The smell of childhood

In a small village in southwestern Shandong, there will be sporadic firecrackers at three or four in the morning, some lonely but not cold, a little more; Near five o'clock, all the firecrackers woke up, scrambling to burst into sparks, ringing loudly, and something granular would fall on the roof of the hut; There was no cock crow, only the dog barked, but it only lasted for a minute or two, and the dog stopped barking. They will hide in their own shacks, and some even get under people's beds and tremble. The whole village ushered in a kind of dawn ahead of time in the pervasion of sulfur smoke-the lights in the houses and yards of every household, the flashing thunder, and the continuous fire from the two pedals assisted by 35 10 or even 2000 firecrackers broke the night layer by layer.

My childhood New Year's Day always kicked off like this.

At this time, my brothers and I always wake up earlier than our parents. The initial drowsiness has long been replaced by excitement. The body that has just put on new clothes is still trembling because of this excitement and cold, and the single small firecrackers thrown out are only weak arcs, and then the inconspicuous "snapping" sound is immediately drowned in this deafening night.

"Big, mom, happy New Year! Happy New Year! " We always shout and rush to our parents' bed. If they look under the bed, they will surely see us chirping and laughing together-we are kneeling. Then they will laugh and say that they will start to get up for the New Year, and then send us 35 cents of lucky money to watch our two brothers get up and push each other away.

In the taste of childhood, the ceremony of kowtowing to celebrate the New Year is essential. After kowtowing to our parents and eating jiaozi, we will follow our parents to their grandparents' home to pay New Year greetings and run all the way to them, no matter what they are doing. All we have to do is shout "Happy New Year to my grandparents", then plop down on our knees, and our little heads will ring, so that we can get lucky money again.

For us children of the younger generation, all the elders in the family, even the elderly grandparents and uncles in the neighborhood, are the objects we want to kowtow to. At that time, we didn't understand what this kneeling meant. All we care about is getting lucky money. Even the serious and even strict elders will cheer up when we kowtow and praise our parents for their growth and understanding, which makes us feel happier during the New Year.

Fathers and other young people also kowtow to their elders. Unlike us joking children, we will respectfully call our elders and say "Happy Chinese New Year", and then kneel down and touch their heads. The sound may not be loud, but it is enough to send their blessings and respect.

Later, when I grew up, I learned the so-called "kneeling on my parents' knees", but I still kowtowed to my elders during the New Year. This simplest and simplest way for the younger generation to express respect for their elders seems to have been rooted in our blood and become the most indispensable ceremony during the New Year, making the taste of that year more grand.

I said this because I thought the ceremony must last forever, otherwise it would not be the Chinese New Year. But I never imagined that it would die so quickly and silently.

Later, when I grew up, I couldn't remember when or why. People don't kowtow anymore-maybe, but it's not as common as before.

When we were children, we grew into teenagers and young people. For the Chinese New Year, we lost too much expectation. New clothes and lucky money can no longer attract us. What's more, some of our young people have begun to be afraid of kowtowing to pay New Year greetings, as if the gesture of kneeling on the ground represents a kind of ignorance and ignorance, which has become a kind of performance that can be used for banter.

Young people who form a New Year's greeting group with family surnames walk in the streets on New Year's Day, looking for every elderly elder to pay a New Year's greeting. When meeting other groups head-on, in addition to wishing each other a happy New Year, some will add a joke like "Uncle, I'll slap you", but the other party will often laugh it off, and some will say: Come here, you little third son, kneel down for me! Then everyone dispersed in a burst of laughter and continued to pay New Year greetings.

During the Spring Festival, parents always get up earlier than us, and we are always woken up by them. Even so, we don't want to get up. The sound of firecrackers all over the sky is not as good as our ongoing dream, and we began to complain-what did you do with those firecrackers before dawn? What a bore!

On the other hand, when we talk about the topic of Chinese New Year on weekdays, we young people always say that Chinese New Year is getting more and more boring. There are all kinds of nostalgia in the words, and I miss the taste of childhood infinitely, but in the New Year, I still don't get up early, let alone kowtow.

In fact, the taste of that year is still there. Just like going home for the New Year, some people get up early and start setting off firecrackers at three or four in the morning. Then the deafening noise will still scare chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep and dogs for a few days, and New Year's greetings groups with family names will also visit each other in the smoky night.

It's just that when we were young, we always thought that we could lead a certain trend, revel the whole New Year's Eve with the so-called more fashionable methods we learned in the city, and then choose to sleep at the strongest moment in our hometown.

Grandparents are gone, and our generation has grown up and become parents. Our children are also growing up. Fortunately, they began to look forward to the New Year, new clothes, lucky money, and the most lively collective carnival in the village at 3 or 4 in the morning. Now that I think about it, this is really a good reincarnation. I can't remember exactly when we started getting up earlier than our parents, setting off firecrackers, connecting our parents with hot water for washing their faces, and then waking them up.

Just stop kowtowing.

Only occasionally, my brother will let the children kowtow to our parents to pay New Year's greetings. Parents sometimes laugh when listening to children's childish cries of "Happy New Year to grandparents".

Anyway, for me, the smell of childhood is still there, which is lucky. This flavor of the year always needs several generations to guard, back and forth.

? # Yu X Hongsheng #

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