The taste of childhood

Laba Festival is coming, can the Spring Festival be far behind?

For China people, the Spring Festival is the most grand festival of the year.

For Chaoshan people, the Spring Festival is the sustenance of feelings and expectations. Growing up, what I am looking forward to most is the Chinese New Year.

The annual flavor of Chaoshan area seems to have quietly started from the solstice of winter.

Chaoshan people believe that eating a bowl of sweet, round and a little red "Winter Festival Pill" on the morning of winter solstice means "getting one year older" and the new year is coming. Chaoshan mother is more aware that the arrival of the winter solstice means that it is time to worship God, thank God for his grace and prepare for the new year.

At this time, walking on the street, you can always smell the aroma of steaming heart from time to time, as if you can already feel the taste of the year.

After experiencing the first bite of red hearts from the winter solstice, I entered a state full of expectations. At that time, I was keen on getting up early every day, and I had to tear up my calendar first. Tear off the old calendar and count in your mind at the same time. When is 30?

In the past, days passed slowly. At that time, I always complained that I could only tear one piece a day. I was really helpless at that time! But probably because my heart is full of expectations, simple things also feel particularly important! Now, I haven't used a calendar for many years, but the almost persistent sense of ceremony at that time is still clear.

Near the end of the year, it seems that everything will be particularly enjoyable.

Whether it's cleaning with my family, worshipping ancestors with my mother, pestering my father to buy toys, setting off firecrackers at the door with my brother, stealing candy with my brother, the three children do their homework around the small desk, play marbles at the door, and bathe the big orange cat at home together. ......

Or follow my mother to make red hearts, watch the old people write Spring Festival couplets with friends, or sneak into the old sugar shop in town to see the Chaoshan sugar onions, or even do nothing, just sit quietly at the door, stroking the neck of the big orange cat and watching the sun gradually disappear at the end of the alley, and you will feel simple happiness in your heart. .....

With the breakage of the calendar, the days passed day by day. It's finally New Year's Eve. New Year's Eve is probably the busiest day for Chaoshan families and the most crowded day for the small town vegetable market.

At dawn, mother will be busy preparing all kinds of new year's goods. Old-fashioned Phoenix bicycles walk through the crowd, and the front basket and back rack are filled with chickens, geese, ducks, fish, fruit and vegetable cakes, new bowls and chopsticks, potted flowers, Spring Festival couplets and essential oranges and olives.

When my mother was shopping for new year's goods, we were not idle.

Chaoshan people pay attention to not moving brooms at the beginning of the year, and they can't clean from the first day of the first month to the fourth day of the first month. Therefore, on New Year's Eve, we must clean up the inside and outside of the house and pack our own things. When mom comes back from shopping, we will help clean up, wash dishes and have fun. Usually, it is close to lunch time before you know it.

Not long after lunch, we will begin to prepare for "offering sacrifices to the husband" (offering sacrifices to the ancestors). The simple round table was filled with food and sacrifices. My father will take down the incense burner representing our ancestors from the shrine and put it on the table properly. My parents will burn incense and pray together and invite our ancestors to dinner. Then our three brothers and sisters were led by grandparents and bowed down in order of age.

It usually takes 1-2 hours to "visit my husband". After the ancestor worship, the whole family will have a reunion dinner around the stove and give "lucky money". After dinner, everyone is busy clearing the table and cleaning the kitchen. Finally, the water tank must be filled with water, the rice tank must be filled with rice, the oil lamp must be filled with oil, and the lantern must be lit until the fifteenth day of the first month to symbolize the good omen of "more than one year old" and "more than one year".

On the first day of the first month, the town began to welcome a lively parade and the traditional custom of Chaoshan-"camp owner". Most villages in Chaoshan have their own gods, which we call lords. On holidays, the villagers invited the gods outside the temple to hold a sacrificial ceremony, then held a parade in the whole village to pray for a good weather and peace in the new year, and finally sent them back to the temple for resettlement.

