Essays about childhood time in the memories of mountain children

People who were born in the mountains of the southwest will never forget the rich and colorful childhood customs. Especially for those who lived through the 1960s and 1970s, what remains in their childhood hearts is the harmony in poverty, the color in monotony, which is somewhat sad but also memorable and memorable. Catching crabs, watching movies, shoving crabs, pounding wormwood nests, picking loquats, coding... one after another, one scene after another, they are always so clear in my memory.

(1) Catching crabs and watching movies

At that time, there was no reform and opening up. The life of a mountain child was to study for half a day, to cut pigs and cows for half a day, and then to eat and sleep for one day... It was such a boring life till night.

In the evening, what the children liked was the invitation to catch crabs.

At the east end of the village in my hometown, there is a mountain stream that twists and turns from deep in the mountains. The large and small sand and stones in the stream appear smooth and pure in the transparent landscape water. Such a ditch naturally became the home of the crab soldiers and our childhood paradise.

After dinner, the residual heat of the setting sun has not completely dissipated, and the adults are shaking fans in the yard to enjoy the coolness and chat. We kids took our flashlights, put our backs on the fence, took off our trousers, and went to catch crabs.

The stream is clear and cool, and it is quite comfortable to step in the water. A gust of wind blew, blowing the sultry heat in the room away from the sky. At this time, a Crab General with eight knees and two turtles crawled out from the stone cave where he lived, and stopped motionless at the bottom of the water. Maybe he was enjoying this pleasant summer night! The flashlight light shines through the clear water, and the crabs that have taken a nap can be seen clearly. At this time, you can reach out and catch it. This crab seemed dead and didn't care about the slightest disturbance. Therefore, as long as you witness the "crab face", it is like catching a turtle in a jar.

The friends went back and forth, laughing and joking all the way.

"Xiaoqiang, I caught a big female crab, there are so many little crabs! I let it go."

"Yaoerla (dialect), this The crab cover is old and yellow, I’m afraid it’s years old!”

“Oh, it’s obviously asleep, but it’s holding my hand!”…

After shouting and working like this for a while, everyone had more than ten or twenty crabs in the cage, and then they went back home. Then let the adults have a crab tasting party by frying, boiling, steaming or frying.

However, what the children are most interested in is the rare "Baba Movie".

Speaking of this Baba movie, the impression is simply too deep. There was no electricity in the mountains at that time, so the government projection team was equipped with its own generator. When it is time for the production team to show the movie, the team leader will select seven or eight strong members to lift, pick, carry, and carry the generator, projector, screen, movie box, etc. It took the effort of nine oxen and two tigers to transport it, and it was enough to fill half the room.

When the machine arrived, it was not just the children who were happy. The team will finish work early, and every household must prepare dinner early, just like a festival. After dinner, people helped the young and old, carrying stools and torches, and rushed to the screening point while humming unknown folk songs. I remember that time, we held a family meeting for half an hour on the issue of who should look after our house, but it still wasn’t resolved. In the end, my grandfather took the initiative to withdraw and stay at home. Now that I think about it, my grandfather was really wronged at that time!

The screening point is usually chosen in a larger courtyard. Two long bamboos are used to prop up a snow-white screen at the bottom of the courtyard. The program starts just after dark. Men, women, old and young gathered together, staring at the screen and having fun. No matter how passionate the conversation is, as soon as the movie starts, everything stops; no matter whether they understand it or not, whether they are old or young, they are all so involved, so focused

So excited and so focused Passion.

What’s interesting is that that year, the movie “Three Strikes of Bone Demons” spread to our mountainous area. The third production team of our brigade made a reservation for this movie, but due to time constraints, the screening team said it could only be shown during the day because there were still several reservations lined up. Therefore, the third team stayed in their "crop house" (the house used by the team to harvest crops, equivalent to a warehouse) with the door closed.

Several members of our fourth team also ran over excitedly, but were turned away and told that no one from the fourth team would be allowed to see it (actually, it wasn’t that the members of the third team were small, but that the house couldn’t accommodate it)! The old captain of our team said angrily at the time: "I went to get the war movie "Shangganling" every few days, but they were not allowed to watch it. The three teams were so angry (envious) that they were killed!" Sure enough, less than half of the film was released. In August, our fourth team made an appointment to play "Shangganling" in the largest courtyard in the team. However, the people from the third team still came. Since it was night and the courtyard was so big, who was going to say anything about the embarrassing things that the third team was not allowed to watch? Be obedient!

This Baba movie is the only literary feast for people in the mountains. Traveling ten miles to watch a rare movie was a commonplace for me in my childhood. From "Shajiabang" " to "Railway Guerrilla"; from "Liu Sanjie" to "Three Strikes of White-Bone Demons"; from "Shangganling" to "A River of Spring Water Flows East"; from "Little Flower" to "Heroes and Sons"... no matter what type it is Movies all touch the hurried footsteps of childhood!

Today, the term "movie" of this era has almost disappeared from children's memories. Looking back, I probably haven’t watched a Ba Ba movie together in about twenty years. Although the love, scene, lens, and torch are still vivid in my mind, I am also more pleased and longing for the rapid development of modern information!

