Zuitou Village's New Year Prose

Zuitou Village is an obscure small village in Jia Cun at the western end of Guanzhong Plain. It is also called Zuitou Village or Zuitou Village. Some time ago, it was also called "Red Flag Brigade", but its original name was restored with simplified Chinese characters. Many places in the country are called "Zuitou Village" and "Zuitou Town". I don't know the origin of my village name. Perhaps because it is located at the edge of Jiajiacun, people verbally call it "Zuitou". ! Because Jia Cun used to be like a dragon, and there was a village called Wei Long.

I was born in this small village. I went to school at the age of six and lived in this village until I was twenty. There are nine natural groups in the village, with more than 1000 people, which is a typical Guanzhong village. After work, I lived in the ancient city for a long time, busy with daily chores and rarely went back to the village. But when it comes to Chinese New Year, people will think of "Zuitou Village".

"Twenty-three, honeydew melon is sticky; Twenty-four, sweep the house; Twenty-five, grinding bean curd; Twenty-six, cut raw meat for one year; Twenty-seven slaughtered cocks; 28 faces; Twenty-nine steamed buns ... ",the custom of celebrating the New Year handed down by ancestors began on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, which is said to be the day when" the kitchen god goes to heaven ". Men, women and children, groups and gangs gathered in the village brigade. Some people beat gongs and drums, some people lost at chess, and the men in the family worshipped the kitchen god. "God speaks well and comes to earth for good luck", which makes a lot of noise to welcome the arrival of the New Year. The twelfth lunar month is a good time for rural people to get married. When they have leisure time, they can go to nearby Qiaozhen, Jia Cun and Panlong Market, or go to distant Chencun and Gong Xian to buy new year's goods, brush walls and grind noodles, clean their homes, and return to their villages to do part-time jobs. Besides, this is a double happiness. If it snows, the original place will be white, and it will snow in the distance of Zhong Nanshan. "Xue Rui is a good sign for a bumper harvest in the coming year, which is even more gratifying. However, the traffic is inconvenient, the road is blocked by heavy snow, and the newly married wife wants her new son-in-law to be carried into the bridal chamber. I remember our happiest thing, who killed the big black pig, and our children played "pig urine" as a football. On New Year's Eve, before lunch, we put up couplets, window grilles and engravings to worship all the gods, set off a string of firecrackers to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year, and went to the ancestral grave in the afternoon and invited "ancestors". In the evening, the family gathered around the extended family to have dinner and drink xifeng liquor on the kang. Our children are anxiously waiting for the old people to give out red envelopes and collect lucky money. Our parents pack jiaozi at night and our children wear it at night. On the second day of the first month, I went to my uncle's house and went back to my mother's house on the third day of the first month. Before the fifteenth day of the first month, people basically visit relatives and friends, say hello to each other and exchange information. No matter where you go, you will sit on the hot kang and eat a bowl of minced meat noodles. At noon, you will have seven dishes and eight bowls of good wine, which will make the foodies happy.

After the "New Year's Day" of the Tenth Five-Year Plan, the spring tide is rolling, and the weather is myriad, that is, walking on stilts and singing Shaanxi opera. The days are booming and slowly leisurely, making an ordinary village come alive. If you encounter a "social fire competition", it will be even more lively! Mountain social fire, car social fire, horse social fire, back social fire, raising social fire, high-core social fire, stilts, earth social fire, blood social fire, black social fire and other competing performances, I even installed a social fire! Riding a big horse is great, but you can't eat, drink or dismount for a day, for fear of wetting your pants! Of course, on the fifteenth night of the first month, when the Lantern Festival comes, we will walk around the village with all kinds of lanterns, praying for peace and good luck. The night of the 16th day of the first month is Children's Day. All the children have to take out their lanterns and smash them hard, and then smile and watch others' lanterns catch fire. This is called "touching the lamp". The villagers pay attention that this year's lanterns can't be kept until next year, and they must be burned by "touching the lanterns", otherwise next year will be unlucky.

This happened more than 20 years ago in my memory, although it is a bit vague. It is almost impossible to see the bustling scene now. In recent years, every time I go home, I feel a very silent fear, which attacks my heart and hurts me. Although I was prepared, it far exceeded my expectations. With the rapid development of China's economy and the acceleration of urbanization, the city has expanded at a geometric speed, and a large number of rural people have flowed into the city, which has caused difficulties in housing, medical care, schooling and old-age care. My lovely village became desolate and desolate. Few people live in the village, the door bolt is locked, and several stray dogs wander in the village, their eyes are full of infinite pity.