From the first day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the first month, some villages will last until the twenty-first day of the first month, and there will be sacrifices of different sizes every day. For Chaoshan children, there is nothing more exciting than "Camp Master" during the Chinese New Year!

I still remember at that time, my grandmother told me that if I touched my master's golden body in the new year, I would get the best results in the new year!

For me when I was a child, if I could touch my master's golden body during the parade, it would be as stable as the Chinese New Year exam! That pride and excitement can last for days! It can be said that when I was very ignorant, Master Chaoshan was my first idol!

On the first day of the first month, firecrackers, gongs and drums and shouts of singing and dancing can be heard from time to time in the town. At this time, children are probably the most exciting people. Following the sound of gongs and drums, a group of children followed the team like tails, shouting loudly!

Some children followed the adults standing on both sides of the town street to watch the excitement. If they see a familiar little friend in the camp, they will always shout his name. If the other party finds out, look over and wave, and the sense of glory is like getting the whole world!

There are many camps in Chaoshan every year, not just during the Spring Festival. As far as I can remember, every camp activity is a national carnival, but it is always impressive during the New Year!

When I grow up, I won't shout at the back of the team, and I won't shout after every game. However, as long as you hear the sound of gongs and drums during the Spring Festival, you will still feel extremely excited. It seems that in this noisy atmosphere, the annual flavor of Chaoshan people is extremely strong! It seems that as long as there is a camp owner, the taste of Chaoshan people will not be weak!

In addition to camp activities, I still remember that when I was a child, there would be a simple theater shed built of bamboo at the school gate, and the village would invite a live-action troupe to sing Chaozhou opera. At that time, you can always see a large group of old people sitting under the stage, bathed in warm sunshine and happily listening to the opera. Some children will lie prone on the stage, and some naughty children will sneak backstage along the bamboo frame when adults are not looking, but they are always found soon. Then, the children dispersed in a hubbub, and the adults laughed and let them go.

Children can't sit still and have little interest in Chaozhou opera. Chaoshan, another kind of drama, can always make children addicted to it. Although I always feel like a mini version of Chaozhou opera.

At that time, at the entrance of the village, you could see a lively and interesting iron puppet show for several days in a row. A simple bamboo frame formed a small stage, and the curtain embroidered with dragons and phoenixes covered the master holding iron branches behind the scenes. While manipulating the puppets, the masters told Chaoshan folk stories, such as the story of colorful buildings, the meeting of Su six niang and the well, lifelike puppets, fascinating plots, eloquent explanations and singing with the masters. .......

These can always make children want to stop! In that era when there were no cell phones and no internet, there were always a large group of children around the small stage in the town. In a burst of laughter and the smell of baked sweet potatoes floating in the air, you can stand for a long time and enjoy it. ......

Although I can't remember the plot clearly, the happiness of that year can't be compared with watching more TV, chasing more dramas and brushing more videos for many years to come.

It's a pity that I haven't seen a puppet show in a small town for many years. Maybe these can only be hidden in my memory forever!

For me, the taste of childhood is hidden in the New Year's Eve dinner of ordinary families in Chaoshan ordinary town, permeated in the excitement of annual camp activities, condensed in a small cup of congou after dinner when the young and the old are reunited, and also deposited in the memory of my growing years! !

In my carefree age, I have never experienced where you will go, faced the loneliness of life, and never understood what reunion is and what a beautiful and ignorant time is. For me, these dribs and drabs of the past and mottled memories will always be the deepest and most precious treasures from the past to the present and even the future!

It's the Spring Festival again! I am especially looking forward to going home soon, eating a red peach cake made by my mother and buying new year's goods in a crowded vegetable market. I am especially looking forward to this year's camp owner! More importantly, I also want my children to feel the flavor of the year that I felt when I was a child!

In recent years, some people always feel that the taste of the year is weak. Indeed, there are many differences compared with before. However, for me, the taste of Chaoshan people has always been noisy and never faded!

? # Yu X Hongsheng #

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