There is a saying in the Kandong Prefecture: "Chengcheng Brother Heyang Ghost". Chengcheng people feel good in their hearts for being called "old brother", and think that this is a praise for their own character, honesty and simplicity. When outsiders talk about "Heyang ghosts", there is always a bit of banter, that is, when the Heyang people themselves listen to it, they feel uncomfortable. Rural people often say that those who don't know are not surprised. In fact, in Heyang folk, there are several legends about the origin of "Heyang ghosts", and everyone will understand it by listening to it.
Legend 1: When Confucius traveled around the world, he crossed the Yellow River one day and came to a village in Guxin (1), where he saw a group of broken babies playing around the city wall in the middle of the road. The charioteer ate and drank and the horse roared: "Hurry up and give way, the carriage is coming!" I saw a child wearing a red belly pocket stand up from the crowd of dolls and say, "The carriage horseman is rude, and the gentleman in the carriage comes down to answer!" When Confucius heard this, he got out of the carriage and respectfully asked the children to make way for the carriage. But the boy pointed to the stone and brick wall in the middle of the road and said, "What do you see here?" Confucius took a closer look and said, "Oh, it turned out to be a wall!" The boy tilted his head and asked, "The city avoids the car, the car avoids the city?" Confucius was asked, and he said with emotion: "Even children are so ghostly, so adults are even more amazing, what else do I preach!" Then he bowed deeply to the child: "Wisdom is not old, it is my teacher!" After saying that, the son of the road turned the horse's head and returned to the original way. This is what people later said, "Confucius traveled west and could not reach Qin".
The land of Guxin was later called "Heyang", and people always talked about it with relish, and slowly, the name of "Heyang Ghost" spread.
Legend 2: Heyang people attach great importance to culture and have a deep accumulation. In the past, people with a high level of education were selected every year, called "Heyang Kui", just like the "Wen Kui", "Wu Kui" and "Wujing Kui" of the imperial examination, and the list was announced, which was very grand. Although the person who was named "Heyang Kui" did not like winning the champion, he was also very honored. One year, the red list was posted, everyone was around **, and there was a foreigner who was also crowded in the crowd, he was a half-bottle of vinegar, and he couldn't read a few words, so he naturally didn't know the word "Kui", and he didn't care what others said, but he just read it out loud to himself: "Oh, there is still a 'Heyang ghost' here!" This shouted so that everyone turned their heads to look at him, and he realized that he had mispronounced the word, and his face could not help but flush. Later, every time "Heyang Kui" was evaluated, someone inevitably mentioned the joke of this outsider, and often joked: "Oh, there is 'Heyang Ghost' again!" Over time, the "Heyang Ghost" was put on people's lips.
Legend 3: I can't tell when there was a Heyang man doing business in Shanxi on the other side of the river. He is honest, the business is very prosperous, and later married a new daughter-in-law, and brought the new daughter-in-law to Shanxi. Who knew that the good times would not last long, this Heyang person was seriously ill, and no matter how good the doctor was, he couldn't save it. When he was dying, his eyes were open and round, but he couldn't close them. The daughter-in-law cried and said: "Don't worry, no matter how you go to ** in the future, I won't forget you!" ”
After three years of service, the daughter-in-law remarried a Shanxi man, and gave birth to a son and a daughter within a few years. Every time she goes to the tomb on the Qingming Festival or worships her ancestors on the New Year, the daughter-in-law has to tell her children: "Before worshipping the ancestors, burn some paper to pay tribute to the 'Heyang ghost'." The children were very obedient and did what their mother told them to do, and it later became a rule for the family, which was passed down from generation to generation. Slowly, the matter of "sacrificing the 'Heyang ghost' first" did not spread, and people praised this Heyang daughter-in-law as a virtuous person who knew etiquette and sensible.
