Eighty-five, the ancestral family (kaga) out of the car (杈cha)
Xing Shaoshan
Zujia (kaga, the same below) out of the car (cha 杈, the same below), in our 18 villages in Huyang is a famous temple fair, crowded and lively. The dragon car from the ancestral family is actually the dragon car of Zu Li Village. "Zujia, this is the vernacular of our Huyang people. Chinese like to use two-syllables, perhaps there are more people with the surname Zu li in Zu Li Village, so we Huyang people call Zu Li Village "Zu Jia". The car is my favorite, because my ancestral home is close to our village, and I have an aunt in my ancestral home, so I can take the opportunity to play at her house.
The ancestral family's car is out on April 18 every year, saying that it is to commemorate the birthday of the "road god", and there are three or four days before and after. I heard my aunt say that the car was made by General Liu Meng, the god of the road, and that he was on a tour to calm the evil ways and ensure the safety of the party. The aunt also said that this general Liu Meng was originally a filial piety son of Zu Li Village, and after the death of his parents, he kept filial piety in the cemetery for 12 years. That day, when he was keeping his filial piety, he met an old lady who was blind in both eyes. Liu Meng saw her skinny and bony, described as withered, touching the ground, looking for food. Liu Meng gave her the rest of his dry food, and she was not satisfied, sighing. Liu Meng asked why, she said: "The old man has passed away, his son has just died, and he is lonely and lonely, and he has no one to rely on." After Liu Meng heard about it, he took her home as his own mother-in-law. It turned out that this old lady was incarnated by Guanyin Bodhisattva, and in order to test Liu Meng, the grandmother also said that she had suffered from hunger and tuberculosis, and she had to eat fresh food in water to be cured. Liu Meng really went to the lake all year round to drill and catch turtles, find holes and dig eels, step on lotus roots in the water, break the ice and fish, and try his best to get fresh things in the lake for the old lady to eat. Sure enough, the old lady gradually got better. After recovering from illness, the old lady taught Liu Meng to practice martial arts every day, and later Liu Meng practiced swords, guns, bows and arrows. Because Zuli Village is by the Shiusu Lake, there are strongmen on the lake from time to time, entering the village to rob, they hid in the lake beforehand. Guanyin Bodhisattva taught him to build such a reed cart as an active watchdog to observe the enemy situation. Since then, the villagers of Zuli Village have shown special respect for Liu Meng, calling him "General Liu". During the Southern Song Dynasty's resistance to Jin, he became a famous general of the Eight-Character Army. After the death of General Liu, in order to commemorate him, the people of Zuli Village sent out a car once a year to let him show his might and protect the people.
The ancestral family came out of the car, crowded with people, bustling and extraordinary. The small village of about 300 families is full of friends and family. The ancestral family regarded this as a grand ceremony, and their distant relatives were also picked up by them for a few days. At the same time, business people also came from all over, all kinds of gadgets, monkeys, circuses and so on. I remember that one year when my ancestral family was out of the car, I came to my aunt's house, and my cousin took me to see it. On the third floor of the street and the third floor outside, my cousin led me to the balcony of an acquaintance on the street to see, but the balcony was full of people, and we squeezed in. Soon, the car came, and the sound of the "stunned ---- ---" opening the road was heard first, and the sound was thick and dignified. Then a row of flag bearers with yellow scarves on their heads and green robes, the military general Wenchen walked by, "Through the flag dancing chaotic dust, the gods mighty worldly." Only then did the car appear. We first saw a red-faced general in brocade robes and armor standing on the platform of several tall dragon carts. The wheels of the car are unicycles, on which a large cart is mounted, and 24 people are pushing and supporting it. The unicycle is driven by tooth rolling on the top of a small wheel, and there is a high shelf on the small wheel, and a small platform of more than one foot high is erected on the shelf. Because of the weight on it, the carriage was high and swayed a lot, and the unicycle was pushed by the strongest man in the village, and my uncle was among them, and my cousin excitedly pointed at my uncle and said, "You see, you see." ”。 As the car walked, people kept shouting in unison, with a huge momentum and mighty force. When the car encounters an obstacle, the twisting wrench can be stopped, and it is said that there is a ratchet that prevents reversal. When the car came to the door of the person's house, some set off firecrackers, lit fireworks, one by one, ushered in the delivery, it was not lively.
General Liu not only went out on an annual tour to wei the town, but also accepted the people's burning of filial piety and other worship. Once, I saw only a pair of young men and women, who were said to have come from Daguanwei, east of Danyang Lake. After the ship came ashore, it took three steps and one prayer, five steps and one knock to the main hall of General Liu. They came to burn filial piety for their sick mother, and thus brought many tributes to General Liu with pigs, sheep, and chickens, gongs and drums, and firecrackers. After entering the temple, they knelt three times and prayed with incense, and they also made a vow that if their mother recovered from illness, she would return the wish. The abbot recited the Filial Piety Sutra to them, and they listened attentively, very religiously and faithfully, which made everyone present very grateful. "The general qianqiu incense is full of incense, prostrating his head to worship the Buddha and praying to the gods. May the heart be fulfilled, and the filial piety will burn incense to show piety. ”
The ancestral family came out of the car, and the locals called it "temple fair". This kind of temple fair reflects the local people's desire for peace in the township, reveals people's praise of excellent quality, and has become an excellent opportunity for people to connect with feelings, leisure and entertainment, and trade in goods. It is itself a kind of folk culture inheritance and display. Some people say that it also contains scientific and technological colors. Zhuge Liang's wooden cattle and horses walk in the Shu land where it is "difficult to go to the blue sky", and the flexibility depends on the unicycle that is easy to steer, and the light boat on the unicycle with heavy load, the reed cart is the use of unicycles, light boats, and added a high platform. According to the flat terrain, the people of Zuli Village combined the principle of Zhuge Liang's wooden cattle and horses with the lookout post built by Qin Shi Huang on the Great Wall to create a "lookout observation platform" that can be moved, which can be described as a new invention of the people of Zuli Village.
The car, for a while, only became a good memory for me. I remember that in the year of liberation, the ancestral family once went out to drive a car, that is, the army crossed the river to welcome the liberation of Huyang. Later, the car was actually sealed as a feudal superstition. During the Cultural Revolution, the car was completely smashed. In recent years, the country's fortunes have been prosperous, the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment, the economy has developed, and the culture has flourished, and in order to carry forward the traditional folk culture, the villagers of Zuli Village have voluntarily donated money and resumed the reeling. So far, the ancestral family's dragon car has been out three times, and the ancestral family is very proud, very honored, very excited, attracting people from all over the country and eight neighbors to come to the temple fair. Last year, when I returned to my hometown, I once again witnessed the grand situation of my ancestral family's out-of-the-box car, which evoked my good memories of my childhood life, aroused my thoughts of my relatives, and deepened my love for my hometown.