Original text of "New Year" by Lao She

Original text: According to Beijing’s old rules, the Lunar New Year (Spring Festival) begins almost in the early days of the twelfth lunar month. "The coldest time of the year is when jackdaws freeze to death during the seventh and eighth lunar month." However, when winter comes, spring will soon come, so people do not reduce their enthusiasm for celebrating the New Year and welcoming the spring because of the cold. On the day of Laba, people in homes and temples cook Laba porridge.

This kind of special porridge is used to worship ancestors and gods, but if you think about it carefully, it is a manifestation of the pride of the agricultural society - this kind of porridge is made from all kinds of rice, all kinds of rice. It is made from beans and various dried fruits (almonds, walnut kernels, melon seeds, lychee meat, lotus seeds, peanuts, raisins, water chestnuts...). This is not porridge, but a small agricultural exhibition.

On this day of Laba, you also need to soak Laba garlic. Put the garlic cloves in high vinegar on this day, seal them up, and use them to eat dumplings during the New Year. By the end of the year, the soaked garlic will be as green as emeralds, and the vinegar will also have a spicier taste. The color and taste are both delicious, making people want to eat more dumplings. In Beijing, every family eats dumplings during the Chinese New Year.

Since Laba, shops have stepped up their efforts to sell New Year’s goods, and more stalls have been added to the streets - those selling Spring Festival couplets, those selling New Year paintings, those selling honey offerings, those selling daffodils, etc. It will only appear this season. These New Year stalls make children's hearts beat very fast. In the alleys, the shouting sounds were more numerous and complex than usual, and some of them only appeared in the twelfth lunar month, such as those selling constitutions, pine branches, barley rice, rice cakes, etc.

When there was an emperor, school children stopped going to school on the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month and had a one-month annual holiday. When children prepare to celebrate the New Year, almost the first thing they do is buy mixed food. This is made by mixing various dried fruits (peanuts, dates, hazelnuts, chestnuts, etc.) and candied fruits. The ordinary ones are with skin, and the high-end ones are without skin - for example: ordinary hazelnuts with skin are used, and high-end hazelnuts are used.礤儿.

Children like to eat these odds and ends. Even if there are no dumplings to eat, they must buy the dumplings. Their second big thing is to buy firecrackers, especially the boys. I'm afraid the third thing is to buy toys - kites, diabolo, harmonica, etc. - and New Year pictures. The children are busy and the adults are also nervous. They must prepare everything to eat and drink during the New Year. They also have to rush to make new shoes and new clothes for the children so that they can appear renewed in the New Year.

Celebrating the Little New Year on the 23rd is almost a "dress rehearsal" for celebrating the New Year. In the old society, every family would pay homage to the Stove King that night. Firecrackers would go off as soon as it was dark, and the paper statue of the Stove God would be burned with the sound of the firecrackers, which was called sending the Stove King to heaven.

In the past few days, there were many sellers of maltose and glutinous rice sugar on the street. The candy was either in the shape of a long square or a large or small melon. According to the old saying: use sugar to stick the Stove King’s mouth. , he will not report bad things in his family to the Jade Emperor when he reaches heaven. Nowadays, there are still candy sellers, but they are only for everyone to enjoy, and they no longer stick to the Kitchen King's mouth.

After the 23rd, everyone becomes even busier. The New Year is here in the blink of an eye. Before New Year's Eve, every family must put up the Spring Festival couplets and do a house cleaning. It is necessary to prepare enough meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, rice cakes, etc., at least enough to last for a week - according to the old custom, most shops close their doors for five days and do not open until the sixth day of the first lunar month.

If you don’t prepare food for the next few days, it will not be easy to replenish it temporarily. Also, old mothers in the old society insisted on cutting out everything that should be cut out on New Year's Eve, so as not to use the knife again on the first to fifth day of the first lunar month. It is unlucky to use the knife or scissors. This has a superstitious meaning, but it also shows that people are indeed peace-loving people who are unwilling to even move a kitchen knife in the first year of life.

New Year’s Eve is so lively. Every family is rushing to prepare New Year dishes, and the aroma of wine and meat is everywhere. Men and women of all ages wear new clothes, red couplets are posted outside the door, and various New Year pictures are posted inside the house. Every house is lit up all night without interruption, and the sound of cannons is continuous day and night. Those who work outside must rush home to have a reunion dinner and worship their ancestors unless absolutely necessary. This night, except for very young children, no one slept, and they all had to stay up late on New Year's Eve.

The scene on New Year's Day is completely different from that on New Year's Eve: on New Year's Eve, the streets are crowded with people; on New Year's Day, the shops are all boarded up, with cardboard paper from firecrackers set off last night piled in front of the door, and the whole city is resting. Set out before noon to visit relatives and friends’ homes to pay New Year greetings. Women receive guests at home.

At the same time, there are many temples inside and outside the city open for people to visit. Vendors set up stalls outside the temples, selling tea, food and various toys. The Dazhong Temple outside the North City, the Baiyun Temple outside the West City, and the Fire Temple (Changdian) in the South City are the most famous. However, the first two or three days after the temple opened was not very lively, because people were still busy wishing each other New Year's greetings and had no time to do so.

