As soon as Lu Xingyu and Xiao Huineng returned to the door, Li heard familiar footsteps in the house, so he went out to greet them.

Li took the sack from Lu Xingyao's hand, opened it and saw that the bag contained pork, golden needles, mushrooms, vermicelli, yuba and other goods, so he smiled and said to Lu Xingyu and Xiao Huineng: "Your father and son went to take advantage of the New Year's goods in Wei, but they really returned with a full load!" ”

Lu Xingyan said proudly: "Then it goes without saying, if you can accompany you, you will have a fat year this year......

Lu Xingyu entered the house as he spoke, and before he could take a sip of water, he said meaningfully to Xiao Huineng, and said: "Daddy's teenage years in Fanyang, Hebei Province, at that time, the flavor of the New Year was the strongest, and it was also the most memorable happy time for Daddy. ”

"Then Daddy, tell me about it." Xiao Huineng stepped forward and pulled Lu Xingyao to the chair, pointed to the chair with Xiao Huineng, and said sensibly, "Daddy sat down and said. ”

Lu Xingyao touched Xiao Huineng's head lovingly and praised: "Neng'er is so good!" ”

After Lu Xingyu praised Xiao Huineng, he took over the topic he had just said on the road, "When Daddy was six years old, your grandfather took Daddy to the market to do New Year's goods, and when he came back, he handed over all the New Year's goods to the skillful nurse to handle them. ”

When Lu Xingyu said this, he led Xiao Hui Neng out of the door of the house, looked at the north, and said to Xiao Huineng: "A few days before the Chinese New Year, there will be a big cleaning, 'twenty-four, sweep the house', which is the folk song of Daddy's hometown." ”

"Uh-huh." Xiao Hui looked at Lu Xingyao as if he didn't understand.

Lu Xingyao also said: "The twenty-fourth day of the lunar month is the day to remove the old year, welcome the new year, and remove the old cloth and the new. This is where the so-called cleaning began. ”

According to the past tradition of the hometown, there is no need to choose a day to sweep the house on other days, simply sweep it, put the furniture partially, and wash the clothes with the wear. There is only one day every year, which is the "traditional and statutory" national house sweeping day.

……

In Xialu Village, NSW, Lu Xingyu lived with Li and Xiao Huineng in the thatched hut at home, and Xiao Huineng was born in that house. On the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, Lu Xingyu and Li started cleaning together, and Xiao Huineng also handed this and that beside him, a good picture of "a picture of a harmonious and happy family".

According to the customs of his hometown, Lu Xingyu and Li moved all the furniture, beds, etc., and cleaned all the dirt and dirt hidden below throughout the year.

Xiao Huineng also learned from adults, wiping the furniture with a tablecloth...... After Lu Xingyao, Li and Xiao Hui were able to wash and dry all the furniture, Lu Xingying and Li reassembled and laid it. Wait until everything is cleaned, otherwise the hut will never look new. But it's definitely a new look for the old and a new look for the new year.

Because before the Spring Festival, Lu Xingyao would use some lime fragments, melt them with water, stir them into a slurry, and dip them with a millet broom to smear them on the blackened soil walls of the house, so as to decorate the grass house a little whiter. The thatched hut has been decorated, and the air is full of freshness. Although the year is still old, the home is already new. This is the most memorable happy time of Lu Xingyi's exile in New South Wales for the New Year.

……

During the Spring Festival, every household has to post Spring Festival couplets. Ten days before the Spring Festival, it was a busy day for Lu Xingyu to write Spring Festival couplets, and the fragrance of ink wafted in front of the thatched house, which was a strong New Year's flavor for Lu Xingyao.

Half a month before the Spring Festival, the villagers in the four towns and eight miles have successively come to ask Lu Xingyao to write Spring Festival couplets with red paper.

Lu Xingyu set up a frame in front of the thatched hut courtyard. The people who asked to write the Spring Festival couplets were all villagers, so Lu Xingyu not only did not accept a penny, but also selected the corresponding Spring Festival couplets to write according to the needs of the visitors.

Xiao Huineng also imitated his father to write the word "Fu", and imitated it in a good way. Therefore, Xiao Huineng also came to help, spread out the red paper, and wrote with a brush in his hand.

