Tanabata chronicle prose

It's the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the day when the cowherd and the weaver girl meet. Chinese Valentine's Day, which is called July 7th in the countryside, is an annual festival in the city. Perhaps no one pays attention to this festival, which is just a day in a legend. It's nothing strange. Nowadays, young people follow the fashion and call it Valentine's Day in China. Couples give gifts to each other, have dinner together at night, and have a romantic Tanabata night.

I don't know from which dynasty and generation the legend of Chinese Valentine's Day originated. I only know that I just heard grandma tell the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. When I was a child, I spent every summer night in the yard or outside the gate to enjoy the cool. The ground was covered with grass curtains woven with reeds. At that time, every family was enjoying the cool outside, and every family's grandmother would tell stories. Grandma shook a banana fan and drove mosquitoes, telling stories about those ghost foxes. The ghost foxes grandma told were all spiritual and grateful, just like the ghost foxes in Pu Songling's serial stories. What I like most is the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl told by my grandmother. I like the old cow, the hardworking and kind Cowherd and the beautiful and affectionate Weaver Girl. After listening to the story, I realized that the rosy clouds in the sky were originally woven by the weaver girl. Every day when I see the morning glow and sunset glow in the sky, I will think, Oh, the Weaver Girl is busy weaving rosy clouds again. If you can't see it, you will think that Zhinu is in a bad mood today, and she is not weaving rosy clouds. She must be thinking about her children and her cowherd.

There are many stories about grandma's belly, but I never get tired of hearing the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. I hated that heavenly queen, and separated a pair of lovers on both sides of the Milky Way, leaving them across the river but not together. How wonderful their life on earth is, why do you want to break them up? Later, I heard and read a lot. There are many stories that are similar to this story, such as The Legend of the White Snake, The Match of the Fairy ...................................................................................................................................... The heroes and heroines in those stories were separated after a few days of happy life together. Cowherd and Weaver lived together for several years, and they had a son and a daughter. The place where they live is beautiful, too. There is a river in front of the house, and there are mountains behind the house. Where there are mountains and water, their family lives. How nice! Without the meddling of the heavenly queen, they can live together for many years and live a happy life for many years. However, the Queen Mother insisted on breaking them up, which led to such a sad and touching story.

When I was a child, I enjoyed the cool outside and looked up at the night sky. My grandmother pointed out which one was Altair and which one was Vega. Those thin and dense stars, connected together in a very wide one is Tianhe. Before and after the Cowherd, there is a small star that is not very bright, that is, their children. The Cowherd picks them and waits for the annual Magpie Bridge Meeting by the Milky Way. Sometimes I think, Cowherd and two children wait there for a year, aren't they hungry? Isn't Cowherd tired of picking on children all the time? It's ridiculous to think about it now, and it's a bit alarmist. At that time, I was young, but I didn't think I was worrying about it. Grandma said that you can hear Cowherd and Weaver Girl talking under the grape trellis at night. Every time you go to Chinese Valentine's Day, you look forward to dark, and when it gets dark, you can hear the whispers of Cowherd and Weaver Girl. Often it's dark and I'm asleep, and I haven't heard their whispers once. Grandma said that the magpies on Tanabata Day were not at home, and they all went to build a magpie bridge for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl in the sky. I really believe that, every time I see magpies, I feel respect. I think they are the best birds in the world. They have been to the sky. I think they are extraordinary birds, birds that bring happiness to people, and I like them from the heart. Up to now, I have an indescribable love for magpies. Although they often go to the orchard to peck red apples, I don't hate them if a good big apple is pecked into a residual fruit by them.

Tanabata is a modest festival in rural areas, and people celebrate it. I don't know which dynasty or generation passed down the custom. On the eve of Chinese Valentine's Day, women began to be busy on the fifth day of the seventh lunar month. Get up early in the morning and send it to the top. The noodles are mixed with white sugar water, and if you are poor, put some saccharin water, so that the noodles have a sweet taste. When the face is open, rub it hard on the chopping board until it is smooth and delicate. Tear the kneaded dough into small pieces, and then knead it smoothly. At this time, take out a special small mold, which is carved from peach wood or pear wood. There are various models engraved on it, such as leaves, peaches, small fish, cicadas, butterflies, small baskets and lotus seeds. It was carved by skillful cultivators themselves. You can carve five or six pieces, some seven or eight, and some ten pieces on a board. Put the kneaded dough into the mold one by one, press it flat by hand, and knock it on the panel, and it will become gadgets with different shapes, as big as three or four centimeters, which is particularly attractive. When it's all done, put them in the pot and bake them. Such gadgets don't need much firewood, just use wheat straw. Burn them yellow on both sides and they will be cooked. This is the small fruit that rural people say, and some people call it proper fruit. Put them aside to cool, string them into a string with a needle and thread, put a few begonia fruits or red flowers in the middle, string them and hang them around the child's neck, so I can't remember what to pay attention to. I only remember that the children ate it soon after it was hung up.

there is a larger mold, which is as big as seven or eight centimeters, and one can have three or two patterns in it. That is cooked and can be eaten by anyone. These are all made on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. On the sixth day, people should make sesame cakes, also called burning, which is also a woman's job. Anyway, don't celebrate the holidays, and women will be busy and tired during the holidays. People like to put some stuffing in the sesame seed cake, either brown sugar or white sugar. If there are peanuts, fry them and crush them, and then mix them with white sugar or brown sugar. They are sweet and delicious. These biscuits are delicious only when they are cooked with slow fire. If they are in a hurry, they will be burnt yellow on both sides. If they are not cooked yet, take them out and steam them in a large pot, which will make them taste almost bad.

