The year when we were young was called Chinese New Year.

When I was a child, the thing I wanted to do most in a year was Chinese New Year.

Now that I think about it, there are probably several reasons: First, I can wear new clothes; Second, you can eat meat; Third, you can have fun with your friends.

Today's post-80s and post-90s may not think that their parents lived in an era of extreme material scarcity. Only during the Spring Festival in a year can you buy a new dress and become addicted to it.

At that time, although people had no worries about food and clothing, their lives were simple, there was no pressure, and the communication between people was not as complicated as it is now, so they were happier.

Take our children for example. At that time, although there were no televisions, Internet cafes or even mobile phones, children could still play many tricks, such as making a decent musket, pushing iron rings, playing with glass balls, playing bia (four corners folded with paper) and so on, and even skating in the pond near the village. Girls can kick shuttlecock and jump rope.

There were no classes at that time, and there were few in winter vacation homework. Chinese New Year is just about eating and having fun. Unlike today's children, they have to go to various cram schools and interest classes after the holidays, and they are busier than usual.

The real China New Year begins on the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month. Lao Xu's hometown is in Xindian Township, a demonstration area, where there is a saying: Twenty-three, whip; Twenty-four, sweeping the house; Twenty-five, grinding bean curd; Twenty-six, cut meat; Twenty-seven, kill the chicken; Twenty-eight, decals; Twenty-nine, go drinking; Thirty, pinch your nose; The first day, the arch ridge.

Twenty-three is a small year in the traditional sense, so there is a saying in China that "twenty-three sons, put a whip". On this night, every household will set off smaller firecrackers, and if conditions are better, they will buy some barbed rockets for their children to play with.

On this night, almost every family will eat the same thing: burning steamed bread. As for why we should eat steamed bread on this day, there is a saying that the kitchen god will celebrate the New Year in heaven on the 23rd, so that he can eat enough, meet the Jade Emperor and speak for the people, and bless the bumper harvest and peace in the next four seasons. But I think it may also be related to poverty at that time. At ordinary times, everyone relies on wowotou to satisfy their hunger. On this day, a few fires are lit on the kang, which is equivalent to eating white flour buns.

Speaking of Kitchen God, this is also an indispensable custom in Nanyang. Pay attention to a little family, before dinner, will respectfully stick a portrait of the kitchen god next to the stove, put sesame sugar, fruit and so on. Then light some incense and pray for the safety of the family. It is said that the kitchen god will be very sweet when he eats sesame candy. When he met the Jade Emperor, he chose the right words.

Because it is a young year, it is natural for every family to have a New Year's Eve dinner. On this day every year, my family will make a large pot of cardiopulmonary soup with vermicelli and other accessories, which is very delicious. Later, I learned that I bought heart and lung because it was cheap. But this habit was still preserved by our brother. That night 23 years ago, I called several brothers and everyone made heart-lung soup in unison.

Twenty-four, sweep the house.

On this day, every household began to clean. This custom has a long history. According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", China had the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the Yao and Shun era. According to the folk saying, "dust" and "Chen" are homophonic, and the dust removal on this day means "getting rid of the old and not being new", which is intended to sweep away all "unlucky" and "unlucky". It entrusts people's desire to break the old and create new ones and their prayers to bid farewell to the old and usher in the new.

It should be noted that on this day, you can go through everything, but you must handle it carefully and try to avoid breaking damaged items. If you are not careful, you should read a sin, because the great god is not here, so the little god will not report your fault again.

On this day, even if there is something unsatisfactory between husband and wife, don't quarrel. Even if the company doesn't have a holiday, take time out to clean the house symbolically.

Twenty-five, grinding bean curd.

When I was a child, there was a tofu mill in the village. Usually tofu shops don't make tofu every day because everyone can't afford it. But China New Year is an exception. A few days in advance, the tofu shop will make a lot of tofu. On the 25th, every household will take soybeans to the tofu shop to change tofu.

Tofu at that time did not contain any chemical additives. Soymilk is ground by a donkey pulled by a stone mill, just like the picture above, then boiled and filtered in a big cloth bag, then made of gypsum and squeezed with bricks. At that time, tofu tasted pure, fragrant and delicious, unlike tofu on the market now, and it didn't taste like tofu.

Twenty-six, go to cut the meat.

On this day, every household will go to the nearby market to buy meat. I went to buy meat on this day. Now I think about it, probably because there was no refrigerator before. I bought it early, and when my relatives came during the Spring Festival, the meat went bad. It's too late, and killing pigs and sheep can't catch up with the New Year.

When I was a child, people often got up early to go to the market on this day. Get up early to buy, so that you can buy fat. At that time, people were greedy, so fat meat became a hot commodity. Not like now. I am tired of eating big fish and meat at ordinary times, and I will pick out a little fat and throw it away when cooking.

But not all families can buy meat on this day. People who are a little poorer may think that the meat is expensive this day, and then wait day by day. As a result, the price of meat has been as high as 30. At this time, they have to be determined to cut a few catties of meat for jiaozi or leave some guests. This happened every year when I was a child, and others would laugh when they knew it. Now that I think about it, a bitter tear.

Twenty-seven, kill the stove chicken.

Despite this statement, in fact, on this day, few people really kill chickens. At that time, chickens were the treasure of the family. Usually the eggs laid are left to the elders to replenish their bodies or sold to supplement their families. Few people will be willing to kill chickens.

If you can eat a few pieces of chicken when visiting relatives, it must be a guest of honor. Anyway, I didn't eat chicken much when I was a child.

Twenty-eight, decals.

The decals mentioned here are actually couplets. On this day, every household will put couplets on the gate and yard, inside and outside the house, except which one has something to do for three years.

