Wen | Mengshan woodcutter
Heaven and earth love, born of all things and live. The people have taken food as the sky, since ancient times. The yang of the Mengshan Mountains in his hometown was sealed by Zhou Tianzi during the Western Zhou Dynasty, and was named Pingyi because of Ji Pingzi Caiyi. Because of its proximity to the Holy City of the East, Confucian culture has a far-reaching influence. New Year's Festivals, Red and White Celebrations, these major rural festivals, guests coming and going, people gathering and feasting, this is inseparable from eating. Eating and eating are different depending on the occasion, and living at home and eating in the countryside are different. Living at home three meals a day is called eating, home-cooked meals, coarse tea and light rice, full stomach only; rural red and white happy events, this is an important event, eating is called sitting, pay attention to meat and vegetarian collocation, pay attention to etiquette, pay attention to hospitality. If you encounter such a big wedding event, it is called sitting at the big table. Ordinary people's families, every Chinese New Year's Eve day, the last meal of the year, even if they are usually frugal, they must make a big table in accordance with the practice of the feast, the whole family gathers, enjoys the feast, resigns the old and welcomes the new, and celebrates the New Year.
Hometown, the saying about "seat" has a long history. Qilu has "one mountain, one water and one saint", and his hometown Pingyi also has "one mountain, one water and one saint". The mountain is called "Mengshan", which is called "Eastern Mongolia" in ancient times; the water is known as "Junhe"; this sage is an important bridge of Confucian culture, and the important inheritor of Confucian culture is Zongsheng Zengzi. Regarding Zengzi, there is a story in the Book of Rites that "Zengzi Yizhen".
"Zengzi was sick and sick. Le Zhengzichun sat under the bed, Zeng Yuan and Zeng Shen sat on their feet, and Tong Zi sat holding candles. The boy said: 'Hua Er, the Doctor's And?' Zi Chun yue: "Stop! Zeng Zi heard it, and Qu Ran said, "Whew! He said, "Hua Er, the Doctor's Secret?" Zeng Zi said: "Yes." The gift of Stephen is also, I have not been able to change it. Yuan, from Yi Zhen. Zeng Yuanyue said, "The master's illness cannot be changed." Fortunately, please respect it. Zeng Zi said, "Er's love is not as good as his." The lover of a gentleman is also virtuous, and the lover of a delicate person is also appeased. Why should I ask for it? I have to kill Yans. 'It's easy to help. The reverse seat did not rest. ”
In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a hierarchy, and in the Shuowen Jiezi, it is said: "Xi, Yuanye". "Ritual": The Son of Heaven, the princes' seats, there are pure ornaments with embroidery. The "Commentary on the Interpretation of Texts" makes it very clear that the mats used by the Heavenly Sons and princes in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the "箦" in the Book of Rites is the mat. This story vividly narrates Zengzi's adherence to "etiquette", and the seriously ill Zengzi will die even if he dies.
In the long ancient times, there was no seat. Most of the ancients sat on the floor, and it was used in later generations, and this "table" became the elegant name for dishes on the table. When it comes to tables, important banquets in my hometown should be placed on the Eight Immortals Table. The name of the table was not given until five generations ago. Now the eight immortals table that can be examined has appeared at least in the Liaojin era, and the Ming and Qing dynasties are prevalent, especially in the Qing Dynasty, whether it is a high-ranking official or a commoner, there will be eight immortal tables. In the old home, a long mountain table should be placed on the north gable of the main hall, and the next few mountains are the eight immortal tables. There is a chair on each side of the Eight Immortals Table, and when encountering important family reception activities, a banquet must be arranged at the Eight Immortals Table. The big table was spread out at the eight immortals table.
The eight immortals table arranged in the main hall house are the most honored guests. Arrange for guests to be honored on the left, between the main guest is the guest sitting on the left, and the host sits on the right side to accompany the guest. Eight people at the eight immortal table, the guest is on the left, the accompanying guest is on the right, and the guest of honor is facing the young man of the main family, pouring wine and cloth dishes, persuading wine and persuasion. The selection of accompanying guests is very exquisite. First of all, it is highly prestigious, highly respected, safe in handling affairs, has the prestige of the masses, and has a political position in the village; secondly, the fate is good, the parents live a long life, the husband and wife are harmonious, and the children are both complete, relying on this Lord to accompany them to bring good luck; the third is that the eloquence is good, can speak well, speaks decently and has infectious power, is good at taking advantage of the situation and creating momentum at the wine table, rendering the atmosphere to set off the atmosphere of the banquet, talking and laughing between the host and the guest of a meal, talking very happily, can represent the host's warm hospitality, so that the guests are satisfied; the fourth is the amount of wine, three cups and two cups of opening remarks, Four cups and five cups to open the taste, six cups and seven cups are fine. It's really a first-class companion. Accompany the guests to drink, a little more drunk, a little less taste. The main companion often humbly asks: I don't have a lot of alcohol, nor will I accompany the guests, I don't know if the guests drink well? The hospitality is not good, and there are many words of responsibility. There is no feast that will not be dispersed in a thousand miles, so let's take time to drink again. The guest danced with his hands crookedly and said: Well, the family is really a master, and I have to drink with you again. I couldn't open my eyes when I said it, and I had words in my mouth: Two more drinks will be fine.
