The "fire cage" is made of bamboo strips, put together into a circle, and a pottery container is placed in the middle, and a handle is installed on it, which becomes a "fire cage", and the size is generally about one foot. Along with the use of the "fire cage", there are many supporting utensils.

For example, the "baking cage" is generally round, also made of bamboo strips, with a diameter of about three feet, and is divided into two parts. The top is used to hold what needs to be baked, and the bottom is used to prevent heat from spreading.

There are many things that can be baked in the "baking cage", the most commonly used is to bake the "fire baked fish", the fish caught in the river stream water, baked in this way, burnt and crispy, and taste particularly fragrant, it is a delicacy for the farmer to entertain the guests.

At that time, life was very poor, the rural family came to the guests, there is such a delicacy, often can greatly reflect the enthusiasm of the host, "fire baked fish" to the young mind to leave an indelible impression, some very small fish, can be eaten directly after drying, the taste does not know how delicious, such a small fish has not been eaten secretly.

"Roasting cage" can also smoke bacon, mostly home-raised pigs, after slaughtering, leave part, first with salt, and then in the "roasting cage" to smoke, and wait until the smoke is dark and burnt yellow, even if the fumigation is successful.

Smoked bacon can not use "fire", but use "dry cake", "dry cake" is a cake-like residue pressed into rapeseed after the oil is squeezed out when beating vegetable oil. Used to smoke bacon, it will have a unique aroma.

Although the "dry cake" is the residue of oil extraction, the use is not small, and it is deeply loved by rural people. It can be used as feed for pigs and chickens. It can also be used as a mosquito coil to light a piece to repel mosquitoes.

It can also be used to medicate fish, grind it into powder and then fry it, and then put it into a stream, which can make the fish and shrimp coma for a short time. When I was a child, I didn't use "dry cake" medicine fish, and I didn't follow others to pick up ready-made ones, and at that time, medicine fish seemed to be the only way.

In winter, there are many ways to use the "fire cage" to keep warm, the most common is when the housewife is doing needlework, using an apron or cotton coat, sitting around the "fire cage", sewing clothes, or holding the soles of shoes, while chatting with the neighbors.

The "fire cage" is used for heating, and it is also tied into a ring with bamboo strips, and the top is woven into a cover with iron wire, which is covered with the "fire cage" and can be used to put feet. "The head that can't be cold is hot and the feet don't die", the feet are placed on the "fire cage", and the whole body will be warmed.

Rural families take care of babies, and the role of "fire cages" is also quite prominent. Barrels are made of wood, narrow at the top and thick at the bottom, transparent from top to bottom. Halfway up the barrel, four holes are cut and two special wooden sticks are worn to carry the baffle.

Standing babies on the baffle, the opening on the top, the size is just enough to hold the body of the child, even if the child is not able to stand, relying on the opening support, can still be alive and jumping. The image of the rural masses is called "starting the bucket", and "rising" is the local dialect sound, which means standing.

Under the baffle is placed the "fire cage", which is much thicker than the top, so that the "bucket" can be kept stable, and the heat of the "fire cage" will not be lost, and it can also ensure that it will not be burned.

This kind of "bucket lifting" used to be quite common in rural areas, and almost all rural children grew up in "bucketing", and of course I also stood in "bucketing", which was very warm and comfortable. Now that there are air conditioners, it is rare to see "buckets" in rural areas.

There is also a kind of "shaking barrel" relative to the "starting barrel", which is about one meter high, made of the same wood, and two arc-shaped wood are planed at the bottom as a support, and the top is an oblong wooden barrel, which is slightly higher and the other is slightly lower, and the barrel is often padded with thick straw, and then padded with thick cotton wool.

This is for the baby, to make up for the "bucket" can not put the baby's shortcomings, the two ends are different in height to facilitate the baby to pick up and put in, gently step on the arc bracket, or gently push the barrel body, it will shake from side to side, does not affect the work in the hand, older children can also help.

Winter belongs to children, there is no farm work, and it is rarely supported by adults to do this and that, so the play is also the craziest.

The "fire cage" is easy to carry, and in winter, the little friends go outside to play, and often hang a "fire cage" to keep warm. There is a "fire cage", which adds a lot of fun, because you can light a fire and barbecue, and you can ignite firecrackers.

