At the end of the 90s, the author was still a teenager. Regarding the memories of the Chinese New Year, there are several scenes that are deeply memorable.
At that time, because the rural areas were relatively poor, some of the food for the New Year, including pork, if it was an ordinary peasant family, basically prepared it by itself. If it is a cadre family or a wealthy family, they generally spend money to buy it.
Ordinary peasant households, generally after the new year, have to be busy, a bit similar to the "double robbery" in the countryside. There are a few things to eat - moldy tofu, sugar cake, glutinous rice cake, New Year's pig, peanuts, to be prepared before the 28th of the lunar month. At that time, the rural areas were poor, and the average rural family basically treated guests during the New Year. (The custom in our village is that the 29th of the lunar month is celebrated, and the 30th lunar month of the lunar month is resigned, also called Chinese New Year's Eve.) If there is only the 29th of the lunar month, it will only be a year) Then why is it said that after the small year to the 28th of the lunar month, many farmers are busy like "double robbery"?Readers and friends are invited to listen to me.
In the 90s, farmers cherished their outdoor labor time. In the south, even in the cold winter, there are very few people who sit at home all day and roast the fire. As the New Year approaches, peasant families with average conditions must first prepare firewood for the New Year and the New Year. The author remembers that at the end of the year, he and his brother would always dig a few baskets of tree roots as firewood in the hills or fields near their homes with their mothers. Sometimes I have to go to the back mountain to grab some dry leaves or pine silk and other firewood. This kind of busyness lasted until the beginning of the year.
Every year on the 24th day of the lunar month, you can always see my mother wearing a straw hat and an apron on her face. Holding a broom tied with a long bamboo pole in his hand, he swept the dust off the hall. Then the father jokingly announced that he was going to beat the disobedient child for the New Year. After all, our brothers have never been beaten on the 24th of the lunar month anyway. In the evenings, the family would sit at the kitchen table or occasionally spend the New Year at the square table in the hall. It depends on the mood of the father. Sometimes the family income may be better, and there will be a few meat dishes in the New Year.
In our family, it is basically from the 24th to the 28th of the lunar month, and we are ready to eat the necessary foods mentioned above. At that time, my grandmother didn't seem to be there yet, and she stayed in our house for a longer time. My mother was the main helper in preparing these meals, my grandmother was my assistant and consultant, and my brother and I were temporary helpers, helping to get something, or participating in the work of grinding rice and chili powder. My father's duties were mainly to sit at the "stove gate" to light the fire or knead the dough of glutinous rice cake. In those years, when we were preparing sugar cakes, we would always invite the respected elderly cow girl or other elders in the village to help watch the "heat" of the sugar boiling. When the pigs are killed, the mother often takes some meat and distributes it to the elderly or neighbors. Sometimes I would take a piece and give it to my father's young nephews who had just rushed home from other places for the New Year.
Mother's return to her parents' house after the New Year is one of the highlights of these days. When we were very young, my mother would usually take four pieces of meat and a piece of pork liver with her father and my brothers the day after killing the pigs. Each uncle's family gets a piece of meat. Grandma got a pork liver. We all went to my grandmother's house by walking. Due to the lack of transportation, we had to stay at my grandmother's house for one night and rush back the next morning. It was very fun to spend the night at my grandmother's house. We had a lot of fun with so many cousins. Later, when the family had a bicycle, my father and my brothers took care of the task of returning to my parents' house. The mother does not return to her parents' house at this time, and is alone at home to take care of the relatives on her father's side, mainly caring about the father's cousins or nieces returning to her parents' house. We finished lunch at my grandmother's house and rushed back that afternoon. It seems that since the family had a bicycle, he has never lived at his grandmother's house, except for the time when his grandmother died.
The necessary food for the New Year has been prepared, and my mother's family has returned, so I am waiting for the New Year now.