It's the slack season in Chinese Valentine's Day. When the work in the fields is finished, we are waiting for the autumn harvest. When there is nothing to do, women love to go back to their parents' homes on this day and take their own baked cakes, proper fruit. Take the children and go back to their parents' house. Take the baked wheat cake to my parents to taste, and proper fruit will give it to my niece and nephew. The family had a lively dinner together, chatting about the crops and the children, and the day passed in a joke. At that time, children didn't have snacks to eat. Little proper fruit was their best snack. Every time they went to Chinese Valentine's Day, proper fruit's children hung around their necks in the streets. Everyone thought their proper fruit was delicious. To outdo each other, sometimes they can fight. At this time, proper fruit hung around his neck became a tool for pulling each other. Anyone whose proper fruit string was torn cried loudly, and the troubled child quickly comforted and went home to find a needle and thread to help him put it on again.

In the past, Chinese Valentine's Day was also called the Begging Festival. On this day, girls put a basin of water in the sun. There is a layer of Shui Pi on the top of the sun. Several girls get together and gently put the silver needle for sewing clothes in the water. If the needle floats on the water, the girls will laugh happily and pout when they sink to the bottom. Some people say that if you float on the water, you will succeed, and on the contrary, you will not succeed. Some girls put a table in the yard in the dead of night, with some fresh fruits on the table, proper fruit made by themselves, a little fragrance, and a few obeisances to the sky silently. Then take out a silver needle and a silk thread and thread it in the dark. If you wear it, it means that Qiqiao is successful, otherwise it is unsuccessful. At that time, girls all hoped that the Weaver Girl could pass on some of her cleverness to herself, which was quite interesting, wasn't it? Yes, the weaver girl can weave beautiful rosy clouds. It is not an exaggeration to call her Qiaojie.

I learned to make proper fruit and burn fire with my grandmother at home more than twenty years ago. Married, no children at home. I can't show my skills. After having a son, I have the opportunity to show my skills. I remember when my son was just two years old, and I branded proper fruit in the pot. The smell that is about to be cooked smells very attractive and especially sweet. Turn your son around the pot and keep asking, mom, what did you do? I told him it was delicious. My son shouted with his little hand open, I want to eat, I want to eat. Just cooked proper fruit is hot, so my son should eat it if he can't wait. Tell him to wait until it is cold. Look at it motionless again, and then ask, mom, can we eat? Finally, when they were cold, my son couldn't wait to put them in his mouth and spit them out as soon as he ate them, saying they were not delicious. Seeing my son like that, I couldn't help laughing. Yes, my son born in 1994 has endless snacks, biscuits, bread and cakes. Eating these things made of white flour is certainly not as delicious as what he usually eats. Although eggs, cooked peanut oil and sugar were put in the noodles, they tasted sweet and fragrant, but my son still didn't like them. No way, this craft was scrapped in the protest of my son's bad taste.

Many years have passed, and no one in Chinese Valentine's Day is proper fruit anymore. Those small and exquisite molds have become decorations, and maybe they will become antiques in a few years. No one is begging for cleverness, and they don't do needlework anymore. What do you need such clever hands for? I can't do anything, just cook and drink spicy food. There are people who cook the fire. After all, it is a staple food for northerners. If you are tired of eating steamed bread, you can cook it for a change, not just in Chinese Valentine's Day, but whenever you want to eat it. However, Chinese Valentine's Day must do this day, and there is only a little symbolic thing left in Chinese Valentine's Day. Chinese Valentine's Day's custom of going back to her mother's house is still preserved, and it is no longer burned when she goes home. There are so many good things, who wants these pasta?

With regard to Chinese Valentine's Day, today's children will never know anything else except the legendary story, and this story is becoming more and more indifferent in their memory. In their view, Chinese Valentine's Day is their Oriental Valentine's Day, and there is no other meaning except flowers, chocolates and gifts. They enjoy the joy and happiness that belongs to them. As for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, it's just a story. Forget it after listening to it. There's no need to be sad. It's true to have fun while the autumn wind is getting cool and pleasant. Why think so much? It's the annual Chinese Valentine's Day again, and the street smells of burnt fire. Thinking of the distant past, I felt some regrets in my heart. Writing these down is also an interpretation of Chinese Valentine's Day.