National Tide 1980

"...Probably after sending the God of Wealth to the God of Wealth, the offerings in front of the Buddha should be arranged in each household, and incense should be burned and scattered. All the houses should also be tidy up and look brand new. All the New Year pictures that should be posted have long been posted. , the New Year's couplets are also pasted up in bright red. In the past, there was a saying about pasting couplets, as long as the couplets are pasted on the New Year's Eve, creditors are not allowed to come to this house to 'demand debt'."

"Although I say this, I have never seen such a fact. In the past, buyers and sellers were responsible for collecting debts and running away. All of them were like smart-mouthed starlings who could talk. If you really want to owe debts, don't say anything. Post a pair, even if you set up a machine gun, it will still come."

"At this time, even the yard that has been messy for a long time must be cleaned up, and everything is neat and tidy. Firstly, it is the Chinese New Year, and secondly, it is the new year. Who doesn't have a family with three relatives and two friends? Normally? I don’t have time to go back and forth, so I have to come during the Chinese New Year, so it’s for people to see.”

"But the yard can't be kept tidy for long. Once it gets really dark and the lights are turned off, the yard will be messed up again. Because according to the old calendar, people have to spread sesame straw on the ground in the yard. It's all messy. ,Everywhere."

"What is sesame straw? It is the sesame straw that is left over after the sesame seeds are fully cooked, punched down through the head, and all the sesame grains are knocked out, which can be used to make fire. This thing was used on New Year's Eve in the past. , it is an indispensable thing. Those who sell this thing in the next year are selling by quantity. There are only five or six trees in a handful. How many trees each family buys depends on the size of the yard. "

"What's the purpose of paving it in the yard? It's just for people to step on. It's all dry sesame straw. When people walk on it, there will be a "chirp, chirp, chirp" noise under their feet. Put these If the toy is stepped on, it will bring good luck, which means 'stepping on the New Year'."

Kang Shude sat at the dining table with leftovers, immersed in the old days.

He sipped the fragrant tea after the meal and spoke slowly about the past years.

As a result, as we talked about it, inadvertently, the traditional customs mentioned by the old man actually had something in common with Western Christmas.

"Inseparable from the sesame straw, there is another kind of New Year decoration. It is pine branches and cypress branches. These kinds of things are sold together. The closer the New Year is, the more you can pick from all over the countryside. The more things are sold in the city, the more joyful the shouting becomes. The Ma Family Garden is different from other families in this regard. You don’t need to buy anything. There are fixed people who give gifts every year. The gravekeepers who look after the Ma family’s graves will be specially trained. I made a quick trip, and on New Year’s Eve, a big truck brought it and put it in the garden.”

"But unlike sesame straw, pine and cypress branches are not meant to be stepped on. They are meant to be decorated beautifully. They take a little bit of the green vitality of nature to make the pines and cypresses evergreen. Although they will also be scattered on the ground, But it must be spread on top of sesame straw. In the past, the grass under Nian Gen'er in Beiping was withered and yellow, and there were only dead branches on the trees. It is too difficult for ordinary people to see some vivid colors."

For this reason, Ning Weimin couldn't help being surprised and moved at the same time.

He suddenly thought of something.

Although the cultural differences between the East and the West are huge, they seem to be two different worlds, and everything in life is therefore completely different.

But in fact, whether it is using religion as an excuse, or using cultural origins and values ​​as excuses.

It seems that nothing can hinder or change human beings' basic aesthetics and yearning for happiness and beauty.

Holiday customs can fully reflect this.

On the surface, the Spring Festival and Christmas are not even close to each other.

The time is different, the nature is different, the meaning is different, and the origin is also different.

But they coincide in many aspects.

For example, the two holidays are surprisingly consistent in terms of the necessity of family reunions, bright lights, and abundant food.

For another example, we get sesame straw and step on it to seek good luck. Westerners also rely on mistletoe to pray for luck.

And no matter where people are, they will be attracted by the vitality of evergreen plants due to the cold and dryness of winter, and use them as the best decorations for the festival.

This is the commonality based on human nature.

Through the old man's narration, Ning Weimin also discovered that our traditional customs are actually very interesting and rich.

It is not as interesting, colorful and romantic as Western festivals as many people think.

Now he suddenly understood that these interesting traditions had just been forgotten by time.

The reason is nothing more than economic factors, because celebrating the festival costs money.

Just imagine, the country is weak, the people are poor, and materials are expensive and scarce. How can we maintain these traditional customs?

What can be left behind is probably just the basic needs for survival.

He couldn't help but regret this in his heart, because it was indeed a little late for the master to tell him about the sesame straw.

Otherwise, if he had known earlier, this year he could have allocated a piece of land in the Temple of Heaven Park and spread it with some sesame straw for the visitors to the New Year garden party to step on.

This is also a restoration of tradition, which must be very attractive to everyone, and it is also meaningful.

He really doesn't want to wait until the country becomes rich in the future and people don't know how to enjoy life.

"...these things spread on the ground are not allowed to be swept away before the 'breaking five'. The euphemistic name is that they are afraid of sweeping away the 'wealth'. In fact, it is essentially to make the lazy bones. During the New Year, in addition to eating, drinking and having fun, Sleep and do nothing. I can’t blame everyone for wanting to celebrate the New Year, right?”