Early in the morning of the 29th day of the lunar month, my mother would get up and prepare a big pot of porridge. Then wait until the rice inside is half cooked, scoop up most of the half-raw rice and put it in a large wooden plate and wait for it to be steamed in a wooden barrel in the afternoon – this is called Nianfu rice locally. This pot of New Year's blessing rice should be eaten for several days in the first month. Often at this time, the grandmother also gets up, and her old man usually works as a firemaker at this time - because the weather is cold and old, the old man likes to bake the fire. Grandma sat in the stove door while lighting the fire, while paying attention to the porridge in the pot. While my mother was cooking the New Year's rice, she used another pot to fry the rice cakes. Fry the rice cake, fry a tofu, or stir-fry a plate of vegetarian carrots or something, as a New Year's breakfast dish. At this time, our grandfather also got up. I am usually responsible for setting the table and serving a small bowl of moldy tofu and a small bowl of chili sauce as side dishes. A small bowl of sugar is used as a dipping sauce for eating glutinous rice cakes. Mother likes to have a lot of vegetables. Although the actual Chinese New Year breakfast is only tofu and carrots, it looks like there are five or six dishes.
When the dishes were ready, the two brothers washed up and took the incense and firecrackers that our mother had prepared to the ancestral hall to worship. After the offering, go home and set off the smallest firecracker. Our whole family sat at the table in the hall and ate breakfast. The breakfast for the New Year in the 90s was basically the same as it is now. Speaking of which, in a low-level peasant family like ours, the breakfast for the New Year has indeed always been very shabby.
After breakfast, we children set off firecrackers with some firecrackers that our father had prepared or dismantled by ourselves. Sometimes many of our children gather together and throw firecrackers into the pond to see who has the highest splash and wins. Sometimes in freezing weather, we will try our best to take a one- or two-meter-long popsicle from under the eaves, hold it in our hands and play with it, and throw it away until our hands are frozen. Or follow the newly grown and immature elders to the snow to catch rabbits. Sometimes, in the bitter cold of winter, I even ran to walk on the ice in the pond near my house.
Soon noon came, and my mother simply prepared two or three dishes with meat, and after we ate them with relish, we went out to play.
Although our family is poor, due to my mother's insistence, our family will prepare 10-12 dishes each time for the first year. For example, stewed pork knuckle (locally called skin bun), stewed chicken, braised fish, meat balls, fried pork heart, five must-haves. There are others such as potatoes, celery, vermicelli, steamed pork powder, sweet potato powder, etc. Since they usually eat vegetarian food, during the Chinese New Year, my mother often puts meat on all the dishes. My mother did this, and I was later criticized by my father. That didn't change until after 2000.
In the afternoon, my mother and grandmother were in the kitchen preparing the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. Sometimes, the mother did not do a good job of one of the father's ways or actions to prepare the food, which attracted the mother's chatter. Sometimes my father got angry, so he simply quit and became the shopkeeper. At this time, there was nothing my mother could do. Grandma looked at all this and just smiled. The mother watched her grandmother smile, and she could only laugh with a little embarrassment. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon. My brother usually gets home on time. I'm in charge of keeping the fire on the ground for the New Year. The elder brother is in charge of utensils such as dishes and chopsticks and ceremonial offerings to the ancestors. When it was time to eat, my father would lead us to the ancestral hall to worship. The firecrackers set off are the longest, or as long as the gates open on the first day of the first month. When you come back from the offering, you still have to put another firecracker. The length of the firecrackers at this time is not small. After the firecrackers are set off, the Chinese New Year's Eve meal begins.
The seats for our family's Chinese New Year's Eve dinner are basically fixed. Regardless of the square table and round table, when grandma was alive, grandma sat first, followed by father. The elder brother sat across from his father. I sat across from my mother. Even though we were a family of five, my mother would ask us to prepare more than 10 pairs of dishes and chopsticks.
At the beginning of the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, the mother usually chooses a good piece of chicken for the grandmother to eat first. And then we started eating. Respect for the elderly and more care for young children is the ethos of our family. Mother set an example for us. I remember a few years, my mother knew that I liked to eat potatoes, and specially prepared potatoes for Chinese New Year's Eve dinner a few times. This is a mother's special love for her little son!In those difficult years, we rural people will only eat much better during the Chinese New Year. This can be regarded as a reward for a hard year of hard work.
