Unforgettable note Zikou town put river lights
Author: Zhu Xianze
On the 15th day of the seventh lunar month in 1945 after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the residents of Zhuzikou Town in Huarong County spontaneously met on the water of the Lotus Pond River to put river lamps to commemorate the relatives and friends who unfortunately died in the war, silently made a wish, and asked the heavens and the four bodhisattvas to bless. The cobblestone roads in the small streets and alleys, the stilt houses hanging half of the riverside, and the black canopy boats, the ospreys standing on the edge of the small wooden rowers, the herons, I will never forget.
In the middle of July, the ghost gate is closed, commonly known as the ghost festival. On this day, there were firecrackers from morning to night. After dinner, the townspeople looked solemn, and without a word, came to the small river of the lotus pond, lit the candles or cotton oil lamps on the paper boat, quietly and carefully placed the paper boat paper basin on the water, and let the breeze send the paper boat lamp candlelight to the far side of heaven. Heart lamps come in different forms, but various lotus lamps are the most popular. After dusk, as the night intensifies, more and more people burn money paper by the river. At that time, Huarong Zhuzikou Town was a remote place to escape the chaos of war. Waterways are easy to escape, and the boundless Dongting Lake serves as a defense line for the graben. Yuezhou fell for seven years, many Yuezhou residents by relatives and friends squeezed to Zhuzikou Town to settle down, the demand for eating, drinking, housing and traveling of course increased, those years of Zhuzikou actually had the reputation of small Wuhan.
My uncle and aunt took me and my sister and brother out to see the river lamp, but my three-year-old brother Delin went missing, so anxious that my sister cried her nose, and she was afraid that the kidnapper would trick her little brother away. Fortunately, there was only one slate main street in the town, and we found him in a blacksmith shop by the dock within an hour, but he was sleeping soundly and snoring. My sister is three years older than me and my eldest brother is two years old. After finding him, we had time to watch the river lamp.
Heaven helped, that night there was only a breeze, but the crying went from small to large, and more and more sad people were infected, so gradually I heard people no longer suppressing the loud crying. I couldn't believe it and suddenly burst into tears.
My aunt bent down and whispered to us that a lamp is a soul. The river lights are also countless, and the fireflies on the shore are flying around people, adding a bit of mysterious and terrifying atmosphere. There is a madwoman who learns to be scary, and her cape emits a large mouth with missing teeth, like a tiger who wants to eat naughty and naughty children. Insiders whispered that both her parents and grandmother had been killed by Japanese planes. Japanese planes bombed countless houses in Pingyue Prefecture, and then bombed Huarong County. Yue Kou owed Chinese countless blood debts. After watching the river lanterns put on the river lamps, the people who watched the river lanterns worship the gods, and for a long time stood on the shore and did not want to turn around and leave. My uncle told us that the Japanese devils surrounded and suppressed guangjiao in Nanxian County, killed and burned the light, and forced the cornered rural people and refugees from other places to the lowlands of Guangjiao, strafing them with machine guns, and the blood flowed into rivers and the corpses became mountains! The Japanese devils have lost their conscience! My aunt said that only Yueyang Tower and Cishi Pagoda were left in Yuezhou City, and the houses were all blown up into garbage. I could hear my hands clenching my fists and just wanting to swing the Japanese devils.
If only there were a river lantern festival in the seventh and half of the lunar calendar. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the unconditional surrender of the Japanese devils, and on the small rivers and lakes of the land of China, how many people should put river lamps to pray for the victims! The river lamp drifted into the distance, and in my heart, the river lamp drifted to heaven. A river lamp is proof of the resurrection of a deceased person to the human heart. The silent wishes of heaven and God when the river lanterns are released are the most beautiful dreams in the world!
Now that every family is living a good life with abundant food and clothing, we cannot forget the heroes and martyrs of the War of Resistance Against Japan. How can we ever forget the nurturing grace of our parents? If the convention is that there is a July-and-a-half River Lantern Festival, there is a ritual-type norm, passed down from generation to generation, and it is as unforgettable as the Dragon Boat Festival and the Lantern Festival, and how good it would be to inherit the intangible cultural heritage! The river lamps themselves can be cut, or they can be made in batches, and they are sold everywhere, which is much more meaningful than burning a pile of paper money on your knees. For decades, I have not seen the spectacular display of river lanterns by groups of men, women and children, but the river lanterns in Zhuzikou Town after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan have always been lit in my heart. How I want to put out river lanterns for my loving mother, Strict Father, my parents-in-law and other deceased relatives and friends in the seventh and half of the lunar calendar this year!
About the Author
Zhu Xianze, a senior Chinese teacher in Yueyang City, retired in December 2000. He is the first batch of members of Yueyang Writers Association and a member of the National Ding Ling Research Association.
Image: Network