Due to the fatigue of the boat, Chunyu was very tired, and went to bed very early after some dinner.

When I got up early the next morning, thinking that I would get along with the family carefully for at least a month, I changed into women's clothes, and my hair was also tied in a simple women's bun. This bun is simple and easy to pull, or she saw Alain's sister-in-law pull it like this yesterday, and it can be regarded as learning and using it now.

After she pushed the door open and went out, Xiaohuan, who first saw her, was shocked, and then said with a smile: "I didn't expect you to be so beautiful, sister." ”

Chunyu was stunned when she heard this, she went to the ready-to-wear shop to make a few ordinary peasant women's clothes in order to facilitate travel, most of which were gray, white and light blue linen. Today, I just wore a gray and white short gown, and underneath it was a solid light blue skirt, and the hairstyle was still an old woman's bun, which looked good.

"......" Xiao Yuan next to Xiaohuan also smiled and nodded, one of the two was a girl who had just passed the hair, and the other was a girl who still had forehead hair, so naturally she didn't notice Chunyu's dress. But Sister-in-law Alain, who came over with a basin in the back, was stunned for a moment when she saw Chunyu like this, and then asked with a smile: "Sister, who are you?" ”

Chunyu saw her pointing to her hair bun and then to Chunyu's head, so she knew what she meant, so she replied: "Don't hide it from my sister-in-law, I am already a married man, but I didn't expect that less than half a year after I got married, my husband went due to illness." I was alone and widowed, and I was depressed and sad for a while, so I left my house and went out to relax. ”

"Oops...... I'm sorry, girl, I don't know......" Sister-in-law Alan was a little embarrassed when she heard this, but she didn't know what to say.

"It's okay, I'm gradually forgetting this sad thing, but I won't let my sister-in-law know about it later." Chunyu saw that she was a little cramped because of this, so she said.

Xiaoyuan didn't quite understand the conversation between the two, but Xiaohuan was already a person after all, and understood the meaning of this widowhood, so she quickly thought about it, changed the topic and said: "Sister Chunyu, you are also here at the right time, our Changzhi Festival here is coming soon, you can catch up with the excitement." ”

"Long solstice? But the winter solstice? She knew that the north attached great importance to the winter solstice, not only the officials would have a holiday, but even the poorest people would try to make dumplings and try to dress the children in new clothes to welcome the winter solstice, which was much more important than the Spring Festival.

It's just that when Chunyu just left the capital, it was already the end of October, and there was already a coldness there, but who knew that it was still warm when it came here, but I didn't expect that the winter solstice was coming.

"Yes, my sister is from the north, I heard that you have a beautiful temple fair there for festivals, right?" Xiaohuan hurriedly asked.

"Well, whenever we have a festival there, in addition to some activities of the festival, the temple fair is indispensable." Chunyu said.

"It's enviable, in addition to worshipping our ancestors, we are visiting ......the lake," Xiaohuan said, but said with a smile in his eyes: "But sister, you shouldn't have seen it, but it's quite lively." And we have different food here on that day from your north, there are red bean glutinous rice, glutinous rice balls, glutinous rice balls, rice cakes, bacon, mutton soup, etc., which you don't have there, so as to keep your appetite open and eat to your heart's content. ”

Chunyu was indeed looking forward to hearing it, maybe the women in the north didn't know much about it at this time, but she was no stranger in her previous life. However, it is only seen in books and on food shows on TV. Regarding the winter solstice festival in the south, she can be regarded as knowing a thing or two.

On the winter solstice, people in the north and south are always different about the question of "what to eat". In the north, almost all the dumplings of the New Year are eaten, while in the south, there are a variety of winter solstice foods, just like those mentioned by Xiaohuan: red bean porridge, glutinous rice balls, glutinous rice cakes, rice cakes, bacon, mutton soup and so on.

