Old bottom, Chongming people have been lively until the Lantern Festival.
The Chongming people's New Year begins with the 23rd day of the Waxing Moon (chongming people call it the 24th night), which is the day when the stove king goes to heaven, and the folk have the custom of offering sacrifices to the stove king. Vesta is a god sent by the Jade Emperor of Heaven to the human world to monitor good and evil. On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, the god vesta wanted to go to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor on the situation on earth, and every household sacrificed to the god vesta on this day. At nightfall, the parents lit two large red candles and a piece of incense in front of the stove, and the sacrifices for the stove to enjoy were placed one by one, including rotten chopped sugar synthesized from syrup and flour, as well as noodle cakes, green vegetables, tofu, and ci mushrooms. One by one, men, women and children of the whole family knelt down and prostrated their heads. Later, he took the statue of the god of vesta from the shrine, picked up the rotten chopped sugar and smeared it on the mouth of the stove king, so that he could sweeten his mouth, so that he could say more beautiful words to the family before the Jade Emperor, bless the longevity of life, and finally cremate the idol with the paper to show the heavens.
After the sacrifice of the stove, every household will eat twenty-four nights of dinner. It is eaten with red bean rice and rolled silver buns. When eating, if a family member is not present, he should also be served a bowl and placed on the table to show the family reunion. In addition, another bowl of red bean rice is placed in the cupboard and kept until the New Year's Day, which is the so-called aged rice, which means that this can continue last year's good luck. Rolled silver bun generally refers to flour spread into noodle products that are larger than the skin of spring rolls, and then put on the golden melon shreds, watercress crisp, scrambled eggs with sauce melon, cifu, tofu and other dishes, wrapped in long strips. Folk also use 100-page wrapped dishes as roll silver buns. In the eastern part of Chongming, the roll silver bag is also called the stacked money stick.
After that, the Chongming people will dust the eaves, fry the long fruit, steam the cake, burn the main platform (burn the soup rice to sacrifice the ancestors), paste the Spring League, sticker horses, etc., to welcome the New Year. The paper horse is a paper deity used in folk sacrifices, which is printed on clay paper with a monochrome ink brush. The patterns include the god of wealth, the eastern kitchen priest, the well spring boy, the narcissus lady, the house god, the door god, etc., and the big Chinese New Year's Eve are pasted on the gate, stove, well circle, and water tank on that day to ensure the peace and security of the family throughout the year. At the fifteenth o'clock of the first month, it is removed and burned together with paper and so on.
The fifth day of the Lunar New Year is the birthday of the god of wealth, and folk artists in Chongming rural market towns will perform folk cultural performances such as jumping the god of wealth, picking vegetable heads, and cash cows in the streets from this day until the Lantern Festival. Performers of the god of fortune, carrying masks, wearing big red costumes, soft-soled soap boots, holding cornucopia props in one hand, holding dust in the other, jumping in front of the door of the merchant with the sound of the gong, in order to get the merchant to reward money. One of the performances of the dish head is the performer holding a thin bamboo pole, hanging on the top of the dish head, seeing the rich family, just in front of their door waving the head of the dish while chanting the blessing of the smooth slip: The New Year and the New Year are good, the head of the vegetable at the door of the grain household arrives; the head of the dish is shaken, and the flowers in the field are good and the rice is good. Growing rice and rice is a small mountain, and it is impossible to eat it for a year or two. Grow flowers and cotton to break the bag, and weave the strip of cloth. Vegetable head landing, have to buy land; vegetable head a whip, to rise a million; vegetable head shake, piled up full of gold bars; vegetable head raised, sesame blossom level high!
It's half of the first month. At this time, the steamed cakes at the New Year in every household have been eaten, and the folk have begun to use rice noodles to make cocoon balls and silver. The so-called cocoon ball, that is, the powder ball made of rice flour, oblong, large at both ends, and thin in the middle. The so-called silver is somewhat similar to a baked cake, with a shallow print pressed on the bottom of a small bowl in the middle.