Although the word "Fu" written by Xiao Huineng is far from reaching the level of his father's calligraphy, the villagers in the four towns and eight miles do not mind, they want to have an auspicious picture, and see the word "Fu" flowing out under the wrist of his young Huineng, and the strong New Year's flavor and the fragrance of Hanmo come to the face.

At that time, Li used cassava flour to make homemade paste for the villagers to eat.

After Lu Xingyao finished writing his Spring Festival couplets and dried them for a while, he brought the long benches at home and brushed the paste on both sides of the door. First, put the Spring Festival couplets virtually in the air at the position to be pasted, and then two meters away, the naked eye to judge whether the Spring Festival couplets are correct.

At this time, Lu Xingyan changed his father's dignity, had a very good attitude, and "obeyed" Xiao Huineng's command.

"High on the left", "Low on the right"...... In the end, with the efforts of the old and young Hui Neng, the red Spring Festival couplets were firmly pasted on both sides of the gate. This content was basically completed on the afternoon of the Chinese New Year's Eve.

After pasting the Spring Festival, Lu Xingyao did not forget to say to Xiao Huineng: "In the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, there are many taboos: for example, no swearing is allowed, no swear is allowed; Do not sweep the floor and go out to take out the trash. Otherwise, people who have been scolding for a year, swearing for a year, and a year of wealth will be swept away. ”

Xiao Huineng stood next to him, "Uh-huh, uh-huh" and nodded.

Before the New Year's dinner, Lu Xingyao lit candles and incense on the shrine in the hall and worshiped a few times sincerely.

At that moment, Xiao Huineng and his mother stood respectfully on the side and watched: Lu Xingyu was pious, in the swaying of the candlelight, bending his back, clasping his hands together, trembling against his forehead, bowing and worshipping.

Xiao Hui can look at the wisps of green smoke floating upwards from the burning incense, and figure out the blessings in Daddy's heart: it must be praying for an auspicious New Year, wishes come true, everything goes well, and family happiness.

After worshipping the gods, Lu Xingyu would take out a burning incense fan from the incense burner to light the firecrackers, and shouted: "Neng'er, quickly cover your ears!" ”

Xiao Huineng covered her ears and jumped out of the gate a foot away, and immediately, the deafening sound of firecrackers rang out......

The Chinese New Year is indispensable for unmarried people, especially Xiaohui children.

On the evening of the thirtieth night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, after having the reunion dinner, Lu Xingyu and Li would send a letter to Xiao Huineng.

Lu Xingyan said to Xiao Huineng: "This is the 'New Year's money' that adults give to Xiao Huineng's children during the Chinese New Year."

However, most of the "New Year's money" issued by my father and mother has to be handed over. Li said to Xiao Huineng: "Daddy and mother give Xiao Huineng's child New Year's money, and my mother will help you save ......"

As for where it is stored and when it can be used, Xiao Huineng has no idea at all.

Later, Xiao Huineng understood a little, only the benefits given by uncles, aunts and married adults in the village belong to them, and this time period is generally funny, at the beginning of the new year, to the fifteenth Lantern Festival of the first month, during this time, there are benefits and teases.

The Chinese New Year "Walking King" is one of the popular folk festivals in Xinzhou, and it is also Lu Xingyan's favorite folk activity, perhaps, this is related to the origin of the "Walking King" according to legend.

……

When Xiao Huineng was just three years old, on the third day of the Lunar New Year that year, he shouted with his father to see the "king".

Integrated Yagang, Xialu and other villages, the New Year is full of "kings".

Walking the "king" is to take a unique way of "walking", carrying the "statue king" to the village, so for a long time, the local community is commonly known as the "king".

According to legend, the origin of the "big king" is the Han Dynasty from the north to move from the Wu surname Yagang village people, in the early days of the village, no matter how hard he worked it is difficult to make a living, the latter elder said: there are immortals to report the dream to him, Yagang village terrain is in the shape of a boat, the boat has to move to have vitality, this elder and the clan after recalling the appearance of the immortal in the dream, with clay sculpture out, by the people to carry all over the village, that year there was a good harvest, and then persevered, formed the custom of walking the "king".

There is another theory: according to legend, one year due to a flash flood, the Longshan River next to the village was flooded, and the "king" of a village temple upstream was washed away by the water, and it was washed away until it stopped at a corner called "Xiashuiwei" in Yagang Village.