And in the south, the legend about the winter solstice is also different from that in the north. In the north, the winter solstice is said to commemorate and thank Zhang Zhongjing, a divine physician of the Eastern Han Dynasty, for saving his ears. It is said that in order to prevent people from freezing their ears, Zhang Zhongjing cooked mutton soup and dumplings for everyone, which resembled "Jiao'er" - after eating the "ears" in the pot, he would not freeze his ears. In the south, it is said that there was a man named Gonggong, whose son was not talented, did many evils, died on the day of the winter solstice, and after his death, he became a plague ghost and continued to harm the people. However, this plague ghost is most afraid of red beans, so people cook and eat red bean rice on the day of the winter solstice to ward off the plague ghosts and prevent disasters and diseases.

The day of the winter solstice is the longest night of the year, many families use this night to make "winter solstice round" with glutinous rice flour, in order to distinguish it from the later "resignation" on the eve of the Spring Festival, so on the day before the winter festival, it is also called "Tian Sui" or "Ya Sui", indicating that the "year" has not yet passed, but everyone has grown one year old.

Although during the winter solstice, the customs and folklore in the north and south are different, but they are generally the same.

On the winter solstice in the south, when adults are kneading rice balls, they often pinch some small animals, such as kittens, dogs, rabbits, tigers, etc., at the request of children. The children are happy at this time. Before eating the winter solstice round, behind the doors, windows, tables, cabinets and bed lamps, a winter solstice circle should be glued separately, which is called "consumption", and it can be baked only after "sending the stove". If there is a pregnant woman in the family at this time, if the winter solstice is round, a boy will be born, otherwise a girl will be born. When eating the winter solstice round, the entrance must be in pairs for auspiciousness. At the end of eating, there are only two grains left, and the married person will be all the best, and the remaining one, the single unmarried person will have everything going well. There are also some families in the evening, with the appropriate fruits, three animals to worship the gods and ancestors. There are also those who "dry winter rice" on this day, that is, the white rice is washed with water, exposed to the sun on this day, and then stored for the sick people to cook porridge and eat in the future.

Therefore, eating glutinous rice balls is also a traditional custom of the winter solstice, which is especially prevalent in the south of the Yangtze River. "Tangyuan" is a necessary food for the winter solstice, is a round dessert made of glutinous rice flour, "round" means "reunion" and "consummation", and eating tangyuan on the winter solstice is also called "winter solstice group". There is a folk saying that "one year older after eating glutinous rice balls". The winter solstice group can be used to worship ancestors, and can also be used to give gifts to relatives and friends. The ancients had a poem: "Every family pounds rice to make glutinous rice balls, and it is known that it is the winter solstice day of the Ming Dynasty." "Circle" means "reunion" and "consummation". Eating glutinous rice balls on the winter solstice symbolizes family harmony and auspiciousness.

Winter Festival sweet pills are generally cooked before dawn, after the family gets up, they have to eat a bowl of "Winter Festival Pills", so there is also a folk proverb of "Winter Festival Pills, a meal will celebrate the New Year", commonly known as "Tian Sui", indicating that although the year has not passed, everyone has added a year old. Children look forward to eating this bowl of sweet pills the most, and often wake up at night to ask if it is dawn? However, the sky seems to be joking with the children, and it is always not bright, so there is a nursery rhyme of "Winter Festival Night, Long Days, Sweet Pills Are Not Cooked and the Sky Is Bright".

However, there are also children in the north who sing the ballad of Ninety-Nine Call: "Nineteen Twenty-Nine, I can't make a move; 3927, the fence blows the grate; Forty-nine thirty-six, the night eyes are like sleeping in the open; Five-nine-forty-five, the sun opens the door; Sixty-nine fifty-four, poor children fight for spirit; Seventy-nine sixty-three, Buna two-headed burden; **Seventy-two, cats and dogs seek the shade; Ninety-nine eighty-one, the plough and rake came out together. ”

This kind of species is said to be enough to show the importance of the winter solstice festival, so the spring rain is even more expected.

So when Xiaohuan and Alain's sister-in-law were pinching the rice balls, she also helped on the side. She has a good hand, so when Xiaoyuan and Xiaogong asked to pinch the tricks, unlike the ordinary small animals that Xiaohuan pinched, she pinched a few Mickey Mouse and Garfield and Rogue Rabbit. 's cute appearance is very popular with the two children, and even Xiaohuan said that it was very cute...... (To be continued.) )