Guanzhong Memory | Lanterns in the first month (Yang Guanghu)

In the Guanzhong dialect, "playing with lanterns" is actually "picking lanterns", and adults give us a sorghum pole or thin stick or branch about one meter long, and we children use this to carry lanterns around the village at night, frolicking.

"Nephew playing lanterns - as usual (uncle)". If you want to hit the lantern, you really have to find an uncle, to tell the truth. Shaanxi people call the Spring Festival "New Year", and there are stories. Rural New Year, generally on the second day of the New Year, go to the uncle's house to visit the New Year, after the tenth day of the first year, the uncle's family began to send lamps to nephews and nieces. These years, advanced, the third year of junior high school began. "Hit the lantern, look for your uncle, who is hiding behind the door." In Guanzhong, uncles generally send a pair of lanterns, 10 candles, 10 twist flowers, and send them for 12 years. After receiving the lights, the children play lanterns every night until the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth of the first month, and the three days of "playing with lights" are called "noisy lights". On the night of the sixteenth day of the first month, this is the last night of the festival of lights, so it is called "finishing the lamp".

I remember that we little children "finished the lights" on the fifteenth night of the first month.

There are many types of lanterns on the street, including palace lamps, luxi lamps, lotus lamps, pot lamps, dragon lamps, sheep lamps, fish lamps, flower and bird lamps, etc. In the past, the lanterns sent by ordinary people were cow puta and fire pot, which were relatively small and convenient for children to carry. This cow puta is very image, just like the cow on the dirt road, full of rustic and local taste, folded and closed, it is only the thickness of a few pieces of paper, the bottom has a fixed copper coin as large as a seat to light a candle, adults help to light a fine mutton fat small red wax, hold the bottom, slowly pull the pressed paper upwards, and then gently put on a wooden stick with a thin rope above it and hand it to the child. This kind of lantern is cheap and affordable, a few cents each, big red, rhubarb or big green, the color is bright and simple, but it can't withstand the wind, it is not balanced, and the candle is on fire as soon as it falls. "Fire pot" lantern, skeleton mostly using bamboo grates, reeds or sorghum, wire and other materials, the base is relatively stable, the inside is airtight, strong wind resistance, generally left and right up and down shaking, not easy to catch fire, far away, red, in the dark night is particularly dazzling, let people feel warm and festive.

With the improvement of living standards, the style of lanterns has become more abundant. The uncle's family sent a variety of lanterns, especially at the age of twelve, the uncle's family sent a pair of big red "palace lamps", rectangular, four faces, the 4 sorghum pole branches in the lamp represent spring, summer, autumn and winter, the upper hole of the lamp is the sky, the lower hole is the ground, and the 12 bamboo cuttings are round, representing the twelve months and the twelve zodiac signs. The complex is composed of 24 sorghum poles, 24 sorghum poles are two groups, a total of 12 groups, representing 12 months, 24 representing 24 solar terms, 4 sides representing the four seasons, each side is painted with flowers, grasses, insects and fish, and also made of cellophane to make a turn pattern, tassels, tied with red, long light spikes, fluttering in the wind. At the same time as the big red palace lamp, there is also a pair of large flower cakes in the shape of tigers or pisces, if it is a boy, it means that the tiger is angry, and if it is a daughter, it means that it is as lively and cute as a fish.

In the first month, the in-laws ask their sons to "send flower lanterns" to their new daughter-in-law who has not yet passed through the door. In the first year of a woman's marriage, the mother's family should "send a headlamp", also known as "chasing the lamp". The so-called "sending headlights" generally need to make up eight lights, including a pair of representative glass lamps, a pair of four bright lamps, a pair of lotus lamps and a pair of ordinary practical lamps, and the lotus lamp often has a pair of virgins and boys, which means that there are many children born early. From the second year of her daughter's marriage, she sent lamps according to ordinary specifications. The day of "chasing the lamp" is generally on the ninth or thirteenth day of the first month of the first month, and the person who sends the lamp must have three generations of the daughter-in-law's mother-in-law's family, and the in-laws should be warmly entertained. Under normal circumstances, after the in-laws receive the "chasing lights", the new daughter-in-law will return to her mother's house with the mother's family to "hide the lights" (usually on the fourteenth day of the first month and return on the sixteenth day). After the "hidden lamp", the new daughter-in-law will rush back to her mother-in-law's house from her mother-in-law's house and personally light the lamp in her mother-in-law's bedroom, which is called:"Bright Eyes". It is said that this move can make the mother-in-law's eyes bright, and she can do things quickly and decisively.

"Send flower lanterns", "chase lights", I have only seen once or twice, slowly, the pace of life becomes faster, people feel trouble, it is saved.

