The New Year's Flavor of Warm Springs
 |
| Night view of Warm Springs West Castle |
 |
| A cabbage lamp elaborately crafted by the villagers of West Castle |
| |
| A marquee lantern crafted by the villagers of West Castle |
| |
| New Year's Market in Nuan Springs |
| |
| Swirling powder of the warm spring |
| |
| Ulxian bean flour |
| |
| Fried sugar hemp leaves of the warm spring |
Editor's note: Speaking of the place with the strongest New Year's flavor, it is Wei County. In Wei County, the New Year's flavor of the warm spring seems to be stronger.
Nuanquan is one of the eight major towns in Wei County, and it is also an important merchant town in history. The smell of the New Year in the warm spring is the lantern that was hung up early in the West Castle, and the smell of the New Year in the warm spring is the shouting of all kinds of local flavors in the lively market......
The new year is coming, let's approach the warm spring and see the strong smell of the new year that overflows there...... (Zhang Xiumei)
◎Liu Huimin (Wei County)
Speaking of the place with the strongest New Year's flavor, it is Wei County. As soon as you enter the lunar month, starting from eating "Laba porridge" on the eighth day of the lunar calendar, the taste of the New Year is like the special snack "boiled fried tofu" on the street, and the old soup that is "gurgling" is becoming more and more thick in the cold. Wei County people especially love to eat this bite on the street, especially Layue, tired of shopping for New Year's goods, around the steaming pot, put special condiments in the bowl, and take out all kinds of hot tofu from the pot, that kind of fragrance, think about it will unconsciously drool.
The New Year's flavor of Warm Spring is West Castle
A lantern that was hung early
In Wei County, the New Year's flavor of Nuan Spring seems to be stronger. Nuanquan is one of the eight major towns in Wei County, and it is also an important merchant town in history. In the past, Nuanquan was a small county seat in the hearts of Wei people. The people of Nuan Quan are sour (clean) and benefit from the constant temperature of the water in Nuan Quan, which is constant throughout the year. In the early years, the beginning of the New Year's flavor of the warm spring was the scene of a circle of flowery and green women washing clothes around the warm spring water. Washing clothes in the month of Layue is also the custom of the people of Nuanquan in the early years. The women dressed in colorful clothes are like five-colored fish swimming in the pool, and the smell of the warm spring begins to liven up at the end of the cold year.
The New Year's flavor of the warm spring is the lantern that was hung early in the West Castle. The lanterns of the West Castle are another beautiful sight, which brings the heavy castle to life. These lanterns were made by the people of the West Castle themselves. Every year in winter, every family will carefully make the lanterns of the New Year's Festival in their free time, and they will hang them in various alleys in the fort under the organization of the brigade headquarters after they are done. So, each of these lanterns has its own characteristics, and each one is a masterpiece.
Most of these vivid lanterns are mainly vegetables, flowers and animals, and they have their own characteristics, so that you can't help but sigh at the wisdom of the working people. These handmade papier-mâché lanterns are not only a work of art, but also a cultural inheritance. They embody the diligence and wisdom of the people, and while appreciating them, you can also feel the unique charm of traditional culture.
The materials used to make the lanterns here are straw or iron wire. Straw is the sorghum pole, and sorghum straw is basically used to make small lanterns, and iron wire is used for large lanterns. Those who know how to make lanterns are also very simple and quick to make, a sharp knife cuts the straw into small long and short sections, and then cuts a few thin wicker sticks, according to the different shapes of the lanterns you want to make, rivet the sorghum stalks one by one with pointed wicker sticks, make a frame, and then use the paper of the desired color to paste it with sauce, and the lantern cover is made.
The old people carved lanterns, and used knives to dig out small grooves in the places where the sorghum stalks were connected to each other, just like the mortise and tenon of a carpenter chiseled into furniture, and then each one correspondingly buckled the grooves, so that the lantern boards produced in this way were upright and sturdy, and could be used for several years.
The lanterns made by each family are different, with the shape of a cute animal, the sweet fruit and vegetable, and the geometric shape of various shapes......
Walking on the street of the West Castle, I raised my eyes sharply, a fresh cabbage, if it wasn't hanging there, you really thought that someone had hung the cabbage out by mistake. Each leaf of the emerald green cabbage has been carefully cut and carefully pasted, hanging in the air, as if it has grown in the wind. The green light shines through the surface of the papier-mâché, reminiscent of my mother's cabbage boiling tofu in a casserole in winter.
The round watermelon lantern is red and green, the color is bright, the surface is delicate and true, and you can even see the "melon pattern". The light and shadow inside the lantern jump on the surface of the papier-mâché, making you feel the urge to take a bite, as if you can taste the taste of summer with one bite.
The orange jack-o-lantern has a slightly rough appearance, which adds a bit of realism. The light and shadow shine through the surface of the papier-mâché, and it seems that there is a secret in the pumpkin that you want to explore, giving people a sense of mystery.
The pink of the lotus lantern will make you smell the fragrance of the lotus flower. The surface is delicate and true, and each petal is carefully shaped. Light a small candle, and the light and shadow jump on the surface of the papier-mâché, like a blooming lotus flower. The smart carp lamp has a lifelike shape. Like a fish with wings swimming in the wind......
