Lu Xingxin and Xiao Huineng had just returned to the door when Mrs. Li heard familiar footsteps in the house and went out to greet them.
Mrs. Li took the sack from Lu Xingxuan and opened it. She saw that the bag contained pork, golden needles, mushrooms, vermicelli, yuba and other goods. She smiled and said to Lu Xingxuan and Xiao Huineng: "You and your son go and take advantage of this." We organized New Year’s goods and came back with a full load!”
Lu Xingxin said proudly: "Of course, with Neng Ji accompanying me, this year is going to be a good one..."
Lu Xingxin entered the room as he spoke. He didn't bother to take a sip of water. He looked at Xiao Huineng meaningfully and said: "When my father spent his teenage years in Fanyang, Hebei, the atmosphere of the New Year was the strongest at that time. It is also the most memorable happy time for my father."
"Then daddy, tell me quickly." Xiao Huineng stepped forward and pulled Lu Xingxin to the chair, pointed at the chair with Xiao Huineng's finger, and said sensibly, "sit down and talk, daddy."
Lu Xingxin touched little Huineng's head lovingly and praised: "Neng'er is so good!"
After Lu Xingxin praised Xiao Huineng, he took over the topic he had just talked about on the road, "When my father was six years old, your grandpa took my father to the market to buy new year's goods. When he came back, he handed all the new year's goods to the nanny who was skillful Go take care of it."
When Lu Xingxin said this, he led Xiao Huineng out of the house, looked to the north, and said to Xiao Huineng: "A few days before the New Year, we have to do a big cleaning. 'Twenty-four, clean the house' is a folk song from Dad's hometown. statement."
"Hmm, um." Xiao Huineng looked at Lu Xingxin half-understanding.
Lu Xingxin added: "The twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month is the day to get rid of the old year, welcome the new year, and get rid of the old and bring in the new. The origin of the so-called spring cleaning also started from this."
According to the past tradition of my hometown, there is no need to choose a day to clean the house on other days. Simply sweep, place some furniture, and wash the clothes you wear. This is the only day every year that is the "traditional and legal" national house sweeping day.
…
In Xialu Village in New South Wales, Lu Xingxin lived with Li and Xiao Huineng in the same hut at home. Xiao Huineng was born in that house. On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, Lu Xingxin and Li started cleaning together, and Xiao Huineng was also passing them around, creating a "picture of a harmonious, warm, happy, and happy family."
According to the custom of his hometown, Lu Xingxin and Mrs. Li moved all the furniture, beds, etc., and cleaned up all the dirt and evil that had been hidden there throughout the year.
Xiao Huineng also imitated the adults and wiped the furniture with a piece of tablecloth... After Lu Xingxin, Li and Xiao Huineng washed and dried all the furniture, Lu Xingxin and Li reinstalled and paved it. The hut will never look like new until all the cleaning is done. But it’s definitely a new look, a new look in the new year.
Because before the Spring Festival, Lu Xingxin would use some lime fragments, mix them with water and stir them into a slurry, then use a millet broom to dip it into the house and smear it on the earthen walls blackened by stove smoke to make the thatched house whiter. The decorated thatched cottage, the air is full of freshness. Although the year is still old, the home is already new. This is the most memorable happy time for Lu Xingxin when he was exiled in Xinzhou during the New Year.
…
During the Spring Festival, every household must post Spring Festival couplets. Ten days before the Spring Festival, Lu Xingxin was very busy writing Spring Festival couplets. The fragrance of ink floated in front of the thatched house courtyard, which for Lu Xingxin was a strong flavor of the New Year.
Half a month before the Spring Festival, villagers from all over the country came one after another with red paper to ask Lu Xingxin to write Spring Festival couplets.
Lu Xingxin set up a support in front of the thatched cottage. The people who asked for Spring Festival couplets to be written were all from the countryside. Therefore, Lu Xingxin not only refused to accept any penny, but also selected the corresponding content of the Spring Festival couplets to write based on the needs of the visitors.
Xiao Huineng also imitated his father in writing the word "福", and he imitated it very well. Therefore, Xiao Huineng also came to help, spreading out the red paper and writing with a brush in his hand.
