of myth or superstition. But if there is no implantation of these colors, will the festival become pale and tasteless?
After the Spring Festival, tall lantern poles are erected. Red lanterns and colorful flags float above the white snow and are gorgeous under the blue sky. The wind gear is also whizzing on the pole! Firecracker racks have also been set up, Spring Festival couplets have also been posted on the door and window frames, colorful hanging stickers are floating on the door and window frames, and New Year pictures have also been posted on the walls pasted with new paper. On the 3th of the year, people will be dressed in colorful clothes and come with joy.
(5)
In the morning of 3, it was just dawn, and it wasn't long before the cock crowed, and firecrackers crackled and woke up the village! Dad also put ten eight kicks in early. Mom has stood in the kitchen and started to light the stove, busy with the lunch reunion dinner. At the age when I couldn't help her, she and dad cooperated in everything. Mom took out a charcoal fire from the stove pit, put it in a charcoal fire basin, and let the children kang together, and she felt that the room was warm. That kind of happiness has been shelved in my heart, and every year, it will remind me of that kind of warmth.
years ago, more than a month of preparation, I can't wait to have everything counted on the table. The days in winter are short, so we usually have two meals there. About ten o'clock in the morning, the whole family sat on the hot kang, surrounded by a table full of dishes and bowls, and ate the most abundant annual meal of the year!
After dinner, adults and children strolled away contentedly. When we meet on the road, we will ask each other loudly, how many dishes did your family cook this noon? Hey, hey, let's just say that those who answered this question said that ten and eight dishes were few! Most of the time, there are twelve dishes in my family, and I can still tell roughly what dishes are there.
(6)
On New Year's Eve, there is a highlight that must be sung every year. As soon as the play appeared, there was a strong sense of mystery in the taste of the year. That kind of mystery begins with the moment when you ask for genealogy and ancestral tablets! Genealogy is usually hung in the north of the kitchen, with tables in front, memorial tablets on the tables, flowers, candlesticks and incense burner bowls. We must also give our ancestors a busy table to eat, and the whole table will be colorful. At the mercy of all this, we must do it well before family lunch to show our respect for the immortals.
At dusk, adults and children should carry lanterns, take incense and firecrackers to burn paper money, and go to the crossroads at the head of the village to welcome their ancestors back for the New Year. Please come to jiaozi for the last year, and then let the cigarettes on the altar fill the air, and the red candle will be brilliant! Then, the whole family can get on the kang and eat in jiaozi around the steaming table. From the moment when the ancestors please go home, adults and children can't say unlucky things, fearing that their ancestors will be taboo and that one year will be unsatisfactory. This point, adults and children, will remember it tightly and dare not lose their words.
The mystery on the altar permeates my whole childhood memory. When I walked into the altar in the outhouse, I was too careful to speak loudly. I firmly believe that I can't see the ancestors at the party on the table, but they can definitely see me. I'm afraid that if I offend them carelessly, they will show their true colors to scare me. I'm really afraid! After every year, there are vivid people telling the story, and I believe it.
(7)
After inviting jiaozi in 28 to eat, the sun has long since gone. My parents went into the barn to take out the frozen persimmons, pears, and fruits, and put them all into a big basin. Then they scooped a few scoops of water without fruit, waiting for the glittering and translucent ice core to grow outside the peel. When squeezed by hand, the ice core was broken. Then suck it with your mouth and turn it into soft fruit, the sweet, sour and refreshing juice, which is simply wonderful! Extremely greasy!
After mom took care of everything, she began to prepare for the "purple" jiaozi. When I'm old enough to get started, I'll take care of jiaozi's work, that is, my parents and the three of me will work together. It is mom's request that the stuffing should be big and the skin should be thin. Pack jiaozi at midnight, and pack eight steel shovels. Whoever eats it will be lucky and rich. Strangely, the father of the head of the family rarely eats first in his memory. Mom said he was born poor. Most of the steel shovel was eaten by four children.
I remember the warmth of the whole day at 3. The kitchen has been steaming, and the charcoal on the kang and the brazier has been constant. This is the warmest day in the whole winter. The child's frostbitten hand is a little sore and itchy because of this warmth. My parents took out melon seeds, candy and cigarettes early and put them on the table for the villagers to visit in twos and threes. It seems that the whole village is just a big and peaceful family.
In those years when there was no TV in my memory, after the New Year's dinner, the children's fun was to put on new clothes and visit with lanterns. Adults also visit each other and pay New Year greetings early! Wait until the moment of "purple" at twelve o'clock, and the taste of the year rises to the extreme! Grab the year, meaning to grab the god of wealth! Therefore, many people can't wait for midnight to turn purple! I can't wait to start at ten o'clock. Some people are very calm and pinch the hour to meet the god of wealth. My family won the lottery and started at almost eleven o'clock. So, firecrackers can be set off for nearly two hours.
It was also at this time that the God of Wealth scatterers began to go door to door. Holding a dozen statues of the god of wealth in his hand, he entered people's yard and began to shout auspicious words: the god of wealth has arrived, and your family's fortune is coming! Some accompanied by Allegro. No way, so, at this time, adults should prepare a few dollars in advance in their pockets to send people who come to scatter the god of wealth. Sometimes when it turns purple, there will be several God of Wealth scatterers, and adults can't drive them away, which is unlucky.
no matter what year, some people will read business! On the midnight of a New Year's Day, this god of wealth scatterer made a lot of money.
(8)
When it turns purple, before morning, as long as one family beats the others, it will attract everyone to rob it. As a result, the whole village began to set off firecrackers and fireworks, and the sounds of crackling, squeaking and squeaking were endless! Red lanterns lit early are dotted with the smoke from firecrackers. The midnight of the whole village is as wonderful as a fairyland! The children watched the adults set off firecrackers, cheering and jumping for joy, and from time to time they had to cover their ears and run away, because when the two kicks were flying, the sound was no less than thunder! At the moment of purple, the sky above the village is full of smoke, and the air is full of the smell of explosives. It smells good, and it is indeed the taste of New Year's Day!
Because of the purple color, firewood stacks are ignited by flying saucers and monkeys every year! The adults rushed to the burning firewood pile from all sides to help put out the fire. Children clap their hands and applaud, and the flames are soaring, which is more enjoyable than watching firecrackers! Children can't feel it at all.