On the fifth and sixth day of the lunar month, temple fairs became more popular, and children were particularly enthusiastic about going there so they could see the wild scenery outside the city, ride donkeys, and buy toys unique to the New Year. There were cars and horses racing in the square outside Baiyun Temple; in old age, it is said that there were camels racing. These competitions do not compete for who is first and who is second, but to demonstrate the beautiful postures and skills of the mules, horses and riders in front of the audience.

Most shops opened on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year and set off firecrackers. From dawn to early morning, the whole city was filled with the sound of firecrackers. Although it is open, except for the shops selling food and other important daily necessities, everyone is not very busy. The shopkeepers can also take turns visiting temples, walking on the overpass and listening to the opera.

Yuanxiao (glutinous rice balls) are on the market, and the climax of the new year is the Lantern Festival (from the 13th to the 17th of the first lunar month). New Year's Eve is lively, but there is no moonlight; as for the Lantern Festival, the moon is bright in the sky. New Year's Day is decent, with bright red Spring Festival couplets posted in front of every house, and people wearing new clothes, but it's not beautiful enough.

During the Lantern Festival, lanterns are hung everywhere, and the whole street looks like a wedding, blazing and beautiful. Famous old shops have hundreds of lights hanging out, some are all made of glass, some are all horns, some are gauze lanterns; some are of various colors, and some are all painted with "Dream of Red Mansions" or "Dream of Red Mansions" "Water Margin" story. In those days, this was just a kind of advertisement; as soon as the lamp was hung up, anyone could enter the shop to visit; at night, candles were lit in the lamp, so there were more viewers.

This ad is not vulgar. Dried fruit shops also have to do a lot of miscellaneous business during the Lantern Festival, so they often come up with original ideas and make various ice lanterns, or use wheat seedlings to make one or two long green dragons to attract customers.

In addition to hanging lanterns, flowers are also placed in the square. A fire judge was also lit in the City God's Temple, and tongues of fire came out of the mouth, ears, nose, and eyes of the statue of the judge. Sky lanterns were set up in the park and flew into the sky like giant stars.

Men and women came out to walk on the moon, look at the lanterns, and watch the fireworks; the people on the street were crowded and motionless. In the old society, women rarely went out. They could get some freedom during the Lantern Festival. Children bought all kinds of fireworks and set them off. Even if they didn't go to the street to be naughty, they could still play with sound and light at home.

There are also lights at home: revolving lanterns - the original movie - palace lanterns, various paper lanterns, and gauze lanterns with little bells inside that tinkle when the time comes. Everyone must also eat glutinous rice balls. These are indeed beautiful and happy days.

In the blink of an eye, it’s Can Deng Mo Temple 3, students have to go to school, adults go back to doing things as usual, and the New Year ends on the 19th day of the first lunar month. The twelfth lunar month and the first lunar month are when people are most idle in rural society, and pigs, cattle and sheep are also growing up, so everyone has to kill pigs and sheep to repay a year's hard work.

After the Lantern Festival, the weather got warmer, and everyone went to work again. Although Beijing is a city, it also celebrates the New Year along with rural society, and the celebration is extremely lively.

In the old society, celebrating the New Year was inseparable from superstition. Laba porridge, Guandong candy, and New Year’s Eve dumplings must be offered to the Buddha first, and then people can enjoy them. On New Year's Eve, we have to meet the God; on the second day of the Lunar New Year, we have to sacrifice to the God of Wealth and eat ingot soup (wontons); moreover, people have to go to the God of Wealth Temple to borrow paper ingots and burn incense sticks to give blessings to the elderly on the eighth day of the first lunar month to pray for longevity.

So the biggest waste at that time was the money spent on wax paper horses. Nowadays, everyone is no longer superstitious, so we can save this expense and use it in useful places. What is particularly worth mentioning is that today's children only celebrate the New Year happily without being infected by superstition. They only have happiness but no fear - they are afraid of gods and ghosts.

Perhaps, the Chinese New Year is not as lively as before, but it is so clear and healthy. In the past, people celebrated the New Year with the blessing of gods and ghosts. Now that everyone is working to the end of the year, everyone should also celebrate the New Year happily.

Extended information:

The Spring Festival is the most lively festival in our country, with rich and colorful activities. The narrative in this article is comprehensive and detailed, but also selective and focused. The author writes in authentic Beijing dialect. Especially the folk sayings and names of things quoted in the article are pure Beijing dialect, allowing people to feel the strong flavor of Beijing life from the article.

This article first writes about the beginning of the Spring Festival in Beijing, and briefly introduces the preparations people have made for celebrating the Spring Festival. Some folk customs are mentioned in just one sentence, such as "a general cleaning is necessary" and "most shops close their doors for five days and do not open until the sixth day of the first lunar month." Then the three Spring Festival climaxes of New Year's Eve, the first day of the Lunar New Year and the Lantern Festival are described in detail. Finally, briefly explain the end of the Spring Festival. The advantage of writing in this way is that it combines points and aspects, highlights the key points, and distinguishes priorities, which makes a deep impression on readers.

First of all, I write from Laba to New Year’s Eve, introducing the busy and bustling scenes of the previous year, focusing on Laba, the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Eve. The beginning of the article mainly introduces Laba, which is written in detail and vividly. Such as what ingredients are put in Laba porridge, the color and taste of Laba garlic.