The ingredients for the banquet are also local specialties. The dishes of the big table are also a concentrated display of the harvest fruits, the old rooster raised by the family, and the new carp from the river net. In our hometown, the dish of the big table is called the head chicken two fish, this chicken fish to double sets, take the meaning of the harmonic sound "Jiyu", meaning into pairs, auspicious, year after year. From the fields to the stove tops, the ingredients are fresh and flavorful. Another dish of Mengshan Feast is the fried lotus root box, the freshly ripped lotus root, cut into double pieces connected, filled with fresh meat filling in the middle, fried out of the pan pay attention to the color and flavor. This dish also has a meaning, the harmonic sound of the lotus is "even", and the harmonic sound of the box is "he", which has the meaning of the combination of good couple and heaven. The wedding feast is very valued. The old family also likes to eat a kind of slippery balls, meat stuffing wrapped in tofu, hand balls into balls, rolled out in the starch of fresh sweet potatoes, boiled in water, and then accompanied by chicken soup supplemented with seasonings, this ball is oily and not greasy, smooth and refreshing. The hometown people also pay attention to this dish, which means "reunion". The grand finale of the big table, the grand debut, that is, a large piece of pork belly stew powder skin, this meat is like a small sail, oily and smooth and fragrant, the farmer pays attention to "meat eats full of cheeks", and eats meat in a big mouth. Meat was a good thing in ancient times, and only officials and eunuchs could eat meat. In the "Left Biography", Cao Jie talked about the Battle of Qilu Long Spoon, there is a sentence of "meat eater", and the common people are often called "grass people", and they can only mix grain with bran vegetables on weekdays, and "meat" can often be eaten. When I was a child, who could cook meat in the New Year! A boiled meat can fragrant half a Zhuangzi. This is the king of the feast dishes, and it is finally the debut. Today's Mengshan feast, although this dish is still retained, usually there is no shortage of chicken and fish farmers, but also dare not eat this big fat meat slices, more vegetarian and less meat, everyone health, the finale of this feast is still retained.
What kind of clever chefs are there to make such a delicious feast? In the long era of farming, farmers were really all-rounders. These hands can help plough the fields, can build walls to build houses, can hammer iron, pick up kitchen knives and spatulas and stir-fry, this farmer cook pays attention to taste and heat, and each dish is as honest as the character of the farmer. They are almost self-taught, and they play a big role in wedding banquets. Distinguished guests often go to the kitchen house before dinner to say hard work, give the chef a few boxes of cigarettes, and the hometown is called "greenhouse".
Another important thing at the banquet is the toast of the Lord's house. Generally speaking, after three rounds of wine and five flavors, the toast begins. The toast pays attention to the order of the elderly and the young, and the main family unfolds in order from the eldest to the youngest, and the family takes turns to toast. After this round of toasting, the amount of wine is small enough. Therefore, it generally means a little bit, and a little bit of accumulation adds up, and this toast is also quite a lot.
When we were young, we loved to eat big meals. At that time, there was nothing good to eat at home, and I only hoped that my relatives would marry and set up a big table to relieve my hunger. In my hometown, I also discussed with the old people in the village when our rural feast came down. The biggest feature of this big table is that there are many meats and meats, and I think of the sentence "food is not tired of fine, and the heart is not tired of detail" in the "Analects", and I think of the idiom of the popular population, it seems that from ancient times to the present, the big seat of the hometown has a long history like the culture of the hometown.
The development of the times, the abundance of material wealth, the development of logistics, the life of the old family, usually seem to be the New Year. Chicken, fish and eggs are already commonplace, the feast culture of the old people is also updating and upgrading, and the gourmets in the hometown have begun to study the local cuisine suitable for the present, and the food is greener and healthier. Food is the label of regional culture, with the characteristics of Mengshan regional wedding banquet has been excavated, the hometown banquet has also entered the city from the countryside, did not expect that this has been handed down for thousands of years in the countryside, the farmer's rough hand to make the feast is also liked by more and more urban people. The village feast also went out of the countryside and went to the city, from the Mengshan River to the far side.
The revival of all things began, and the Year of the Tiger came to Mengshan Show. Hospitable Pingyi people, with a heart like the earth, Mengshan like the mind, welcome guests from all over the world, please come to your hometown to eat a big table, Mengshan Junhe welcomes you.
About the Author:
Chen Kai, pen name Mengshan Woodcutter, is a member of the Communist Party of China, a member of the Chinese Essay Literature Association, a member of the Shandong Writers Association, a member of the Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Association, a member of the Linyi Writers Association, and a vice chairman of the Pingyi County Writers Association. China Rural Talent Pool certified "Chinese Rural Writers", Qilu Evening News Qilu Yidian Qingwei Supplement Signed Writers. After 30 years of teaching and researching Chinese in high school, I picked up the pen again to continue the literary dream of my youth. Speak for your hometown and establish a legacy for your loved ones. Build a garden of characters, enjoy the joy of typography, and retain the nostalgia of the homeland and the style of the rural era.
One point number Mengshan woodcutter