Pull on the rabbit lights for the New Year

　On both sides of Xixin Street in the urban area of Luonan County, all kinds of colorful lanterns will be displayed before and after the Spring Festival. Well-made red lanterns hang high, colorful and a wide variety of new lanterns also popular in the market, people shuttle through the lamp market to choose, and the lively scene is even more flavorful.

　　Among them, there is a lamp that is particularly conspicuous among many colored lamps, that is, the handmade rabbit lamp.

　　On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Wang Minfeng drove his rabbit lamp to Xixin Street, placed them one by one, and waited for buyers to come and choose.

　　Wang Minfeng, 37 years old, lives in the Liulin community of Sihao Street, Luonan County, about five or six years ago, when making colored lanterns for his children, a thought flashed in his mind: "Can you make rabbit lanterns in batches and sell them?" ”

　　Rabbit lantern is an ancient traditional Chinese handicraft, it symbolizes auspicious and festive, every Spring Festival, many parents will buy or make a lamp for their children. A rope is tied in front of the lamp, a wheel is installed under the belly, and candles are lit inside, starting from the twelfth and third day of the first month, and at night, parents will light rabbit lights for the children. Children pull rabbit lights lined up in a row, walking on the streets and village roads, and the cute shapes became more beautiful and fun under the lighting, becoming a beautiful childhood memory for many people.

　　According to Wang Minfeng, in the past, the Luonan rabbit lamp was not only a rabbit shape, but also a style of colored lights such as lions, flower boats and zodiac signs. However, with the development of the times, more and more colored lanterns with a sense of science and technology occupy the market, coupled with the fact that handmade rabbit lamps are time-consuming and time-consuming, so they are gradually away from the public vision.

　　The reporter saw at the scene that Wang Minfeng's handmade rabbit lamp was the only one on Xixin Street.

　　"Baby, you see which one you want, and your mother bought it for you to take home." Ms. Yang was videotaping with her daughter in front of the booth, and the camera was facing Wang Minfeng's rabbit lamp, allowing the child to choose by herself. After hanging up the phone, Ms. Yang picked up a rose red rabbit lamp, carefully checked and transferred 30 yuan to Wang Minfeng's WeChat. She said: "Rabbit lights we used to play with when we were young, but now it is becoming more and more rare, buy a child to let the child go home to play, I also experience the joy of childhood by the way." ”

　　Wang Minfeng's stall is lined with lights in the form of rabbits, lions, tigers, tanks and airplanes, with different colors and shapes. Wang Minfeng said: "Because this year is the Year of the Tiger, I pasted a tiger-like rabbit lamp, and it takes almost two hours to paste one." In fact, the most difficult is the plane and tank, just to set up the frame of the plane, paste the colored paper to get 3 hours, it is indeed more time-consuming. ”

　　Wang Minfeng began to make rabbit lanterns two months before the Spring Festival. To make a new style, he will find the graphic from the Internet in advance, draw it out and then make it according to the proportions, generally it takes three or four days, if the head and body are not coordinated, they have to start again until it is suitable and beautiful. Every year, he began to sell lamps from the fourth day of the first lunar month to the end of the fifteenth day of the first month, and last year's sales situation was relatively good, selling six or seven hundred lamps. "I send them to Shangzhou and Xi'an every year, adding up to fifty or sixty, and some people come back to buy them and bring them to Xi'an." Wang Minfeng also keeps pace with the times, not only using stronger wheels, but also equipped with Led electronic lamp beads, wrapped around the rabbit lamp, which can be lit or used to make children play more safely.

　　The reporter learned that Wang Minfeng is a poor household in the Liulin community, and the family lives by farming. After the poverty alleviation work was carried out, Wang Minfeng planted flue-cured tobacco with the support of the government, and after the flue-cured tobacco was harvested, he continued to sell rabbit lamps, and his family achieved poverty alleviation in 2020.

　　"With the help of the party and the government, coupled with their own efforts, the days will get better and better." Wang Minfeng told reporters, "Then I was ready to hang the rabbit lamp to sell online, the network sales potential is huge, I am confident that the handmade lanterns will sell well." ”

　　During the conversation with reporters, from time to time, pedestrians asked Wang Minfeng about the price, and picked up the rabbit lamp to carefully examine. Aunt Li said to reporters with a rabbit lamp: "It is very strange to see rabbit lamps now, and I hope that such traditional crafts and cultural customs can continue to be passed on." (Shangluo Daily reporter Zhang Wenliang)