After work, I never went home for the New Year. Serving others is the primary task. Parents at home are backward, either ahead or behind. Going home for the New Year seems to be visiting relatives. My parents still insist on living in the village. They are old and insist on farming. In his father's words, he said, "farmers, why don't you farm?" ! "This is the simplest and most basic responsibility and responsibility of a farmer. This village is deeply influenced by the Zhou etiquette system. In the past, clansmen would also organize three worships and nine worships to worship the "genealogy". "Farming and reading" is the simplest tradition, which has continued to this day. Unfortunately, farmers are getting older and older, and more and more land is wasted. There are also many children of farmers who study and eventually jump out of the "farm gate". Some of them graduated from college to start businesses, some were unemployed, some returned home with clothes on, and some were unsatisfactory. All people live in the corner of the city, and the "leftover men and women" and older young people struggle to grow up, but they are afraid of "forced marriage" and refuse to find a partner and return to their hometown in the countryside with their backs on the loess.

Zuitou Village has nurtured our generations. Although it is windy, dry and seldom rains, we love our great motherland very much. Every time I go home for the New Year, I will take a walk in the village, look for my former classmates, and see the scenery and villagers I am familiar with. The students were busy making money, the primary schools in the village were merged and demolished, and the stage for singing big plays collapsed because of disrepair. Parents always talk about whose old man goes to the city to show his son his baby for the New Year, and who has cancer and can't eat new wheat. I listen quietly, just like a village. ...

In recent years, most people in the village drive home on New Year's Eve, put up couplets, set off firecrackers and then leave, and then return to this colorful city in the evening. There is also a yard and a few acres of land in the village. I am afraid that I have no home to go back to when I am old. The city is a monster, full of temptations, and you have to follow it. Children have to make up lessons and work overtime. People can't stop for 65 days like a top. Five plus two, white plus black, 24-hour working system, can not breathe a sigh of relief, can not slow down at all. I watched them print unified couplets on the door, and the content was similar. "Blessed land is rich in financial resources, and land helps the rich" and "prosperous spring breeze is rich in financial resources, and peaceful and prosperous families are prosperous" are basically career and financial resources; In the past, "every family always trades new peaches for old ones" and "Tianzeng Life Insurance, Spring Full Kung Fu Map" almost disappeared. It is not simply the pursuit of simplicity and convenience, because there is no Mr. Xiang Xian in the village who can pick up a brush to write. Benevolence, courtesy, wisdom, faithfulness, softness, courtesy, frugality, loyalty, filial piety, courage and sincerity ... Who can remember?

There were two heavy snows before this year, and fewer people returned to the village for the New Year. Although every village is connected to home by highway, there is a lot of snow on the road, the temperature drops sharply, the sun is shining, the village is a little cold, the wind is blowing, and the face is biting cold.

"There is no need to go to the market, and there are few people in the street. Now a phone call and a WeChat can be delivered to the door and the year is over! " An old man in the village said, "As long as you have money! When people get rich, there are fewer and fewer people in the village. This year's taste is getting weaker and weaker! In a few years, I heard that our village will be relocated as a whole, and the old ladies will catch up with the chickens and sheep to live in foreign buildings! "

I was speechless for a moment. On the one hand, rural parties in our village are slowly disappearing. On the other hand, small towns like yuanjiacun and Mayiyi are in full swing, and "one side of a thousand towns" attracts people by buying a snack without tickets. How long can an artificial town like this last? Where is the soul and root of our village culture? Chinese New Year is a joyous and auspicious event, and it is forbidden to make irresponsible remarks. There is a saying: "There is no bridge in the town, and there is no county in the county." Jia Cun has a long history and culture. Many place names have some origins, and some of them are kept secret because of pronunciation changes, misinformation and other reasons, which need our in-depth study. History is heavy, and traditional rural culture is so fragile and vulnerable under the market economy. "Zuitou Village" is the brand of my life, deeply branded on my body, integrated with my blood, and I can't give up when I grow up; Perhaps, after several years, decades and hundreds of years, this village no longer exists, but I will never forget it, especially the childhood joy brought by the Chinese New Year, as well as my beloved parents, brothers and sisters, beautiful loess land and simple rural customs. Starting from the land of Zuitou village, I experienced ups and downs, tempered my life, turned around, returned to the earth, and everything grew. Everything has become familiar and unfamiliar, which makes people deeply moved.