Wednesday, May 30, 1979.

This day is the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, and the traditional folk festival "Dragon Boat Festival" in my country.

The original name of the "Dragon Boat Festival" is "Duanwu Festival", which began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It is rumored that Tang Taizong's birthday is the fifth day of the first month of August, in order to avoid the word "five", so "Duanwu" was changed to "Dragon Boat Festival".

This festival can be said to be the most famous festival in China, according to statistics, there are more than 20 aliases recorded in history.

Such as "Duanyang Festival", "Chongwu Festival", "Chongwu Festival", "Tianzhong Festival", "Tianchang Festival". The Ming Dynasty also called it the "May Festival" and "Daughter's Festival", and there were also names such as "Yulan Festival", "Dila Festival", "Afternoon Festival", "Health Festival", "Poet's Festival" and so on.

The people of the old capital continued the habit of the Ming Dynasty and commonly called it the "May Festival".

As for the origin of this festival, people nowadays generally say that it is to commemorate the great poet Qu Yuan.

But this statement is not accurate.

Because just from the above list of so many festival aliases, it is not difficult to see that the activities of the "Dragon Boat Festival" are quite complex.

In fact, there is a big difference between the north and the south, and there are different forms of sacrifice and celebration in different places. Similar to "dragon boat racing" and "summoning the soul of Qu Zi", they are all only local activities.

And from the perspective of historical allusions, the "Dragon Boat Festival" is not only to commemorate Qu Yuan, but also to commemorate Wu Zixu, Gou Jian, Cao E and other sayings.

Going back to the origin, it should be said that the original intention of this festival is just that before the arrival of the scorching heat, people hold a series of sacrifices and prayers to ward off plague and poison, evil spirits and disasters. It is a comprehensive folk festival that spreads all over the country.

This is also the commonality of traditional festivals in China for thousands of years. Every traditional festival is a reflection of people's yearning and hope for peace and contentment. can be formed spontaneously and passed down from generation to generation.

Taking the festival method in Beijing in the old days as an example, the "Dragon Boat Festival" does not live up to the name of the three traditional festivals alongside the "Spring Festival" and "Mid-Autumn Festival". Because just from the time alone, it will be from the first day of the fifth month of May to the fifth day of the fifth month of May.

Basically, every family, from the beginning of May, has to post "Zhong Kui's Exorcism of Ghosts" and "Zhang Tianshi's Exorcism of Five Poisons" to come to the town's house.

Some people also used red paper to cut gourd flowers, paper tigers or scorpions, snakes, centipedes, toads, geckos and other simple five poisonous patterns, with white paper as the lining, and the heavenly master charm, Zhong Kui picture together on the lintel. It is said to be able to drive away demons and ward off evil spirits.

The gate of the courtyard should be hung with Changpu and mugwort leaves. Pu leaves are shaped like swords, called Pu swords, sharp weapons to ward off demons. Mugwort leaves have a rich aroma, cut and woven into mugwort tigers, to remove filth.

At the same time, it is necessary to make offerings to the Buddha. From the morning of the first day of the first month of May, incense is burned, candles are burned, three halls are set up, three to five bowls of zongzi, three to five bowls of five poisonous cakes, and one dish of cherry, black mulberry and white mulberry. Burn incense every day and bow down without interruption. The supply can not be withdrawn until noon on the Dragon Boat Festival.

In the ornaments, the women in the family wear red velvet "blessing flowers", and the eldest girls who are not out of the cabinet wear "pomegranate flowers". And to make small tigers, gourds, cherries, mulberries, melons, beans, onions, garlic with colorful threads, and tie them to children's hairpins or backs and chests.

The little girls also folded strips of cardboard into diamond-shaped "browns", wrapped them with colorful silk threads, and wore them on their bodies.

These are commonly known as "gourd", "life-sustaining wisps", and "long-life wisps". At the latest, on the sixth day of the fifth month, after the east turns white, it will be taken off, and the paper-cut gourd attached to the lintel will be removed, and thrown out of the door together, which is called "throwing disaster".

Only the catastrophe was thrown clean. After the May Festival, the disaster can be eliminated, the poison and evil can be eliminated, and the Dragon Boat Festival will be safe until next year.

On the fifth day of the fifth month of May, there are some other particularities.

In addition to people drinking realgar wine, eating five poisonous cakes, mung bean cakes, zongzi, mulberries, etc., they also use realgar wine to write the word "king" on the forehead of boys, and wear "tiger charms" for boys. The married girl must go back to her parents' house for the festival on this day, which is called "hiding from the Dragon Boat Festival".

In the end, it's all about entertainment. On that day, the opera gardens in the whole city will perform festival plays, such as "Mixed Yuan Box", "The Legend of the Five Poisons" and "Water Manjin Mountain" and so on. In addition, there is also the saying of "traveling to avoid disasters".

On the morning of the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the common people of the old capital will enter the "Temple of Heaven" in groups, which is called "avoiding drugs".

The Temple of Heaven is a holy place to pray for the New Year, and it is also a famous place, relying on the power of the gods to avoid poisonous miasma, and can also be amusement, which is really killing two birds with one stone.

After the afternoon, there are often people who continue to the "Goldfish Pond", or to the "Gaoliang Bridge", "Manjing", "Caoqiao", "Jishuitan" to "drink entropy Xiyou", everyone sits on the ground under the tree, much like a Westerner's picnic, often until the evening to return to the full enjoyment.

It's just that this way of celebrating festivals, which has been inherited for thousands of years, finally came to an abrupt end after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Because the new society broke the feudal superstition through the change of customs and the "breaking the four olds" movement, and at the same time, with the rise of modern festivals such as New Year's Day, Women's Day, Labor Day, Youth Day, Children's Day, and National Day.