After eating the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, my mother began to clean up the dishes and chopsticks. I couldn't bear to see my mother working alone while everyone was playing. I always ran to the kitchen to talk to my mother. Or thank her for all her hard work. At this time, my mother often said happily that she was happiest when she saw everyone happy.
When my mother was done, our family sat around the fire (the ground was mud at that time, and a large wooden stake was used to burn the fire on Chinese New Year's Eve), chatting or thinking about plans for the next year. Sometimes my grandmother would tell me about her youth or her father. Halfway through it, my brothers and I started playing firecrackers or doing some other show. Because it's the first year, we don't rest very late at night. In the first year, my grandmother usually sat until about 11 o'clock** to rest. Usually, I usually go to bed at ** o'clock. After all, this is Chinese New Year's Eve, and grandma will generally support her body and accompany us to enjoy the joy of family.
The next day is the New Year's Resignation. Early in the morning, my father would instruct us to post couplets (couplets were usually written by Uncle Yinchu, a cousin who was a teacher at school). After pasting the couplet, we children basically have nothing to do. Continuing the same game as yesterday. After we finished the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, we began to observe the New Year - we couldn't sleep all night. Often, at this time, my father began to give us brothers and grandma New Year's money. We are generally one. It is unknown how much grandma's New Year's money is. And at this time, my mother began to prepare brown sugar date soup for us. After drinking the brown sugar date soup, we continued to play. Grandma was already resting at this time. By about 12 midnight, every house has to open their doors – we call it the first day of the new year. Open the gate, then pull out the largest firecracker and set it up. For this hanging firecracker, every household attaches great importance to it. The quality of its fireworks has a great impact on the fortune of the family in the coming year. If all goes well, everyone is happy. If there is a pause in the firecracker process and it needs to be re-lit, it may often indicate that the family may encounter some ups and downs in the coming year. (From personal experience, there are indeed some unspeakable things in this one.)
After the door is opened, we will go to the ancestral hall to worship the year of our ancestors as soon as possible. After worshipping the New Year of their ancestors, some go home to sleep, and some go to the temporary casino in the village to try their luck. Until the next day, I got up and ate chicken broth and boiled noodles. After that, I went door-to-door to pay New Year's greetings. The young ones are basically a must-visit for every family. If you are sensible, every time you enter a house, you will call an uncle and aunt or a grandparent to pay New Year's greetings. Some just shouted New Year's greetings. Or follow the leader and say nothing. Each head of the household will give out a cigarette. Sometimes the head of the household will also grab a handful of melon seeds or peanuts or candy for the children who are usually closer. Some older adults will pick some older elders or older elders to walk around. After the first day of the new year, half of the year has passed. All that remains is to go to relatives and celebrate the Lantern Festival.
I don't know if the custom of visiting relatives in our local area is the same as in other places?
If my father's uncle or aunt is alive, they usually go to visit the New Year on the first day of the new year. If they are not alive, they can be postponed for a few days. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, I went to my mother's home to pay New Year's greetings. On the third day of the Lunar New Year, I usually go to my father's sister's house to pay New Year's greetings. On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, I usually go to my mother's sister's house to pay New Year's greetings. After that, it's all the relatives' houses. As long as you walk around, you basically have to go once. A significant relative is gone for a day. If it is a relative, sometimes it is necessary to go to three or four houses a day. Go to relatives until the fourteenth day of the first month. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival.
The Lantern Festival is very grand with us. Every year, a special person will be sent to paste the dragon lantern. Our village is a large village with more than 200 households. On the day of the Lantern Festival, a long queue will be organized to make dragon lanterns. A pair of bands in the front and back, and a paper dragon in the middle. As soon as they came out, they were very imposing. The dragon lantern must be entered in every household, and it is three times. When the dragon lantern comes to the house, we all have to set off firecrackers to greet us. Polite head of household, everyone will smoke and eat. In our opinion, when the dragon lantern arrives at home, it can drive away the filth and bring good luck to the family and family.
As the saying goes, if you burn the Lantern Festival paper, you will find a business. As soon as the Lantern Festival passes, the New Year is over. The new year's struggle for life begins. As students, we officially signed up for school on the 16th day of the first lunar month, and the happy winter vacation ended.
The above is the author's memory of the Chinese New Year in the 90s.