Dog skin hat and prose are on his head.

"Naga, Heilongjiang, is freezing in winter!" "Why is it so cold?" "I tell you, if you go to Maodaozi (toilet) to pee in winter, you have to bring a small stick and pull it while urinating, otherwise it will freeze." "ah! Is it so cold? " "Not to scare you, it's true!" This is a joke I heard in the 1970s about the dialogue between Heilongjiang people and southerners. However, although the words are exaggerated, it is a fact that the winter frost in Heilongjiang drops into ice. As the saying goes, "pull up Bala and freeze your chin" is a portrayal of deep winter. This is enough to make southerners "talk about cold color change." It is normal for Harbin to get 20 degrees below zero in winter. In Mohe Arctic Village, there is a record of more than 50 degrees below zero.

In the past, Heilongjiang people had their own ways to keep out the cold-men and women wore "all colors" or black cloth or blue cloth with large cotton-padded jackets and trousers. In order to prevent cold air from pouring into clothes, men like to wear belts, while women wrap their feet and necks. Men wear cowhide, pigskin and later cotton rubber shoes, women wear their own cotton shoes made of Melaleuca cloth, and some wear straw sandals and later cotton rubber shoes. Men wear fur hats mainly made of dog fur hats, while women wear fur hats such as dog fur hats in addition to cotton horn towels and frameless cotton hats. Especially when a woman goes out of town, she has to borrow a dog skin hat to wear. Haha, this is not a farce, this is the orthodox costume of Heilongjiang people in the past winter.

Some people may ask, there are many wild animals' fur on the vast forests and grasslands of Heilongjiang that can be used as hats. Why did they fall in love with this dog skin hat? !

Indeed, there are many furs that can be used to make hats in Heilongjiang. For example, otter skin and mink are precious furs. In the early years in Northeast China, people called mink, ginseng and humulus scandens together as the "Three Treasures of Northeast China". Mink is not only expensive, but even if it is made into a hat, it is not suitable for sheltering from the wind and cold in rural areas, and it can only become an ornament for people with status in big cities. Fox skin and raccoon skin are also rare things. The hat is light and warm, but because it is expensive, most people can't afford it. In those days, anyone wearing a fur hat was enviable. Mountain rabbits are easy to handle, but the skin is thin and brittle, not strong, and the hair does not grind. A mountain rabbit skin hat has been worn for a winter, and the hair near the neck has been polished. Compared with many other fur hats, dog fur hats are not only much cheaper, but also have long fur, comfortable wind pressure and wear resistance. Therefore, from the practice of use, people "weigh the pros and cons" and wear a dog skin hat that is both economical and affordable. From this point of view, wearing a dog skin hat is a popular choice for people in Northeast China, especially in Heilongjiang Province.

The old dog fur hat is a watermelon petal-shaped helmet, with a front hat face, a back hat circumference, two side hats, and a small hat ear above the hat ear to facilitate ventilation. Every winter, in Heilongjiang with blue sky, white snow and black soil, people wearing different colors of dog skin hats can be seen everywhere, as if painting colorful decorations for this beautiful picture of winter snow and ice.

In the past, people living in Heilongjiang liked to keep dogs and look after the house. Whose bitch is pregnant and hasn't given birth yet, neighbors, relatives and friends all come to say hello to her uncle and aunt, and the dog owner shouts, "Your bitch has given birth, please leave one for me!" " "okay! Come and see often, or the bitch won't stay after giving birth. If she comes late, she will be carried away by others. " In this way, a bitch doesn't know how many puppies she can have. Anyway, people who want puppies are "on the number" first. The news that the bitch gave birth to a baby spread like wildfire, and every day after dinner, people who want a puppy come to have a look. Bitches are very protective of their cubs, feeding them with their own milk, watching people very warily, and sometimes "woof!" Wang! " With several loud cries, the owner shouted at the bitch, and everyone was still discussing the puppy. When the puppy opens its eyes, the owner gives the puppy to the person who wants it when the bitch is not looking, covers the puppy with clothes and takes it home, feeds it with rice and rice soup, and keeps it day by day. Bitch's worry is useless. She gave birth to several cubs and was finally taken away. Sometimes, it is also the luck of the bitch that the owner keeps a puppy, otherwise it is really pitiful. The puppy has gradually grown into a big dog, and it is necessary to raise a puppy again. Some people have two or three dogs. At that time, dog owners often named dogs according to their posture and coat color, such as "big black", "rhubarb", "flower neck" and "four eyes", which were very vivid.

Although "the cat is a traitor and the dog is a loyal minister", dogs and humans are good friends, but the old dog will still be strangled. There is a folk saying that "kill the donkey after grinding", not "stop the dog after seeing the yard"! People are used to strangling dogs in dog days, cooking dog meat, cooking dog broth and preparing delicious food. The peeled dog skin is dried in the sun and tanned with nitrate or bauxite, which is also called "cooked skin". Cut the boiled dog skin into dog skin hats, dog skin mattresses, dog skin socks, dog skin gloves, dog skin sleeves, dog skin pants and so on. Later, there were supply and marketing cooperatives in rural areas and local shops and leather factories in county towns. People sold dog skins and went to shops to buy hats.