At noon in the middle of the first month, the Chongming people also wrap wontons to eat, which means "pocket money". On this day, the paper horse pasted years ago was also removed and incinerated in front of the stove at this time. And the cocoon balls, silver or cotton, peach, cotton bales, corn, beans and other pastries made of rice flour are strung on bamboo branches or chopsticks, placed in the field, and lit incense candles, incinerated paper, and prayed for a good harvest, commonly known as "Jai Tiantou"; rice flour was also used to make pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, etc. and placed on the graves of the ancestors to sacrifice, hoping that the grains would prosper and the six animals would prosper.
In the old days, Chongming had many Lantern Festival activities and was very lively. In addition to setting off fireworks, mixing lions, dancing dragons, and mixing with silk bamboo gongs and drums, every household will display lights in front of their doors, and make rabbit lamps, hexagonal lamps, and date-shaped lamps for children to carry and play.
During the Lantern Festival, some wealthy peasant families will erect tall wooden poles in front of the door, and hang large red lanterns on them at night, hoping that the family will prosper throughout the year. Activities generally start from the fourteenth day of the first month to the twentieth of the first month. On the night of the first half of the first month, adults danced after lighting in the fields and shouting, "Tian Cai Tian Cai, my family is rich." Good flowers and good rice, insect mouths do not come" and other prayers, in the hope of the wind and rain, named "Shan Tian Cai". Children knocked on rows of small holes in small iron cylinders, loaded them with wire for climbing, and then tied long ropes, and the cylinders built with hardwood firewood, lit and danced. There are various dance programs when playing.
On the night of the Lantern Festival, the farmer will throw bamboo baskets across the house. If the flower basket is thrown over the house, it indicates that the cotton planted this year will be harvested, and if it is not thrown and rolled off the roof, the cotton will fail. For this folk custom, the farmers at that time attached great importance to it. In order to prevent the flower basket from being lost to the house, people not only ask young and strong boys to throw the flower basket, but also use a newly woven bamboo basket for the lost basket. Adults and children should hold their breath when they lose, and there must be no noise. Only after the basket is lost can you cheer.
In order to make a good harvest of the cotton planted, the farmer's New Year also has activities such as inviting "Grey Dui Girl", "Door Usu Niangniang", "Ash Dui Mother-in-Law", and "Kang Three Girls (also known as Zigu)". These activities are used to ask about good or bad old age, and other family affairs. The pit girl here is the pit girl, the god in charge of the mao pit. The Door Lady and the Grey Lady are the two most trusted gods in the countryside, and they are invited to help the beggars. This was a superstitious activity in the old days. Hang a small stick on the shelf, and the two hold the shelf, and the small stick draws words on the sand table or the ash plate below as an instruction to the gods. Walking three bridges is also a folk custom of the Lantern Festival, and it is said that women have to walk three bridges on the night of the Lantern Festival to be healthy all year round.
Generally speaking, during the Lantern Festival to the twentieth day of the first month, some folk artists take spring cattle pictures to send to rich households, some of them blowing drums, some beating cymbals, blowing at the door of the main house, and some artists singing blessings, and the host will give red envelopes. On the fifteenth day of the first month, people will also make an earthen cow out of soil, and the elder will use the bull whip to draw the first whip first, and then whip it in turn according to the size of the rank. After finally beating a native cow to pieces, onlookers rushed up to scramble for broken soil, and it was said that throwing it into their fields would yield good fortune. In addition, it is also possible to tie spring cattle with paper and fill the "belly" with grains, and when the cattle are broken by the whip, the grains flow out, which is also a symbol of harvest.
As soon as the Lantern Festival was over, the year completely bid farewell to the daily life of the people. "After eating two large (cocoons of silver), each person will find a way", and the Chongming people who eat the silver of the cocoon will begin a new year's labor.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Shen Yilun Text Editor: Shen Yilun Photo Editor: Zhu Xuan