As long as we receive the lantern of my uncle's house, it is not yet dark, and the little friends can't wait to light the lanterns, flock to the group, and "swim the lights" together. The small followed the big children, in the darkness, a pair of eyes thief bright thief bright, like a soldier on the expedition, full of pride and happiness, unconsciously shuttled through the streets of the village, sometimes, accidentally changed the candle, dripped to the hand, drill heartache, but also endured, with the big team forward. There are also some three or four-year-olds, pulling white rabbits to "turn the lights", despite the cold, following us to swim in the lights; sometimes it snows, wearing thick new clothes and "cotton nests", stepping on the snow, listening to the sound of the snow, playing lanterns, chasing the light, until the candles burn one by one, under the call of their parents, everyone reluctantly returns home.

In the first month, do nothing. During the day, stringing relatives, watching the community fire, at night is playing lanterns, wandering aimlessly, children are simple in heart, coming and going, walking and stopping.

"In the first month, the first month is positive, and the fifteenth day of the first month is full of flower lights." The front dance is the dragon lamp, followed by the lion hydrangea lamp, the Danfeng chaoyang lamp, the pair of Mandarin duck lamp, the three please Zhuge lamp, the four horse galloping lamp, the five sons Dengke lamp, the six green moth lamp, the Tanabata weaver girl lamp. Eight immortals across the sea lamp, nine nine long life lamp, ten lotus knot lamp, eleven wind swing snowflake lamp, twelve plum spring lantern, putian celebration flower lamp, ushered in the five grains of the great abundance. "There are not so many lights in the countryside. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the adults brought cans of fire lamps, tobacco and alcohol and other offerings to the ancestral grave to "hang lamps", returned home, beat gongs and drums, set off firecrackers, released fireworks, "put out sky lanterns", and the dark sky "golden dragon dance" and "heavenly goddess scattered flowers". Little children with lanterns and watching around. Some people's families, the Lantern Festival feast on their daughters and sons-in-law, called "eating fifteen"; and send lamps and oil, called "adding oil".

"On the fifteenth day of the first month, there are lights on it, and the inside and outside of the house are shining; Look at the eyes and ears, look at the nose and breathe. "On the fifteenth night, the house should be illuminated in all directions, the courtyard should be full of light, and the lanterns should be hung high, so that the ghosts and evils would have nowhere to hide." At the same time, burn incense and light candles to pray for peace and auspiciousness. We have been playing with lanterns, and we can't wait for the "tail of the year" to be full on the sixteenth day of the first month, so we try to find a way to "finish the lights".

"Hit the old lantern and your uncle will get pink eye." We blew air at each other's lanterns, blew the candles down, and let the big red lanterns burn; either deliberately squeezed each other, and the lamps touched the lamps, and let the lanterns shake and burn; or we stood together on a high cliff and shouted loudly, letting the wind blow the lanterns to fire. The older kid teased, "You see what's under your lantern?" "The unsuspecting child lifted the lantern, and the candle burned as soon as it fell. There are also deliberately putting "flowers" under the lantern to light, there are also firecrackers thrown into the lantern, there are opportunities to kick the lantern... In short, one purpose is to eliminate all the lanterns in order to achieve peace and security in the coming year.

Growing up, leaving the countryside, I also went to some places, I know that "ten miles of different customs", there are different customs in the Spring Festival everywhere, "turning nine songs", "playing flowers", lion dance, dragon lantern dance, stilts, dry boats, flower sticks, rice songs, chasing donkeys... Everything is available and varied. On the twenty-fifth day of the first month, not far from home, Fengxiang County Chencun Town Huai original "row lantern society", row lamp is a kind of lamp made by locals, it is rumored that it was originally imitated by the Yan Emperor when he was looking for his mother, and it was handed down to the present is a lantern made by hand in the frame of Aoki, the shape is large and small below, just like an ancient shengdou, the lamp frame is pasted with white paper, and the paper is pasted with novel shapes and colorful characteristic paper cuts, the frame is lit with big red candles, and the lower head is a long lantern handle, like a fire dragon, illuminating the earth. There are similar worship activities in other places, hoping that Guotai Min'an and grain abundance represent the good intentions and good wishes of the general public.

Traditional handmade lanterns, time-consuming and laborious, require patience and care, has been rare, on the verge of being lost, now there are many high-tech LED plastic lanterns on the market, a variety of large -- "flower lanterns", light exhibitions, huge momentum, lifelike, children rarely play lanterns, can only "play lanterns on the clouds". The countryside has basically become a "hollow village", there is no fireworks above the ruins, modern civilization is ruthlessly swallowed up by greed, people's lives are like an assembly line, never stop, where there is any leisure and wild fun "playing lanterns". After the implementation of family planning, most only children do not know who the "uncle" is and where the "uncle" is. But the memories of childhood are still so profound, in the first month, in the countryside, in the snow and wind, those partners, those lanterns, everyone giggles, lively, do not understand the wind and dust, full of innocence, the face is full of healthy and cheerful laughter, less tired and helpless.

February 2, 2022 (the second day of the first lunar month) in Chang'an