At that time, couplets were very particular, almost all of them were written by themselves. If you can't write, you should also find someone in your village who can write and ask them to write a few pairs. In addition to the gate, couplets should also be posted on the door of each room.

When you are in the yard, you should post some "spring scenery in the yard"; On the tree at the door, you should post "Go out and see happiness"; Where the grain is stored, it shall be labeled as "Harvest of Grains"; Kitchen fire room, posted "be careful with the lights"; On the water tank, it is labeled "continuous flow"; On the shelf car, there is a sticker that says, "Travel thousands of miles a day and 800 at night"; Bedside, stick "good health"; I'm going to write a lot of "fu" words and stick them in the corner.

Our couplets are all written by ourselves. Usually it's our two brothers, each writing a pair. Then, it was copied by my father and my third brother, who had better calligraphy. Perhaps because of this habit, every Spring Festival, I will pay special attention to other people's couplets, and I will use notes when I meet good ones. Now that I think about it, this is also a form of literary expression.

Twenty-nine, fill up the wine.

Drinking is a traditional custom and etiquette of the Chinese nation. Of course, wine is indispensable in the Spring Festival. There was no red wine when I was a child, but every family bought some white wine and yellow wine more or less. The reason why we say "drinking" is because most families can't afford bottled liquor at all, so they buy some bulk wine in plastic or pottery pots at the agency to entertain their guests.

At that time, it was customary to use an alcohol stove to heat the wine before drinking it. Generally, there are eight small handles on the table, but they are not big. Unlike the small handle in the hotel now, there are as many as one or two cups, which seems to be purely for promoting wine.

At that time, drinking was a family. It is best for the host family to entertain guests when they are drunk, otherwise there will be suspicion of poor hospitality.

Thirty, pinch your nose.

"Pinch your nose" here refers to Bao jiaozi, and we also call jiaozi "flat food" here, but this word is rarely said now.

As for why we eat jiaozi on the 30th night, this custom has existed since ancient times. It is said that jiaozi is shaped like an ingot, which means making a fortune. There is also a saying that "jiao" and "jiao" are homophonic, meaning happy reunion and good luck. Some people put a coin in one of them when they buy jiaozi. Whoever eats is the luckiest. Of course, this practice seems to be neither scientific nor hygienic. Let's not do this again.

Besides jiaozi in the evening, our lunch at noon is probably the most abundant. Parents will stew a large pot of meat and radish in a large iron pot. This is the only meal of the year. You can eat as much meat as you can. At that time, I was greedy and picky about fat. I often can't eat much, so I feel very uncomfortable.

The first day, the arch ridge.

The "arch ridge" mentioned here actually refers to bowing, which means to pay a New Year call.

On this day, children should not only pay New Year greetings to their parents, but also pay New Year greetings to other elders. At that time, we didn't have any red envelopes. Except for an octagon given by our parents, most other elders would give some candy.

It is also a custom not to wake people up in the morning of the first day of junior high school. So we will all stay up until the evening of the 30th 12. Because at this time, many people began to shoot. Our children's home, the greatest pleasure is to run from house to house to pick up guns. Then everyone got together to see who picked up the most guns and who picked up the most guns. Then, break firecrackers and poke fire.

At that time, everyone would fire a few zero guns before shooting, which was equivalent to releasing a signal to everyone: our family is ready to shoot, and everyone is welcome to pick it up. Many times, when we hear which one has fired zero shots, we will run like crazy to seize the favorable terrain. Sometimes, when the main house is left standing, a large number of firecrackers will be jumped down. At this time, everyone will pile together and try their best to hold them in their arms. Some are still ringing in their pockets. Of course, hand injuries are also common. But everyone seems to be strong. Just wrap it in cloth and keep scratching.

On the first day, there was another custom: going to the grave. Generally, the elders lead the younger generation to their graves and burn paper for each grave one by one. The offering must have a few pieces of cooked fat, with one or two pairs of chopsticks on it, and ten steamed buns on each grave. After the offerings are set, we will start burning paper and shooting.

I didn't know the true meaning of ancestor worship when I was a child. Now I understand that it is the elders who are giving us a truth of being a man from generation to generation: people should not forget their roots.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I went back to my parents' house.

From the second day to the fifteenth day of the first month, this time is the time to visit relatives. The relatives who left on the first day were, of course, the parents' home, that is, the children's uncle's home. If there are no new guests, my uncle's house must go.

When a daughter goes out to her parents' house, she must bring one thing, that is, a gift, preferably a gift with a kidney. Just mix a few others casually, but it must be an even number. Moreover, if there are several brothers in the bride's family, prepare some gifts.

Girls usually bring heavier gifts when they return to their parents' home in the first year. Of course, the red envelope given by her family in the first year must be very big.

On the fifth day, Nanyang people called it breaking five.

This morning, people can throw out the garbage accumulated for several days during the Spring Festival. People get up at dawn, set off firecrackers and clean up. Firecrackers are placed from the inside out, and they go outside the door while they are placed. It is said that all unlucky things and all monsters will be blown out. In addition, this day is also the birthday of the legendary god of wealth, and it is also an auspicious day to meet the god of wealth.

Lantern Festival is actually Lantern Festival.

When we were young, although there was no light show, we could still have a good time. On this day, brushing brushes is a fashion in our place. It is to tie up the brush bumps that are usually used to brush pots with ropes, and go to a large open space in the village at night to light them and have some fun. You can often throw out many tricks, including eight characters, circles and various ways of playing. If there are no protrusions on the brush, you should also tie a handful of wheat straw with a rope for fun. Of course, in case of fire, adults will watch.

After the fifteenth day of the first month, the year is really over.

At that time, although there was not enough material, everyone was very happy.