Legend 4: Heyang people have a custom, "Winter Solstice Wonton Labamen". Every night on the night of the winter solstice, every family has to eat "even pot wontons", saying that after eating this winter solstice wonton, it will not freeze in winter, and if the family goes out, they will leave a bowl and wait for him to come back to eat. Before eating, it is customary to offer four bowls in front of the ancestral tablet, and one bowl at the intersection of the main road, so that those lonely souls and wild ghosts who have no children and no daughters can enjoy it. Some places in Chengcheng County, which is adjacent to Heyang, also have the custom of eating wontons on the winter solstice. In the past, Heyang did not produce coal, and there were many coal kilns in Chengcheng, and the farmers were idle in winter, so the people of Heyang took the iron car to Chengcheng to pull coal. It was the day of the winter solstice when a Heyang man drove the coal cart back, and when he walked to a village, it was already dark. He ran all day over the ditch, he was so tired that he didn't have any energy, his body was cold, his abdominal muscles, and there was no one in the alleyway, so he had to stop the car and sit on the stone pier outside the gate of a house to slow down.
As I was sitting, I saw a bowl of steaming winter solstice wontons pushed out from under the door, and a female voice said: "For the winter solstice, grandparents and mother-in-law have eaten some!" It turned out that the men of this family went out, and there was only a little daughter-in-law left in the house, and she was too timid to bring the winter solstice wontons to the crossroads, so she pushed them out from under the gate. After the little daughter-in-law left, the Heyang man who pulled the cart hurriedly picked up the bowl and devoured a bowl of wontons, and suddenly felt warm and energetic. Here, the little daughter-in-law came again, she still took the bowl from under the door, and when she picked it up, she felt gentle, and when she saw that the bowl was empty, she couldn't help but say in surprise: "Which ghost ate the wonton?" The Heyang man who pulled the coal said slowly: "Heyang ghost! After that, the story of the "Heyang Ghost" spread.
Judging from the above legends, the word "ghost" in "Heyang ghost" has the same meaning as the word "ghost" in "poet ghost Li He", "ghost talent Jia Pingwa" and "Bashan ghost talent Wei Minglun", which shows that Heyang people are clever, intelligent, wise, humorous, knowledgeable and courteous, and have high cultural literacy.
1) The famous Xin Fang Kingdom in ancient Chinese history, also known as the Xin family, is a descendant of the Xia royal family. If the name of the country originates from the name system of the day name with the ten heavenly stem symbols such as A, B, C, D, etc., this is written as "Xin", and "Xin" is a word used later. The Guxin people were still feudal in the Weishui Valley at the beginning of the summer, and then their main branch gradually moved eastward, and when the Xia and Shang Dynasty were restored, they were re-established in the east of present-day Henan and Luxi, and became a Dafang State subordinate to the Shang Dynasty.
About author】 Shi Yaozeng, born in February 1945 in Heyang Village, Fang Town, Heyang County, is a member of the middle school. He is a member of the China Folk Literature and Art Association, a member of the China Nu Opera Research Association, a director of the China Folklore Society, and a vice president of the Shaanxi Folklore Society. He is the author of "Approaching Guxin", "Heyang Customs", "Xinyuan Gleaning", "Folk Customs in Heyang Folk Sayings", "Heyang Village Wicker Dustpan"; He is the author of "The Pearl on the Yellow River - Qiachuan" and "Rural Common Writing"; Editor-in-chief of "The Legend of Heyang Scenery", "Heyang Face Flower", "Zhou Ren Leaving the House" (selected small dramas of line plays). In 1995, he was named "Outstanding Folk Writer of Shaanxi Province". He has been rated as "Advanced Worker of Mass Culture in Shaanxi Province", "Advanced Individual in Shaanxi Province for the Protection of Ethnic and Folk Culture", "Outstanding Editor and Reviewer of the National Top Ten Literary and Art Chronicles", "Weinan Cultural Leader", and won the "National Folk Literature Three Sets Integrated Contribution Award". He has won many provincial and municipal awards, and his book "Heyang Style" won the Excellence Award in the selection of "Chinese Folk Literature and Art Mountain Flower Award and the First Academic Book Award". List of high-quality authors