It's the New Year, and the family is busy. The family dinner for the Chinese New Year's Eve was at my house, so my parents started preparing early. Chicken, duck and fish are naturally indispensable. My mom also wrapped the dumplings and kneaded the rice balls, and I also helped make some dumplings for supper. According to our tradition, before inviting guests to dinner, the host family needs to worship the ancestors with wine and food. However, this dish is also very particular, and there must be at least nine bowls of pork, beef, chicken, fish, boiled tofu, fried bean sprouts, fried dried tofu, fried tofu, soybeans, etc., and a bowl of white rice needs to be placed in the middle of the dish. Shrimp and crabs cannot be used for sacrifices, and it is said that the shrimp body is bent and the crab walks sideways, which has a bad meaning. The wine must be rice wine or home-brewed rice wine, because the liquor volatilizes too quickly, most people will not use it. Beer and wine are excluded, probably because they are foreign.

Although the sacrifice of our ordinary people is not as grand as Lu Xun's "Blessing", it still needs to be very particular in the eyes of my parents' generation. I arranged the dishes and chopsticks neatly according to my mother's instructions, and my father lit incense and candles and bowed out the door, inviting the ancestors to bring "friends" to the house for Chinese New Year's Eve. After my mom verified that "they" were coming, my dad poured the first round of wine, invited "everyone" to eat and drink, and prayed for a smooth new year. After a while, my mother poured a second round of wine and also made prayers and wishes. I was in charge of the last round, and I took the bottle and carefully poured the wine into "their" bowl in turn, and then also worship and wish. The sacrificial wine is not poured too much, and the three rounds in each bowl do not add up to one or two, but our reverence will not be less.

After the third round, he said that the "guests" had eaten and drunk enough and were ready to go back. My parents would take out Buddhist paper with the names of their ancestors written on them and put them in a charcoal basin to burn them for "them". These Buddhist papers were recited by my grandmother according to the Buddhist scriptures one by one, so that the Buddhist papers would have "effect". Therefore, this kind of "Buddha paper" is also very time-consuming and precious. Some vendors selling Buddhist paper will take a tape recorder and put it in the incense hall for convenience, indicating that the Buddhist paper is "read". Some unscrupulous ones will directly omit this step and fool those buyers that they are all "old women who chant Buddha" in the incense hall.

The paper quickly burned to ashes in the charcoal basin, and some of the ashes fluttered in the wind. My dad hurriedly covered the charcoal pot with a lid, and the ashes were to be buried on the grave of the ancestors when they went to the grave in the new year. In the past, I was dismissive of this feudal superstition, and even felt that my generation would definitely not engage in these rituals again. Later, with the increase of experience, I slowly understood that this kind of ritual is not only a memory of the ancestors, but also a kind of cultural inheritance, warning us to have a sense of awe and not forget our roots.

The ritual process was soon over, and we poured the wine back into the bottle, which could later be used for cooking. My dad removed the incense burner, I rinsed the dishes and chopsticks and put them on the table again, while my mom went to prepare dinner. After finishing my work, while waiting for the guests, I took out my phone and dialed the first number......

Before going home, the six of us in the dormitory made an agreement that we would call one by one on the Chinese New Year's Eve, starting with bed No. 1. Next to me was Lao Zhao, and after we got through, we chatted, and while chatting, we talked about the pot of meatballs again. Then there is Eric, after all, they are all in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so our customs are not much different. After that, it was Da Biao's squad leader, their family had already eaten, and the sound of pushing the cup and changing the lamp could be faintly heard. Mr. Liu didn't answer the phone for a long time, so he dialed Lin Ye. First of all, I complained that Mr. Liu's business was too busy to answer my phone, and Lin Ye naturally "praised" Mr. Liu. Lin Ye is a dynasty clan, their New Year's customs are different, and when I called, he said that they had already eaten one meal and were waiting for the second meal. It is said that according to custom, they will also sing and dance during the feast, and I suddenly thought about what it would be like if we also sang and danced during the family dinner. No, no, no, it's a bit spicy to the eyes.

After dinner in the evening, the QQ group of our university class exploded. For the first time, I also had a general understanding of the various Chinese New Year customs across the country. The most heated topic of discussion is "food" in various places. The dispute over salty and sweet tofu brains, the dispute over dumpling wontons, the dispute over Lantern Festival dumplings, and the dispute over large and small steamed buns...... Everyone is arguing for the food in their hometown, after all, there is a saying: no one can say that their hometown is not true except for themselves. I was also involved in the scuffle, and after showing everyone the special food, I struggled a lot, but I still didn't understand what a "moldy stalk" was.

However, everyone is watching the same Spring Festival Gala, rice and wheat are indispensable on the table, and chopsticks are used, all under the same sky.

At half past eleven in the evening, there were more and more blessing text messages on my mobile phone, and I quickly ran downstairs, and the free version of the fireworks show was about to start!! The square was empty, and the rest were fireworks except me. As the time gets closer and closer to 12 o'clock, the sound of firecrackers and fireworks in the surrounding area is becoming more and more intensive. I really want to share this moment with others, but unfortunately the card machine can't shoot that effect after all, and there were no smartphones, WeChat moments, and no live webcasts at that time. At this time, the dense blessing text messages are still coming. I thought about it, edited a text message and sent it out:

"Happy Chinese New Year! Come out and watch the fireworks, beauty! ”