Chapter 7 Chinese New Year hate

"Eat for 30 days and nights, and wear on the first day of the first lunar month." Not only are the meals of big fish and meat good, but there are many snacks such as rice dumplings and rice cakes, as well as orange water chestnuts, sugarcane golden eggs, and orange peanuts for leisure; Clothes, children are happy during the New Year, and they can be happy.But since I was a child, every Chinese New Year, I always feel resentment because of the lack of freedom of speech.When I was a child, it was important to keep my mouth open and to get something to eat, but it was also necessary to talk casually.When it comes to Chinese New Year, people interfere with speech all the time: you can’t repeat what you’re used to, you can’t mention words like “kill” or “death”, and even those with similar voices should be avoided.Let’s also talk about nice words, such as long-lived fruit and eight-treasure dish; lotus root should be called Oupou Couchou, and the cooked one is called Youfu.It is obvious that a person has died, and usually it is very happy to say that it is dead, and it is dead; when it comes to the New Year, the "Blessing" in the picture is written, and it has to be changed to "old".This is really hypocrisy, and I don't admire it; let alone not used to it.Therefore, be wary at all times, dare not speak casually, and deliberately be dumb.But the mouth always moves when it is born, and it is annoying to be interfered by others.After the stomach is full, it no longer feels good to have something to eat; not being able to speak freely is not a good thing.Therefore, when the Chinese New Year was about to come before, now when I think back to the New Year's situation when I was young, I feel a little hateful when I am happy and happy.

In addition to the lack of freedom of speech, when I was young, I still felt hateful about celebrating the New Year, which was to pay respects to my godmother as usual.I'm afraid of New Year's greetings, so I can deliberately get up late on New Year's Day, and run to the street to look at the flower paper and shake the candy as soon as I get up.Of course I was not willing to bow down to people, and they were unwilling to accept kneeling down to me; even though I was young at the time, adult nephews, nephews and daughters-in-law had to bow down to me, and I couldn't stand it.The age of worshiping the godmother is my own business. I can't avoid choosing the day and hiring a boat to go to the city ten miles away.Send two altars of old wine from Xiaojingzhuang, a load of four boxes, a pair of carrying boxes, lotus seeds, white sugar, and whole chicken with longan.

The godmother's white dough is very kind, and she always prepares fireworks for me, Sugar Bodhisattva.I love the Sugar Bodhisattva; but I won't come if I pay my respects. In front of my godmother, I hid behind the sarong of my eldest sister's old nanny as usual.I don't want to call her a mother, I always think this way, since it has nothing to do with my father, why call her a mother.In fact, she never came to my house; it was just because my eldest brother died young, and I was afraid that I would not be able to raise him, so I made this godmother, because a godmother is a son and daughter.Superstition and hypocritical etiquette became the second thing I hated during the Chinese New Year when I was young.

After the restoration of 1911 and the founding of the Republic of China, Chinese New Year was switched to the solar calendar. At that time, I was studying in a middle school in the city; the school was on holiday according to the solar calendar, and the lunar calendar was still used at home to celebrate the new year.In order to promote Chinese New Year in the solar calendar, the school strictly maintains classes during the Chinese New Year in the lunar calendar.The mentality of the young people was renewed, and they hated the old-fashioned social customs. I remember that there was a year when the Lunar New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday; there was a pier on Saturday afternoon, but there was no pier on the next day. A classmate and I walked all the way to school.People attend classes in school, and they can't eat the New Year's goods at home, and they feel hateful.

I was married late, and when I first taught in a middle school, I still lived in the school during winter and summer vacations.I saw the monks in the monastery posting notes saying "recite Buddha to celebrate the New Year", and thought that "making novels to celebrate the New Year" is also a way.But ordinary relatives, friends, and family members think that being homeless is too calm to celebrate the New Year, so they compete for an invitation to celebrate the New Year. During the Anti-Japanese War, he took refuge in western Fujian and northern Fujian; although Yong'an in Fujian Province built a new provincial capital, it kept the old customs of the New Year.This is not just the Chinese New Year that still pays attention to the lunar calendar; the so-called old custom is that on New Year's Eve, the streets are deserted, and you can't even buy a pig's foot.

In some families, the husband celebrates the New Year according to the Gregorian calendar, and the wife celebrates the New Year according to the lunar calendar.As usual in my family, the solar calendar does not pass the new year, and the lunar calendar does not pass the new year.But we have to prepare some daily vegetables and vegetables; we will not be able to buy anything for several days during the Lunar New Year, so we need to prepare more; I am afraid that they will not be fresh, so I plan to buy them on New Year's Eve according to the custom in my hometown.It was too late to know; this year there were no meat dishes imported for several consecutive days.Others celebrate the New Year, and my family is in trouble; shouldn't you hate it?

Later, I moved to the countryside in the deep mountains; the customs in the countryside are simple and honest, and neighbors live well; at the end of the year, some send garlic, some send rice dumplings, and some send home-made tofu; the landlord sends fish; Don't worry about eating.But when New Year's Day comes, which naturally falls on the lunar calendar, embarrassing things come; many female neighbors, wearing embroidered shoes with three-inch golden lotus, carrying tin teapots and teapots, toast a cup of ice sugar tea. I made excuses to avoid them in advance, but they had to walk a few more times, or sat and waited all the time, so I had to drink a few cups. I called it hate tea.In order to celebrate the New Year in the village in the deep mountains, I have already drank a lot of hate tea.

Now that the children are a little older, the social customs are still the same, just as it is written in the "Blessings", "the end of the year in the old calendar is the most like the end of the year", no matter how fierce the war is, as usual, the sound of firecrackers can be heard at any time when the year comes; So children also have to play with some fireworks.The gunpowder gas of Chinese New Year fireworks should be fragrant, but the gunpowder gas on the battlefield is very smelly.During the war, the firecrackers and gunpowder gas of the Chinese New Year did not know whether it was smelly or fragrant.It cannot be said that it is not smelly or fragrant; even if it is considered to be both smelly and fragrant, it is not enough; it is always a hateful smell!

Originally published in Issue 168 on January 1, 1949