"It's just that most people have debts to pay. In the era of chaos and chaos, there are only a few people who have the conditions to enjoy it with peace of mind. So this is not something to blame. People in the old days are like money-obsessed uncles. When the New Year comes, Always looking forward to getting rich. In the past New Year, when people met each other, the first thing they said was, 'I will get rich'. Or it would be 'Congratulations on getting rich'. When eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year, you have to say that the dumplings are called 'Yuanbao'. "

"Even the dumplings on New Year's Eve must be filled with a small amount of money. Most of them are Guangxu Tongbao or half a dozen. Even the children are fighting to eat the dumplings. Everyone wants to eat the small money. Son, the picture is that the auspicious stars will shine in the coming year, and wealth will be at the forefront. But the result is that the more people want to eat, the less they can eat. Without talking about anything else, let’s talk about Mr. Song’s family. Every New Year’s Eve dumplings are made for a small amount of money. Finally, I ate them. The dumplings were all discovered by me and fell into my hands. Do you know why?"

Maybe the master and the apprentice really have something in common with each other to some extent.

Listening to the old man's story, Ning Weimin just thought about the need for financial support to maintain tradition.

Unexpectedly, the old man changed the topic and talked about why Chinese people always look forward to getting rich during the Chinese New Year, and cannot do without the word money.

There is actually a certain reason why we care about co-authorship now. In the years that we cannot look back on, people have been forced to use the word "poor".

Qi Qi was unprepared, and finally heard the old man ask himself such an interesting question.

Ning Weimin couldn't help but use his brain and thought hard to answer.

"Did you cheat? You made a mark, or you deliberately left the money-wrapped dumplings..."

"It's silly. The dumplings were mixed together when they were being made. They were sent to the kitchen to unify the pot and then fished out with a strainer. Can I find which one they are?"

"Then...that's Mr. Song cheating. He deliberately stayed here and cooked it for you to eat..."

"It doesn't matter, Mr. Song is not tired, even for his own son. Not to mention I am a young apprentice."

"Either you were the one who brought the dumplings, and when you came out of the kitchen, you kept touching them, and you could find traces of coins through the shape of the dumpling wrappers..."

"Screw you, how could such a thing happen?"

"Then...then I really can't think of it. It can't be attributed to your luck, right?"

Kang Shude felt happy when he saw that his apprentice was thinking in vain and had to admit defeat in the end.

"Haha, you kid always thinks you're smart, but you can't figure out such a simple question."

Then the answer was revealed, "Okay, let me tell you, what's going on? It's because the Song family's Chinese New Year dumplings require thin skin and large fillings. And the Japanese lady who makes the dumplings listens too much to Mr. Song. Think about it, Good dumplings, if the skin is too thin, will break if you are not careful, let alone the dumplings with money. Every New Year's Eve, the dumplings made by others are fine. Only Japanese ladies love to make dumplings. Every time, she put the money in. As a result, the money had to fall to the bottom of the pot. I fished it out once after drinking dumpling soup, and I knew where to find money every time."

This answer was reasonable and unexpected, and it immediately made Ning Weimin laugh.

And he gave me a thumbs up, sincerely applauding.

"Master, you are really talented! Your paragraph is quite good. It is almost the same as Ma Sanli's "Family Secret Recipe". It is enough to make up a short cross talk paragraph!"

In this way, the master and apprentice spent half the night chatting and laughing.

By the time Luo Guangliang finished the New Year's Eve dinner with his family and came over at around eight o'clock in the evening, the energy of the father and son had not yet passed.

It happened that at this time, the old man had just talked about the old days of staying up late and the various games that adults and children played to kill time in order to stay up late.

Ning Weimin became interested and asked the old man to follow the old method and take them to experience it for himself.

Kang Shude couldn't refuse, so he asked Ning Weimin to get a bigger bowl, and he got three dice and taught them how to play "monkey chasing".

This is a dice game in the past in which winning or losing was determined by the number of dice points. Any number of people can participate, but one person must be the banker.

The rules are also very simple.

The banker is afraid of throwing a little "monkey eye" and also afraid of throwing a "one, two, three", which is called "little whip".

Or "two, three, four", which is called "rubbing".

All of these are subject to compensation.

The best throw is "Sky Monkey", or "Shunner" of "Four, Five, Six", or three identical "Baozi".

That is the key to "complete victory".

If you find it too complicated, there is a simple way to play with two dices, to throw "seven continuations, eight draws, and nine ends of the pot".

What does that mean? Two dice, at most a total of twelve points.

When playing, everyone agrees on a certain amount, and everyone puts in a share.

Whoever throws out seven points puts another one in.

Whoever throws out eight points gets one portion back.

If you can really throw nine points, no matter how much is in the pot, you will receive it all as a gift.

Except for the points of seven, eight or nine, everything else will not count and will be re-rolled.

So for the rest of the night, the old and the young had something to do.

The three ivory dice collected by Kang Shude were thrown into a large safflower bowl from the Xianfeng official kiln found by Ning Weimin.

This crisp sound of tinkling sounds is far more attractive than the Spring Festival Gala on TV.

A dollar-a-dollar gambling game is surprisingly exciting. Who wants to watch TV?

Not to mention Ning Weimin and Luo Guangliang were fully focused and enjoying themselves, even Kang Shude, who was playing with them, was equally devoted.

Actually speaking, it's not this kind of doll gambling that is so attractive to the old man.

The main reason is that I haven't heard this kind of crisp sound for many years, which reminds the old man of the old days.

In Kang Shude's impression, the white-bearded Mr. Lan who lived in the same house with him always used "monkey chasing" to win him, Li Li, and Xiao Zhong into crying at the end of the year.

First they wiped out all their money, and finally they laughed and returned it intact, just to tease their children.

Unexpectedly, today, he would also play the role of Master Lan in the past.

Naturally, they are also determined to let Ning Weimin and Luo Guangliang experience this kind of life where extreme joy brings sorrow, and joy comes from sorrow.

Just spend money? Where can I buy this kind of music, right?