The spring breeze dyes new green, and the flavor of the year is as strong as honey. Many customs and habits during the Chinese New Year have beautiful meanings. In Longling, people boil sugar, boil melon seeds, buy flowers, paste couplets, welcome the New Year with colorful "New Year's flavor", and pray for good luck, health and peace in the new year.
Sweet. Sweet and sweet New Year.
Early in the morning, villager Wang Shuyan's family was busy. The fire in the stove is blazing, the maltose water in the cauldron is boiling, and the aroma of maltose fills everywhere.
Wang Shuyan's mother-in-law, He Lanzhi, checked the heat for a while, and then held a stirring stick in her hand to stir the sugar water in the pot. After more than 3 hours, the sugar water in the pot became thicker and thicker, and He Lanzhi sped up the rhythm of agitation, and soon it boiled into a brownish, shiny, bubbling syrup. Wang Shuyan was busy spreading bean noodles on large and small trays, preparing walnuts and soybeans, and setting up a field for "sugar".
"Sugar" is the name of the locals, that is, to make sugar. He Lanzhi "beat the sugar" and introduced: "Scoop some syrup first, then mix with walnuts and soybeans, and pour it evenly on the tray." After making a tray, Wang Shuyan took a tray away, and then put a new tray. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law cooperate tacitly and are skillful and quick.
After the walnut candy on the tray cooled, Wang Shuyan's family began to wrap the sugar. Her husband cut the candy into pieces, and she and her mother-in-law wrapped the candy cubes in glutinous rice paper and candy wrappers.
Wang Shuyan said: "Many people in Tengchong, Mangshi and other places will take their own walnuts to our home for processing, especially at the end of the year, more people come to do it, and now the gross income of making sugar is about 70,000 yuan a year." ”
Nowadays, although there are all kinds of candy on the market, people have a soft spot for old crafts, especially in Longling, syrup, walnut candy are all necessary New Year's goods, so in Zhen'an, like Wang Shuyan's family, there are more than ten people who insist on making sugar.
From generation to generation, Wang Shuyan has now fully mastered the steps of making sugar and can make it proficiently. She said: "The sugar that I have made in my old life has been done until now, and has won a good reputation from everyone, and we will keep the quality and continue to do it!" ”
On the same day, Yang Rongzao's family from Mangbang Town, Tengchong City, came to buy walnut candy. After the candy was ready, the whole family happily left with large bags of walnut candy. Yang Rongzao said: "Buy candy and go, go home for the New Year." ”
Beauty. Bleaching beautiful and bright for the New Year.
Flowers bloom richly, and joy comes. "Buying flowers for the New Year is also gradually emerging in urban and rural areas. In Longling, large and small bazaars or flower bases in urban and rural areas, many citizens began to choose their favorite flowers to decorate their home environment and add a festive atmosphere to the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon.
In a gardening base on the outskirts of Longling, a variety of flowers such as rhododendrons, orchids, cyclamen, anthuriums, phalaenopsis, camellias, and longevity flowers bloom. Workers are transplanting the flowers selected by customers into pots and delivering them to the designated location.
Wang Lichao was planting flowers with her colleagues, and when she saw someone entering the garden to buy flowers, she was busy greeting her. "In the past, the standard of living was average, and there were very few people who bought flowers. Wang Lichao sighed, "With the improvement of living standards, in recent years, there have been more people buying flowers, housewarming, festival celebrations have a lot of people to buy flowers, and many people let us go to their garden to help design, plant and take care of all kinds of green plants and flowers." It's the Chinese New Year, and there are more people who come to buy flowers, and we are all much busier than usual. ”
The horticultural base where Wang Lichao is located has grown from covering an area of more than 400 square meters 10 years ago to more than 5,000 square meters today, and the variety of flowers has also developed from dozens to more than 300 today. The proprietress told reporters that the annual gross income has reached more than 600,000 yuan, which is 10 times higher than the original.
The longevity flowers in the base are in full bloom, citizen Xiong Yanni chose a pot, she said happily: "It's the New Year, I want to buy a bouquet of flowers back to decorate, the house is clean, and a pot of red flowers can make the mood more happy, and it also indicates that the coming year can be prosperous and all the best." ”
Fragrant. Fragrant and crispy for the New Year.
At more than 4 o'clock in the morning, Yu Xingdi and his wife were busy in the rental room. The couple washed ginger, peeled garlic, washed melon seeds, and then lit a fire to prepare to boil salted melon seeds.
At the end of the year, there are more and more people buying melon seeds, and these days are a bit busy. Yu Xingdi introduced while cutting ginger slices: "Boiling a pot like this, you can cook up to 50 catties, it takes about 3 hours, and you can cook up to two pots a day, and then you have to go to the yard to dry for 3 to 4 days, until all the water is dried and brittle, and we will **."
Salted melon seeds are Yu Xingdi's signature goods, which are boiled in salt water and exposed to the sun, and are favored by consumers. At 9 o'clock in the morning, Zhao Yanzhen came to Yu Xingdi's house to pick up the 30 catties of salted melon seeds ordered before. "I want to send it to relatives and friends in Kunming and Dali, and it has been ordered for more than 10 days before it is available. This salted melon seed is boiled with ginger, licorice, and garlic, and is fragrant and crunchy, and will not catch fire. Zhao Yanzhen said that in the past few years, she and Yu Xingdi's family have to buy more than 700 catties of salted melon seeds every year.
Yu Xingdi introduced that her family has been making saltwater melon seeds for 30 years. She often helps her family and friends to become chefs, and she likes to study food, and salted melon seeds are made by her continuous exploration and repeated practice.
Raw melon seeds go directly to Baoshan to pull back, at the beginning of a few hundred catties a year, and now about 4 tons. The gross income in a year is more than 50,000 yuan. Yu Xingdi said.
Nowadays, many customers are ordering or buying at home. Yu Xingdi's family is in full swing to renovate the shops facing the street, and she said happily: "After the Spring Festival, we can move from the rental house to the new house, and then we can appropriately expand the processing scale and enrich the processing varieties." ”
Red. The New Year is in full swing.
Spring Festival couplets, lanterns, fireworks, and firecrackers are also essential New Year's goods for every household in Longling.
In the large and small markets, supermarkets and shops in Longling urban and rural areas, the taste of the New Year is steaming. Red lanterns, couplets, window flowers, Chinese knots, door gods and other dazzling goods are colorful and joyful.
Longteng Yunhai is prosperous, spring is full of people in the world, Tai'an", "Tiger Leaping Dragon Teng is prosperous, Yingge Yan Dance celebrates the New Year", "Door welcomes spring, summer, autumn and winter, and accepts the wealth of the east, west, north and south" and other spring couplets are dizzying.
Citizen Su Lingling bought couplets, lanterns, blessing characters and other ornaments, she said: "The New Year, to paste the couplets, lanterns to hang up, only then can there be a New Year's flavor." Today I bought some couplets and blessing words, I hope that the coming year will be prosperous, and I wish everyone a better year after year. ”
The shopkeeper Juyu told reporters that over the years, more and more varieties of New Year's goods have been sold, more and more complete, only the Spring Festival couplets, window flowers, blessing characters, hanging strings and so on have more than 200 styles, and last year's sales reached more than 90,000 yuan.
Candy is eaten, melon seeds are eaten, flowers are arranged, couplets are pasted, lanterns are hung, and ......In Longling, these strong New Year's flavors not only record the changes in people's lives, but also contain people's yearning for a better life. (Xu Jing, Hou Yunpeng).