I suddenly remembered those idioms and phrases about dogs, such as ruthlessness, desperate jumping over the wall, dog's blood dripping on the head, dog's eyes on people, dog's strength, cock crow and dog thief, bad friends, dog's internal organs, dog's mouth can't spit ivory, dog's head strategist, dog's head and mouse's brain, and so on. It is true that every idiom and phrase is the crystallization of the wisdom of our ancestors, with its allusions, sources and established things. It can be said that dogs are treasures, but it seems unfair to recite many derogatory terms.

Speaking of "wearing a dog skin hat", it reminds me of an unforgettable past.

The dog skin hat worn by my second brother and I has been polished in several places. After my family moved into the county from Laotun, my father's salary of tens of yuan per month was not generous, and there was no spare money at home to buy new dog skin hats for our brothers. Later, my father's good friend, one of the "Iron Triangle" uncles, saw him buy a dog skin hat with yellow cloth and yellow hair for my second brother and me in the county department store, and we both soared. During the winter vacation, my brothers and I went back to Laotun, and I played dog sledge in Xihetao with my uncle, and sledge on Dongshan slope with my uncle, and pulled Artemisia stems back from the grassland with my uncle's horse sledge. Although the wind is biting in the wilderness, our hearts are full of joy because we are wearing new dog skin hats.

My family raised a white dog after camping in Laozhifang Hutong, a county town. Speaking of this white dog, there is really a story. Second brother likes dogs very much, but he is embarrassed to ask others for puppies. Coincidentally, one day neighbor Tian told his second brother that someone had left a puppy in the garbage dump on East Road. Hearing this, the second brother ran out of the alley and picked up the puppy in the garbage. The puppy has just been born and hasn't opened its eyes yet. Looking closely, I can see that my whole body is white, my face is half black and half white, and some are special. The second brother happily took the puppy home, bathed it, fed it rice soup with sugar, put it under the covers at night, and let the puppy play on its chest ... The puppy opened its eyes, and the family found that one eye was blue and the other eye was red, so it was named "Yin and Yang Eye". "Yin and Yang eyes" grow up day by day, blue eyes are almost covered by white eyes during the day, and red eyes are brighter at night. "Yin and Yang eyes" are both popular and "in charge". The second brother whistled at a distance and immediately ran from the yard to the front and back. In winter, the second brother made a cloth bag and two small wooden poles to whip the dog and teach it to pull the sled. Pulling a sledge takes a lot of effort, sometimes a basket of coal and sometimes half a bag of grain. When my mother works in the pancake factory in the grain store, she waits outside every time before leaving work. My mother walks home from work and even skips. Later, the "yin and yang eyes" were somewhat unruly. Others don't bite, only Uncle Chen who comes to pick up swill every day. As soon as Uncle Chen entered the hospital, he jumped on him and bit his trouser leg without spilling his mouth. I was so angry that Uncle Chen broke all the poles and touched the wires. Later, the chickens in Aunt Wang's house in the East Hospital dropped one or two every day. At first I thought it was eaten by a weasel. I was caught red-handed one day. My father was worried that the "Yin-Yang Eye" would cause trouble again and let my second brother strangle it. The second brother said that "Yin and Yang eyes" had never been pierced since childhood. That day, he tied a rope around his neck and refused to leave, earning tears. "Yin and Yang eyes" ended the dog's life on the old willow tree in the west of the house. The family thought of its contribution to protecting the homeland at ordinary times, and could not bear to peel and eat dog meat, so they dug a deep pit and buried it.

There are many legends about dogs, but the legend that Nurhachi was rescued by dogs and magpies is widely spread in Northeast China. Because of this, there is also a saying that Manchu people don't kill dogs, eat dog meat or wear dog skin hats. But legends belong to legends, and statements belong to statements. In my opinion, the dog's spirituality and ability to catch prey should be the real reason why Manchu people love dogs.

When we came to the former site of Jiang Jiayao where Zhang Jiazhou led Bayan guerrillas to fire the first shot of the Party's anti-Japanese war, we seemed to see the mighty and unyielding pledging team wearing dog skin hats to repay my rivers and mountains; When we stood in front of the embossed wall of the anti-Japanese Coalition forces in the northeast of Jingbo Lake, we seemed to hear the gunfire of the anti-Japanese Coalition forces wearing dog skin hats fighting against the Japanese aggressors in Baishan Heishui; When we visited the landscape of Hailin Tiger Mountain and Yang Zirong Memorial Hall, heroes wearing dog skin hats rushed to the beautiful snowfield and appeared in front of us like movies. When we visited the former site of the frontline headquarters of the Four Fields in the Twin Cities Liberation War, through those old photos, we reproduced the battle scenes of PLA officers and men wearing dog skin hats crawling on the ice and lying on the snow, taking the lead and risking their lives to kill the enemy bravely, as well as the vivid pictures of the frontline troops being brave and brave and braving the enemy bullets. When we visited the Iron Man Wang Jinxi Memorial Hall in Daqing, we silently told the heroic spirit of entrepreneurs wearing dog-skin hats and cotton-padded jackets. When we came to the first village in Longjiang, Xingshisi Village, Gannan, we made a time-space crossing along the footsteps of those who wore dog skin hats to explore the land. ...

"Wearing a dog skin hat" shows its charm, which not only decorates the dreary northern winter, but also gives people the courage and strength to overcome nature in the ice and snow. Now "Wearing a Dog's Skin Hat" is gone forever, and a series of touching stories and wonderful chapters written will warm my heart!