Although Xiao Huineng's calligraphy of the word "福" is far from reaching the level of his father's calligraphy, the villagers from all over the country didn't mind. What they wanted was to bring good luck, and they saw the word "福" written on his young face one after another. Hui Neng's hand was flowing out from the bottom of his wrist, and the strong smell of the New Year hit his face along with the fragrance of Han Mo.
Posting Spring Festival couplets during the New Year was also a joy for Lu Xingxin’s family of three. At that time, Li made homemade paste from cassava flour for the villagers to eat together.
After Lu Xingxin finished writing his Spring Festival couplets and let them dry for a while, he brought the long bench from home and painted paste on both sides of the door. First, place the Spring Festival couplets virtually at the location where they are to be posted, and then judge with the naked eye whether the Spring Festival couplets are placed correctly from a distance of two meters.
At this time, Lu Xingxin changed his father's dignity and had a very good attitude, especially "obeying" Xiao Huineng's command.
"Higher on the left", "lower on the right"... Finally, with the efforts of Huineng, young and old, the red Spring Festival couplets were firmly attached to both sides of the gate. This content was basically completed on the afternoon of New Year's Eve.
After pasting the Spring Festival couplets, Lu Xingxin did not forget to say to Xiao Huineng: "On New Year's Eve, there are many taboos: for example, you are not allowed to curse, you are not allowed to say dirty words; you are not allowed to sweep the floor and take out the garbage. Otherwise, it will Anyone who scolds someone for a year, speaks dirty words for a year, and has a year's worth of wealth will be swept away."
Xiao Huineng stood nearby and kept nodding "Yeah, yeah".
Before the New Year's dinner, Lu Xingxuan lit candles and incense in the shrine in the main room and worshiped devoutly.
At that moment, Xiao Huineng and his mother stood aside and watched respectfully: Lu Xingxin had a pious look on his face. In the swaying candlelight, he straightened his back, put his hands together and tremblingly pressed them to his forehead, and worshiped.
Xiao Huineng looked at the wisps of green smoke floating upward from the burning incense, and tried to figure out the blessings from her father's heart: it must be a wish for good luck in the new year, wishes coming true, all the best, and happiness for the whole family.
After worshiping the gods, Lu Xingxuan would take out a burning incense fan from the incense burner, light firecrackers, and shout loudly: "Neng'er, cover your ears!"
Xiao Huineng covered her ears and jumped ten feet away from the gate. Immediately, the deafening sound of firecrackers sounded...
The Chinese New Year celebration is indispensable for unmarried people, especially Xiaohui's children.
On New Year's Eve, after the reunion dinner, Lu Xingxin and Mr. Li would send a gift to Xiao Huineng.
Lu Xingxin said to Xiao Huineng: "This is the 'New Year's money' given to Xiao Huineng's children by adults during the Chinese New Year."
However, most of the "New Year's money" given by parents has to be turned over. Mrs. Li said to little Huineng: "My mother will help you save the New Year's money given to little Huineng by your parents..."
As for where it is stored and when it can be used, Xiao Huineng has no idea.
Later, Xiao Huineng came to understand a little bit that only the money given by his uncle, aunt and married adults in the village belonged to him. This period of time usually starts from the first day of the new year to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Before the Lantern Festival, this period of time is both beneficial and amusing.
"Walking the King" during the Chinese New Year is one of the popular folk festivals in Xinzhou, and it is also Lu Xingxin's favorite folk activity. Perhaps this is related to the origin of "Walking the King" according to legend.
…
When little Huineng was just three years old, on the third day of the Lunar New Year that year, he shouted with his father to go see "The King".
In villages such as Jiyagang and Xialu, it is popular to walk "king" during the Chinese New Year.
Walking the "King" means carrying the "King Statue" around the village in a unique way of "walking", so it has always been commonly known locally as "Walking the King".
According to legend, the origin of "King" is a man named Wu from Yagang Village who moved from the north during the Han Dynasty. In the early days of opening the village, no matter how hard he worked, he could not make a living. The latter elder said: An immortal reported a dream to him, Yagang. The terrain of Gangcun Village is in the shape of a boat, and the boat must move to be alive. The elders and tribesmen recalled the appearance of the immortal in their dreams, made it out of clay, and carried it around the entire village. Sure enough, there was a good harvest that year, and later they persevered. , formed the custom of walking the "big king".