When we were kids, we didn't know there were fireworks, and we didn't even hear of them. Every Chinese New Year, the firecrackers set off by each family are very short. According to the number of firecrackers, it is divided into 20 rings, 50 rings, 100 rings and so on.

In my impression, it is generally twenty rings. At that time, the firecrackers were sold according to the seal, wrapped tightly with paper, each letter contained ten hexagrams, the family conditions were a little worse, sometimes buy two hexagrams, one hexagram closed the door and set off, one hexagram opened the door and set off.

Unless the family is particularly wealthy, or when there is an important moment such as marrying a relative or a daughter, there will be fifty rings or one hundred rings. Fifty or 100 firecrackers are much larger than 20 firecrackers, and their power and sound are much greater.

The power of the "turbulent pipe" is amazing, and it has become one of the little boy's reckless performances, grabbing it in his hand to ignite the fuse, and whoever throws it out at the latest will be the bravest. Therefore, there are often friends who are injured in the hand, and some of them are more serious.

Since childhood, in addition to the "turbulent pipe", there is also jumping and diving, and the comparison is also who jumps the highest hurdle and the deepest water, parents are busy for their livelihoods, we are unsupervised when we are children, and we have grown up healthily in such ignorance and fearlessness. Another advantage of the "fire cage" is that it is particularly strong, and the charcoal fire inside will burn particularly vigorously when you turn or shake it with the handle, and some children will often put some firewood on the shelf and turn it to make the firewood burn.

I still remember that the "pole pile" of "Uncle Xie's" house was accidentally ignited by the children of "Uncle Chang's" family while playing with the "fire cage", and the "pole pile" more than ten meters high was burned to ashes.

It was also the first time I had seen a fire, and the straw in the "pole pile" was so dry that it would spontaneously combust when splashed with sparks. What caused this "pole pile" to burn was a little spark splashed when the "fire cage" was thrown.

After the field was divided, the Yamashita warehouse was not assigned to a person for the time being, but was used as a rice mill for the production team, and opposite the warehouse, across the road was a row of cattle pens. Next to the warehouse and the cattle pen, a threshing floor was carved out.

The "pole piles" of each family are generally piled on these two barn fields, and according to the division of the barn fields, they have their own fixed positions, so that after the straw is used up, the pole in the middle can be used in the next year.

You can drill into the "pole pile", you can hide people, and it is also a place where friends love to play. Without the supervision of adults, I was too excited to play, and I flew with the "fire cage", and a spark flew out of the "fire cage" and splashed into one of the "pole piles".

I was also present at the time, and I still remember that the "spark" splashed into the "pole pile", and was discovered by the little friend in time, and immediately put down the "fire cage" to fight, but the result was really extinguished, and the spark was extinguished, and the little friend was no longer at ease and continued to play crazy.

Who knew that the straw was too flammable, and it seemed to be extinguished, but in fact there were ashes, which were stuffy in it and spread inward, and when I found it again, it looked like it had only burned a small hole on the outside, and it had actually burned into a hollow inside. At this time, the flame can no longer be extinguished, the water cannot be poured in, and the wind can be seen when it is turned over, which encourages the flame to burn faster.

The little friend who caused the trouble, knowing that he had caused a big disaster, cried in horror and shouted for the adults to come to the rescue. The production team came, and the owner of the "pole pile", "Aunt Xiao Xie", also came.

But no matter how many people come, it is useless, saving and not saving the meaning is the same, "Aunt Xie" suddenly cried and shouted, rolling all over the ground. Everyone watched the "pole pile" turn into ashes in front of them, and they could only pull up "Little Aunt Xie" together to comfort them.

Later, the parents of the troublemaker compensated "Aunt Xie" for a "pole pile" of the same size, and this little friend ate a meal of "fried meat with bamboo shoots" for this. That is the most important way to discipline children in rural families, a piece of bamboo or a bamboo is slightly whipped, and a dozen is a bruise, or even a blood stain.

Bamboo slightly slender and tough, whipped on the cow, with the thickness of the cowhide will also suffer pain, rural people are using slender bamboo to drive the cow, so there is a special name, called "Niu slightly", whenever there are children naughty disobedient, often listen to adults threaten, "your father took the" Niu slightly "came", the listener is all dead.

In the era of serious shortage of modern agricultural machinery, a cow carries too much, and it can almost be said that it carries a family and a generation. Rural people all attach great importance to cattle, and the cattle herding babies all have a soft spot for cattle.