Welcome to pay attention to "Fangzhi Sichuan"!
The fire dragon soars to make the Lantern Festival
Zhang Xiyang
There are many programs in the New Year.
The custom of Fude Town, Peng'an County, Sichuan Province, is that you must eat large sugar tangyuan at the beginning of the New Year, which is made of glutinous rice flour. When I was a child, glutinous rice flour was ground with a large stone and mixed with a certain amount of water, and after precipitation, removal, and rubbing, glutinous rice flour became very solid and soft.
The big soup ball core usually uses brown sugar, which means reunion and sweetness. After eating, adults and children began to take to the streets in groups to watch the dragon and lion dance performances.
Of course, on the first day of the Chinese New Year, almost all the shops on the street are closed, because the merchants have to rest and play. But this does not affect the performance of the lion dancers, these lion dancers seem to have a contact code with the shop owners, starting from the first shop on the east end of the street, until the west end of the street, every household, there will be a host reception, lion dancers and laughing monks dance all the way, the owners of each shop have change or cigarette tips, and they are happy and harmonious, which seems to be the prelude to the rural Spring Festival.
Spending the New Year in the Sichuan countryside, what I remember vividly is the dragon performance of the Lantern Festival in the ancient town of Xinshi in nearby Quxian County, which can be described as thrilling and exciting.
Since ancient times, Fude Town has a saying of "one foot stepping on three counties", which means that standing in Fude Town, one foot is on the land of Peng'an, and the other foot may step on the boundary between Quxian County and Guang'an. Of course, this statement is a bit exaggerated, it just shows that the location of Forde Town is very unique! Fude Town is especially closest to Xinshi InQu County and Huaqiao Town in Guang'an, and since ancient times, the people of the three counties have had close contacts and intermarried with each other, just like a big family. Fude Town is two-five-eight, the new town is one-four-seven, Huaqiao Town is three-six-nine, the three county people's exchanges, these three farms and towns have become the largest platform, people rush to do business, procurement of production and daily necessities, almost all in these three towns.
Xinshi Ancient Town has been a pedestrian street since ancient times, and there are shops on both sides of the street. On the night of the Lantern Festival, this fire dragon is arranged in the middle of the pedestrian street, and the dragon's body from beginning to end is made of straw, which is called the grass dragon by the locals.
The dragon dance team has a total of about 20 men, each naked, holding a bamboo stick in their hands, and at the same time lifting up more than 20 meters of grass dragons, walking or jumping along the street to the rhythm of gongs and drums.
What is even more thrilling is not the dragon dance itself, but the number of people on both sides of the street who burn fires. At that time, there were many blacksmiths in the new town, and these stoves were actually blacksmith furnaces.
I saw these furnace people throw all kinds of iron into the burning furnace, wait for the iron to melt, pour it out, and then sprinkle these hot red iron water into the sky, and when these Sparks landed from the sky, they landed on the grass dragon.
With a cry of exclamation, more than 20 dragon dancers have to collectively avoid the clusters of Mars falling from the sky, often doing their best, so the grass dragon shakes its head and tail in Mars, which is very dazzling and spectacular, together with the cheers of the onlookers, pushing the festive atmosphere of the Spring Festival in the countryside to a climax.
Of course, people who spill the red molten iron need a certain skill. When he arced into the dark sky, the fiery red molten iron scattered from the air one by one, and when it fell on the dragon dancer's body, it was like fireworks, and there was no fire power anymore.
Many years have passed, and the starry, lively dragon dance scene can never be erased from my memory. I think this is not exactly a reflection of the spirit of diligence and bravery of the Sichuan people?! In the special era of relative scarcity of materials, it is still impossible to stop people's enthusiasm for challenging adventures and people's yearning for a better life!
The fire dragon soared and celebrated the Lantern Festival, condensing the "fire dragon spirit" in the countryside. I hope that the mountains and rivers of the motherland will be splendid, the country will be safe, and I hope that our life will be better and better every year!
It is said that the Lantern Festival is the end of the Spring Festival, from this day on, the Sichuan villagers began to spring ploughing and sowing, after a spring rain, the seedlings began to turn green, rape flowers spread all over the mountains, the houttuynia on the side of the field sprouted red leaves, the weather was also warm day by day, or in a few days, the cuckoo will fly again, it will definitely urge my villagers: "Grandpa and Grandma, cut the wheat and cut the grass." ”
About the Author
Zhang Xiyang, pen name Yu Sanyan, Ji Er, etc., a native of Peng'an County, Sichuan Province, settled in Nanhai, Foshan, Guangdong. In 1991, he went south to Guangdong and worked in Fenggang, Zhongshan, Nanhai, Foshan and other places in Dongguan, where he worked as a handyman, foreman, workshop leader, section chief, personnel manager, editor of the internal journal, and is currently a reporter of foshan TELEVISION Station Nanhai Branch.
He has published more than one million words of prose, poems, essays, remarks and other literary works on online platforms such as Learning Power, Fang Zhi Sichuan and other online platforms, as well as newspapers and periodicals such as Reader, History of Bashu, Guangzhou Daily, Pearl River Times, Foshan Daily, Migrant Workers, Ginseng Flower, Jiangmen Literature and Art, Foshan Literature and Art, Poetry Tide, tianjin poets, etc. The essay "Sitting Song Hall" won the third prize of the "Hundred Flowers Award" of Foshan Mass Literature and Art in 2004, and was selected as a teaching assistant book in the eighth grade Chinese book (human-taught version) of the national eighth grade. He is the author of the essay collection "Sitting Song Hall" (published by China Drama Publishing House).
Source: Sichuan Provincial Local History Work Office
Author: Zhang Xiyang (Reporter of Nanhai Branch of Foshan Television Station in Guangdong Province)
Pictured: Fang Zhi Sichuan
Some of Fangzhi Sichuan's pictures, audio and video come from the Internet, only to disseminate more information. The copyright of the pictures, audio and video contained in the article belongs to the original author or media.