On the 23rd day of the first month, every household writes a composition.

In my hometown of Longdong, there is a special grand festival on the 23rd day of the first month every year, that is, "Liaotuo Tuo". Every household must pile firewood in front of the door. As night falls, thousands of people make a bonfire, shining all over the northwest. It can be described as a bonfire party in the northwest.

I really didn't know what it meant when I was a child. I just know, in the first month, during the Chinese New Year, we played social fire, and in the end, the year ended. My father is the village fire captain. The 23rd day of the first month is the busiest time, because it is the closing time of the village community fire. My father presided over all the descendants who participated in the community fire, first performed the last performance of the community fire in front of the ancestral hall, then sacrificed, burned incense, worshipped and undressed in the temple, gave all the props of the community fire to my father, and stored them in the ancestral hall after he died at night.

On this day, our brother's job is to prepare for burning malnourished firewood at night. At that time, burning malnutrition was very particular, unlike the waste paper cartons used by Pingliang city people now, as long as it could be burned. I remember using five grain straws, rape straws, buckwheat straws, wheat straws, bean straws, sorghum straws and so on. And my mother sat on the hot pit of the cave early, cut out five continuous paper figures with the same pattern with yellow paper and hung them under the lintel. This paper man is called "Liaobi doll". There are centipede, scorpion and other patterns. Mom's paper-cutting skills are really good, and the patterns cut out by window grilles are wonderful. Everyone in the village praises it as really beautiful, and sends several pairs to relatives in the city every year, but the burnt baby cut on the 23rd every year is really ugly.

Up to now, people in cities and rural areas are still different. It's just that we get together for some excitement and some feelings. Some exquisite people go to the countryside to buy some firewood to burn. There are a large number of teenagers who love to play with fire in the city. On weekdays, I dare not play because of the traditional concept of family education and fire prohibition. Only through festivals can they have a reasonable chance to indulge. How could they miss it? Let them jump like runaway wild horses. I remember in my hometown, Jingchuan, on the 23rd night, in addition to chopping and piling firewood, people would tear off the couplets and door gods posted on New Year's Eve. When night fell, they would pile a pile of firewood and sundries cleaned in the yard in front of each house, then insert "burning dolls", put the torn couplets and door gods in and light them, and then put incense tables and firecrackers on them. At this time, the fire in front of every household is soaring, piles of torches and courtyards and even villages are dyed red, and the fire and firecrackers are intertwined. People jumped up and down on the fire, hoping to eliminate disasters and avoid them. When I was a child, I was too timid to jump. My father took it, and then my brother took it. Some family adults even want to jump over the fire with smaller livestock or cubs, so that the livestock can thrive. Adults often jump a few times symbolically and just stand by and watch, but dolls are not, especially the youngest son and dolls. My father works very seriously. That night, he first hung lanterns in front of the gate and lit oil lamps in front of the stove to worship the kitchen god. Then put the portrait of Kitchen God, couplets and incense on the plates on both sides of the gate, burn them on the gatehouse, and call them "Send Kitchen God" to heaven. Then set off firecrackers and give them to Kitchen God. After that, the whole family will go out and die together. First, parents put incense sticks, paper cannons and a pinch of salt in the firewood. After lighting the firewood, the fire is blazing and the paper guns are chattering, so don't have some Sha Qi. After the fire broke out, the whole family took turns jumping on the fire, jumping three times in a row. When my father jumps, he always tells my mother to carry a bucket with knives, bowls, chopsticks, spoons, rolling pins and other cooking utensils, saying that she also burned the cooking utensils clean. After the firewood completely turned into kindling, my father asked us to raise kindling with shovels, which is called "raising five grains and flowers". After Yang left, a piece of Mars appeared on the ground. My father always said that this is wheat flower, and this year's wheat harvest will definitely be good, and so on. When sending the Kitchen God, my father had to leave jujube hill on both sides of the Kitchen God. It was not until the first day of spring ploughing that he ate "jujube hill", until he paid homage to the land god, and then plowed the land. Maybe my father and mother did a good job. Later, several of our brothers went to college and came out of the yellow land to become national cadres. ...

At that time, I really didn't know what Liaotuo meant. I have lived in Longdong for decades, year after year, so I checked: the custom of Liaotuo was recorded in writing as early as the Qing Dynasty, and it was recorded in local chronicles all over the northwest. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, it was recorded in the "Pingliang County Records of Xintongzhi, Gansu Province" that on the 23rd night of the first month, paper-cut people were stabbed all over their bodies, and when the door was burning grass, many people jumped around and they burned paper people, which was called "Liaotuo". It should be said that the most distinctive cultural phenomenon in the custom of burning dolls in northwest China is related to the ancient consciousness of burning witches and the thought of covering hair with salary in Zhou Dynasty, and it is a custom mode formed under the religious concept of "substituting disasters" and the witchcraft concept of "connecting gods with witches". Through the activities of "burning" and "burning", the undernourished people have achieved their spiritual goals and obtained psychological peace, which is the significance of farming culture revealed in the custom of burning, and is also the internal force for ethnic groups to multiply and grow.

"Hey, hey" is a traditional Chinese New Year custom that is widely spread in the northwest of China. On the 23rd day of the first month, every household must build firewood in front of the door. Night arrival, thousands of people bonfire, shining in the northwest. How spectacular! I don't think any bonfire can compare with it. It can be described as a bonfire party in the northwest. These customs and activities originated from the ancient folk worship of fire, and they all believed that fire had the function of avoiding evil spirits and disasters and praying for Naji. In the early ancient times, the important uses of fire in human production and life, such as burning weeds, heating and lighting, driving away wild animals for self-defense, cooking food, etc., made human bid farewell to the primitive life of wild game and eating cold meals and entered the civilized era. At the same time, our ancestors were full of worship and longing for fire, which led to the worship of natural gods. It is believed that fire can not only bring light and strength to human beings, but also give fire supernatural power and mystery in imagination to ward off evil spirits, eliminate diseases and eliminate disasters.

It should be said that after the 21st day of the first month, people were stunned. When spring returns to the earth, the life of the new year officially begins. This kind of activity embodies the beautiful vision that the people in the northwest hope that the days will be more prosperous, the life will be more vigorous, the weather will be favorable and the agriculture will be bumper. It should become an organic part of New Year's culture, highlight the unique features of Northwest regional culture and Northwest New Year's culture, and also declare and apply for intangible cultural heritage, which will make this festival more interesting and full of new vitality.