Soon, not only the "Dragon Boat Festival" disappeared, but also the "Qingming Festival", "Double Ninth Festival", "Qiqiao Festival", "Chinese New Year", "Shangyuan Festival", "Zhongyuan Festival", "Xiayuan Festival" and so on. Only the "Spring Festival" and "Mid-Autumn Festival" have been preserved.

This phenomenon, in fact, does not mean that modern festivals are superior to traditional festivals, and can completely and completely replace the traditional festivals of our nation. It should be said that it is a helpless choice that people are forced to make by reality when they go through a special stage of society.

After all, the festival needs money to support. As far as the living standards of the majority of the people in our country are concerned, traditional festivals cost a lot of money and have many matters, and they are far less trouble-free and cost-effective than modern commemorative festivals.

In addition, the state has a clear policy tendency, not only does not give traditional festivals holidays, but even cancels the original holidays of the "Spring Festival". However, New Year's Day, Labor Day, and National Day have holidays.

In such a comparison, transmission festivals and modern festivals are even divided in terms of time control. The all-round victory of modern festivals is inevitable.

But it's also the other way around. Once people's living conditions improved, the economic level increased, and the working hours were shortened. The monotonous commemoration and celebration of these modern festivals cannot satisfy people's desire for joy and the need for richness in life.

The profound cultural connotation of traditional festivals and the colorful ways of celebration will be remembered by people again and return to people's lives again.

Like this year's Hong family. The Hong family has been a happy event this year, after the whole family took off their hats and rehabilitated, Hong Lucheng and Wang Yunlin both had retirement benefits, and the old house and savings also came back, so they were really free and rich.

The most critical son, Hong Yanwu, is also more and more reassuring to his parents. Not only is everything done beautifully, but the reputation among the neighbors is getting better and better. Now I have a beautiful partner, and the marriage is scheduled for next year.

This made Wang Yunlin how to control the joy in her heart, and naturally wanted to find an opportunity to bring the whole family together to have a good time.

In fact, in the middle of May on the solar calendar, she happened to see a farmer on the outskirts of Beijing secretly selling reed leaves and horse lotus grass, and she was tempted. I quickly paid for a lot of money, and then went to the market to find good Jiangmi and Miyun's jujubes.

So after several transactions, which were either legal or a little illegal, she gathered the materials for making zongzi and opened the bag at home.

In terms of taste, the zongzi filling has both meat and vegetarian, sweet and salty. The zongzi in the north are mainly sweet, while the zongzi in the south are less sweet and more salty. The content of the material is the part that best highlights the local characteristics.

In the past, the "Daoxiang Village" and "Wufangzhai" in the capital reached the solar term, and there were dumplings with fillings such as eight-treasure dumplings, chicken dumplings, ham dumplings, and fresh meat dumplings, but they were basically prepared for southerners.

People in Beijing only eat three kinds of traditional zongzi.

One is net rice dumplings. White rice dumplings made purely from Jiang rice, steamed and eaten with sugar. The other is jujube dumplings, which are mainly filled with jujube and preserved fruits. The third type is the bean paste dumplings.

In addition, the people of the capital also prevail in a kind of rice dumplings that replace Jiang rice with yellow rice.

The filling is red dates. Steamed, only to see the yellow and clear sticky millet embedded with red and bright jujubes, some people call it "gold wrapped in agate".

But in fact, this is a good name, and the reason why yellow rice and jujube zongzi are popular is because their price is cheaper than Jiangmi zongzi. In the concept of the old Beijing people, this kind of zongzi is eaten by "Xiali people".

Therefore, Wang Yunlin only packs Jiang rice dumplings, net rice, jujubes, and bean paste, adding up to more than 120 pieces.

Before the festival, each of the three neighbors gave away twenty of these zongzi, and ten of them were taken away by Hong Yanwen, who is in college. also asked Hong Yanwu to send ten to "Sugar Heart". The rest are kept at home for their own use, and most of them are net rice dumplings.

Hong Yanwu also jokingly called his mother "high style" for this reason, but he only understood it when he tasted it.

The net rice dumplings left by Wang Yunlin are not ordinary, but are cooked after soaking in cheese overnight. Dip it in osmanthus juice and rose juice to eat, and it is delicious.

According to Wang Yunlin, this is the practice of the Qing Palace, called "** zong". On the market in the capital, only the "Beihai Fangshan" during the Republic of China has only been sold a few times.

After wrapping the zongzi, there is another day of the Dragon Boat Festival, and the whole family goes home for dinner.

Wang Yunlin regretted that it was not a weekend, otherwise according to her meaning, the whole family should go on a trip together to be considered good. Unexpectedly, as soon as her idea was revealed, she asked Hong Yanwu, who came back to get the zongzi, to solve it.

What was Hong Yanwu's idea? He wanted the whole family to go to the old house to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.

Dare to love So far, the "flower hall courtyard" of the old mansion has been almost cleaned up. Now Mr. Shan is busy with the two courtyards where Hong Yanwu's grandfather and uncle once lived.

The "Flower Hall Courtyard" is connected to the Hong family's garden, isn't that very cheap.

As soon as she heard this, Wang Yunlin followed her to the old mansion to see it, and what her son said was right, and it was even completely possible to live in it.

So, when I came back, I decided it. Wang Yunlin informed the whole family that she would go to the old house for the Dragon Boat Festival.

Thank you very much "Daddy Rocky", I am very touched by your encouragement. Not only are you the number one fan, but you're also my first league leader. Thank you very much.

Of course, my guilt is also great. You never asked for a change, and you still do. I can only remember this support for now. When you have the spare energy, you will return the favor.

(End of chapter)