The "king" stopped, when the rain stopped immediately, and the sky was clear, the villagers saw this and carried the "king" back and put it in the village to worship.

At that time, the people surnamed Lu had multiplied to the 11th generation, and an elder among the clansmen proposed to bring the "king" back to the day of worship, and the 18th day of the first month of the lunar calendar was set as the auspicious day of "walking the king".

At the beginning, only Yagang Village Shengtangfang had a "king", just at that time many people in the village took the test and many people in the village added Ding Dezi, for this reason, the people in the village felt that the "king" was very aura, everyone went to worship, after discussion, it was decided to carry the "king" to each square to worship people.

With the increase in the population of the village, later on, each workshop also enshrined the "king" of the village.

Later, someone proposed to build an ancestral hall on a flat land in the "lower water tail" to enshrine the "king" of each square. Because the "king" is the flowing water flowing here, it is also known as the "king of the water flow". Before the Lantern Festival on the thirteenth day of the first month, the "king" will be taken back to the various squares for resettlement, and a grand village tour will be held on the 18th.

A few days before the "king" walk, a series of folk activities will be carried out in the village. Invite the "king" to play music in the eight-tone class, and invite the "king" out of the "king" house in each square in the sound of firecrackers, set up a scaffolding in the village, and set up an incense burner for the villagers in the workshop to come to offer incense.

The people of each square hang lanterns in the ancestral hall of the village, generally hanging the white lanterns and newlyweds of last year's children or marriages, and the lamps of the new houses are generally hung on the stoves or land.

On the day of the "king", men, women, children, women, children and children in the village, as well as the married women of the county, the four towns and eight neighbors, and the descendants who went out to work will come back to participate. The whole village poured out of the nest, which can really be called an unprecedented grand occasion.

After the noon banquet on the same day, at one o'clock, after intensive preparations, the old people in each square will summon the young and strong men in the square to gather in each square and prepare to carry the "king" to patrol the village.

As soon as the auspicious time of the "Great King" arrives, after the sound of firecrackers, under the guidance of the lion awakening, a team of "Pioneer Boys" (the pioneer officer who opened the road) and the "Qingdao Banner" open the way, and parade in the village according to the historical "Dawang Road".

And walk the "king", parade to every village, a village, a square, the people of each village, village, square will put cakes, fruits, five animals, lanterns and huge incense candles on a round platform, waiting for the arrival of the "king".

When the noisy "king" team arrives, the people of the villages, villages and squares who are waiting for them will also wave their flags and shout, beat gongs and drums, and dance lion in front of the villages, villages and squares.

Immediately afterwards, firecrackers rang out, and the team of the "king" joined the teams of the villages, villages and workshops in front of them, and joined the team of the "king".

After taking the "king" in the villages, villages, and squares for most of the day, after concentrating the pioneer number, Qingdao banner, and "king" of the villages, villages, and squares, after passing through the twelve villages, villages, and squares of the "seventy-two caves", the distance is about ten kilometers, and the team arrives at the last stop——— where the "king" temple is located, and people are looking forward to the arrival of the kings of all walks of life.

On the square, each village, village, fang held up all kinds of flags, guide signs, banners clearly painted with "Guotai Min'an", "wind and rain" and other words of all kinds of pennants, from the flag-waving and shouting to go to the "king" team of all kinds of pennants can see the villagers' most simple wishes.

The gongs and drums in the square are noisy, the lion dances, the crowds of people everywhere, the voices of the people are boiling, the scene is very grand, the number of people is as many as tens of thousands. Xiao Huineng saw the scene so lively for the first time, and said happily: "Daddy, go to the 'king' for the New Year, it's so lively, take a good look!" ”

Lu Xingyu was also quite excited and said: "Yes, Neng'er, this 'king' activity is also very lively in our hometown of Fanyang, whether it is a man, a woman, an old or a young, they all like to watch it." ”

"Daddy, look, those big brothers are carrying that 'big king', why are they walking all the way and running all the way?" Xiao Huineng looked at the team of "kings" and asked puzzledly.

Lu Xingyu replied with a smile: "Go 'King'!" It's definitely time to go! This is also one of the most exciting and vivid parts of NSW's 'Walking the King' activity. ”