There is another theory: It is said that one year due to a flash flood, the Longshan River next to the village flooded. The "King" of a village temple upstream was washed away by the water, and it has been washed away to a place called "Xiaoshuiwei" in Yagang Village. It stopped just around the corner.
The "big king" stopped. At that time, the rain stopped and the sky cleared up. Seeing this, the villagers carried the "big king" back and placed it in the village square for worship.
At that time, the people of the Lu clan had multiplied to the eleventh generation. At that time, one of the elders of the tribe suggested that the day when the "king" should be carried back for worship, the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, be designated as an auspicious day for "walking the king".
At first, only Shengtangfang in Yagang Village had the "Big King". At that time, many people in the village had passed the examination and many people in the village had children. For this reason, the people in the village felt that the "Big King" was very spiritual, and everyone was attracted by it. Go to worship, and after discussion, it was decided to carry the "big king" to various houses to worship people.
As the population of the village increased, each village later enshrined its "king".
Later, someone proposed to build a temple on a flat piece of land at "Xiaoshuiwei" to enshrine the "kings" of each village. Because the "king" is the flow of water flowing here, it is also known as the "king of water flow". Before the Lantern Festival on the 13th day of the first lunar month, the "king" will be taken back to each village for resettlement, and a grand village tour will be held on the 18th day.
A few days before the "King" walk, a series of folk activities will be held in the village. Invite the "big king" to play music in the eight-note troupe, and invite the "big king" out of the "big king" house in each village amidst the sound of firecrackers. A scaffolding is set up in the village, and an incense table and incense burner are set up for the villagers in the village to come. Incense.
People in each village hang lanterns in the village ancestral hall. They usually hang white lanterns for children or weddings last year and newlywed lanterns. New house lanterns are usually hung on the stoves or land of each family.
On the day of the "King's Walk", all men, women, children and children in the village, as well as married women from the county and neighboring towns and young people working outside the home will come back to participate. The whole village came out in force, which was truly an unprecedented event.
After the banquet at noon that day, at about one o'clock, after intensive preparations, the old people in each village will call the young and strong men in each village to gather in each village to prepare to carry the "king" to patrol the village.
When the auspicious time to walk "The King" arrives, after the sound of firecrackers, under the guidance of the lion, a group of "pioneers" (the forerunners who open the road) and "Qingdao Banners" open the way, according to the history of the "King" walking away. Road” parade through the village.
The "King" tour will go to every village, village, and workshop. The people in each village, village, and workshop will place cakes, fruits, five animals, colored lanterns, and huge incense candles on a round table, waiting for " The arrival of the King.
When the "king" procession arrives with noisy gongs and drums, people from each village, village, and workshop will also wave flags, shout, beat gongs and drums, and perform lion dances in front of each village, village, and workshop.
Immediately afterwards, firecrackers went off, and the "king" team joined the teams from the villages, villages, and workshops in front, and joined the "king" team.
After walking "Dawang" for most of the day in each village, village, and village, and after gathering the Pioneers, Qingdao Banners, and "Dawang" from each village, village, and village, we passed through the twelve "Seventy-two Cave Heavens" After a journey of about ten kilometers from villages, villages and workshops, the team arrived at the last stop - the location of the "King" temple. At this time, people were eagerly anticipating the arrival of the kings from all walks of life.
In the square, every village, village, and village raised various large flags, guidance signs, and various banners with brightly painted words such as "Peaceful country and people's peace" and "Good weather". The simplest wishes of the villagers can be seen.
There were loud gongs and drums, dancing lions, and huge crowds of people everywhere in the square. The scene was very grand, with tens of thousands of people in attendance. It was the first time for Xiao Huineng to see such a lively scene. She danced with joy and said, "Dad, I am going to be a 'king' during the Chinese New Year. It is so lively, so enjoy it!"
Lu Xingxin also got quite excited and said, "Yes, Neng'er, this 'King' walking activity is also very lively in our hometown of Fan Yang. Everyone, whether male or female, old or young, likes to watch it." .”
"Dad, look, those big brothers are carrying the 'big king', why are they walking and running all the way?" Xiao Huineng looked at the team carrying the "big king" and asked in confusion.
Lu Xingxuan smiled and replied: "Walking the 'King'! You must go! This is also the most exciting and vivid part of the 'Walking the King' event in Xinzhou."