The exterior of the lantern is made of pale yellow handmade paper, and the shape is like an ancient palace lantern. Inside, delicate paper-cut figures are delicately pasted, dancing, singing, or splashing ink, lifelike. When the wind blows the lantern, the paper-cut characters inside seem to rotate with it, as if performing on stage. The light shines through the papier-mâché lanterns and the paper-cut figures, as if bringing people into the prosperous world of ancient times.
Just these lanterns of all shapes and colors have to be seen for a day. They are all made little by little by the common people with their thick and agile fingers. These handmade papier-mâché lanterns are not only a gift for them to make the New Year's Festival, but also a piece of art, and also the people's expectations for a better year ahead.
The New Year's flavor of the warm spring is at the bazaar
The roar of the local flavor
The New Year's flavor of the warm spring is the shouting of all kinds of local flavors in the lively market. All kinds of shouting and shouting make the New Year's flavor of the warm spring more intense. The market of Warm Springs has its own line, and 369, 258, and 147 are all in the market. In Warm Springs, every day is a set. Especially in the lunar month, the vendors are shouting to sell their New Year's goods, and the thick and indissolvable shouting can make you unable to take a step.
The Wei County dialect is soft and tendony, smooth and long, just like the yellow cake of Wei County. Listening to the people of Wei County, people feel the gentleness of the people of Wei County, as if they never get angry. Although the dialect of Wei County is the same for outsiders, authentic people in Wei County can hear which township or even which village you are from, and the so-called three miles with different sounds and five miles with different customs is Wei County. The clamor is even more distinctive, especially the warm spring. Nuanquan is adjacent to Guangling County, Shanxi Province in the west, Yangjun Town in Wei County in the north, and then Nanliuzhuang Town and the county seat, so the voice is more distinctive.
In the warm spring of Layue, even if you don't buy anything, you can also listen to the sound of the warm spring, that kind of sound, just like singing the unique Yangge opera of Wei County, what kind of world it is, no matter what kind of words you use can not be described, only if you experience it, you can know.
"Melon-seed, five-spice big - melon-seed, but fragrant, taste first and then buy can't be fooled, don't be fragrant - money - ah", "oil fruit, fried - oil - fruit - seed - ah" "sweet grape (grape), sweet strawberry, all kinds of fresh fruit pull, come and see, see if you don't need money, it's absolutely good! It's absolutely fresh!" ......
"Sugar hemp leaves, big and sweet sugar hemp leaves, tired of walking, sit down, rest your legs, you eat a sugar hemp leaf from me. Present-fried-ground-ah! Present-pot-ground-sugar-hemp-leaves. Burn your mouth, burn your teeth, mumble your daughter to pinch the ground, I blow up the ground, big-hemp-leaf, absolutely-inside-sweet-ah!"
"Cool-powder, bean-flour-flour, bitter-buckwheat-powder, green-bean-powder, mountain-medicine-powder, spin-powder-!sugar hemp leaves with powder, that is called a fragrant, absolute-lin-fragrant-" When you sit down to eat sugar hemp leaves, the female shopkeeper who buys the powder next to you will shout so many times, especially the elongated shouting of various powders, which is soft and watery, making you feel that hearing this sound is like a cool silk powder has entered your throat......
The New Year's flavor of the warm spring kicked off in the handmade tie-dyed lanterns and the lively market and shouting, spreading from the "Three Forts, Six Alleys, and Eighteen Villages", to the gathering of various social fires, to the fire trees and golden flowers that burst out on the castle wall at night...... The flavor of the New Year is kept at a constant temperature in the warm spring until the next New Year's Festival......
Mr. Feng Jicai said: "'New Year's flavor' is not material abundance, but cultural abundance. This sentence is more appropriate to describe Wei County, and the warm springs of Wei County.
(Photo courtesy of Huimin)
Introduction to Liu Huimin, a female writer in Wei County
Liu Huimin:
He is a member of the Chinese Prose, Poetry Association, a member of the Chinese Poetry Association, a member of the Hebei Writers Association, the executive director and deputy secretary-general of the Hebei Folk Culture Association, a director of the Zhangjiakou Writers Association, a contracted writer of the Academy of Letters, and the deputy editor-in-chief of Ulzhou Literature and Art. His works have appeared in dozens of large newspapers and periodicals across the country, such as "Poetry Magazine", "Beijing Literature", "Literature and Art Daily", "Chinese Personnel Daily", "The Great Wall", "Hundred Schools of Prose", "Prairie Island", "Yellow River", "Contemporary Novels", etc., and dozens of articles (first) have won awards at all levels across the country. He has published novels such as "Love in the Rainy Season", "God of Gamblers", "Show Bandit", "Cutting Kou", "Nagajie Trench", etc., poetry collections "Mature Youth", "Morning Dew Collection", "Picking Orchid Yincao", and extracurricular textbooks for primary and secondary school students "Charming Window Flowers in Wei County". In 2010, she was named "Window Flower Girl" at the first China Paper-cutting Art Festival, in 2014, she was awarded the title of "Top Ten Poets" by Modern Youth magazine, and in 2015, she was awarded the title of "Talented Woman of Hebei Province" in the 10th Qixi Couple's Day in Hebei Province.