(2) Pushing the Zizi and pounding the rice nest

Before the "rice machine" entered our mountain village, it was not easy to make some rice - even at home The warehouse is full of rice. At that time, rice mills were used in many places across the country, but in our countryside, most people used "檑子" (how to write the word "lèi", I checked several reference books but couldn't figure it out, so I had to use "摑" instead. ).

Speaking of this "muzi", it should be said that it and the "stone mill" are rice processing tools of the same origin but with different "nature". The raw materials for its production are mainly wood and bamboo, and in principle it is made by completely imitating "stone grinding". The key to the quality of "摑子" depends on the "摑十", so good "green bar" wood must be used. First chop the "green bar" wooden stick into pieces of wood about 2 mm thick and set aside. Then use other wood to make two bottomless and coverless "barrels", which are called the upper and lower "two fans" like the "stone mill". The middle of the "lower fan" is built with soil, and the middle of the "upper fan" is Leave it empty to pour the rice down. Then use "green bar" blocks to clamp them one by one, and separate each two pieces with bamboo pieces to form "teeth" like a "stone mill". It can be said that this "muzi" is just a giant "wooden mill". When using it, pour the rice on it, and two people push the "upper fan", and the rice will be "pushed" to break the chaff and form brown rice - of course, the production of this "muzzi" is very technical, and ordinary carpenters Not yet competent.

I saw it a lot when I was a child, so I thought this was how rice was obtained, but I didn’t feel much emotion. What lingers in my memory are those two years in middle school. Because the family was "extremely poor", he had to carry rice to school to steam and cook. I remember that every time I came home during the homecoming vacation, my father would push the rice with a "spider". Although it is a "wooden mill", it is quite difficult to push. Even in winter, it doesn't take a while for a male laborer to get hot and sweaty. I went to help push, but I was short and couldn't push enough. I accidentally fell "on my back". Since he had to "grab for work points" during the day, my father usually did this work of pushing rice at night. Electric lights were still a distant thing at that time, so we had to light a kerosene lamp for lighting. When it comes to kerosene lamps, the high-end ones are the "horse lanterns", which are covered with glass and are not afraid of wind. There is a lantern in my house, which has been inherited by my grandfather for many years. My father relies on it to illuminate the corn.

The sound of pushing rice is louder than that of pushing stone mills. In the dead of night when people are quiet, the sound of "booming, booming, booming" can be heard far and wide.

After a while, the brown rice with the chaff removed came out, mixed with the chaff, and then separated with a "windmill". However, to turn this "brown rice" into "cooked rice", the tiring work is still behind.

To turn "brown rice" into "cooked rice", you must rely on the "瓓 Nest", which is a specially chiselled large stone nest. Use a wooden stick (also called a "獍粑 stick" because "獍粑" can be beaten in the "瓓屋") to pound hard. Until the rice bran on the surface of the brown rice is pounded away, then use a windmill or rice sieve to separate the rice bran, and you will get

This process often takes place in the middle of the night.

The story performed by "Zizi? Meiwo? Kerosene Lamp" often makes people sigh, and the simplicity and kindness of the mountain people are all in it.

Nowadays, "窑子" is almost nowhere to be found, and "瓑屋" is owned by many people, but it has been forgotten in the dusty memory. Only the kerosene lamp is still used during the occasional power outage... It should be It is said that these old objects have left the mark of the times, and the simple memory can never be erased.

(3) Code playing and loquat picking

When I was a child, the most interesting game was "coding" when mowing grass.

Everyone chooses a flat place and puts a small wooden stick on the ground. This is called "yard". Then draw a line at a certain distance (equivalent to the positioning line for fixed-point shooting). After getting ready, each person would cut a handful of grass and put it together, and then stand outside the "positioning line" and throw their sickles to "Ma'er". After throwing it away, everyone goes to measure whose sickle is closest to the "yard", and everyone's handful of grass belongs to him. In this way, everyone was laughing and joking, and half a day passed in a blink of an eye. As a result, some people had a big basket full, and some only had a little. At this time, those who won more would have to give a little to others as a sign of success. Everyone’s “sincere unity”. Due to the nature of this "activity", adults generally don't allow it, so we often choose remote places to play, and then everyone agrees to keep silent. Of course, sometimes one or two "traitors" are inevitably found. After being "reported", they may be criticized at best, or slapped on the butt with a stick at worst. Despite this, the game of "coding" continues among the children mowing the lawn.

It was one day in early summer. Five or six other children, including Xiao Qin, Wang Jun and I, made an appointment to go up the mountain to cut cow grass. Several children carried baskets on their backs and took sickles. As soon as they went out, they were like birds flying out of their cages, chirping and running around the mountains. We found an open space and started playing "yards". After coding this day, Xiaoqin lost the most and was very unhappy, but everyone still gave her a little as usual and then went separately to play.

I remember that Xiaoqin and I walked eastward. As we walked, Xiaoqin pointed with her hand and said, "Look, mountain loquat!" I looked around and saw a short mountain loquat. The loquats were so red and translucent that my mouth immediately overflowed with saliva. Xiaoqin walked in front, picked one first and put it in her hand. I was anxious, and in my anxiety I came up with "wisdom" - I said to Xiaoqin: "Pick slowly, we won't eat it, pick it together and divide it into two parts, and then draw lots." Xiaoqin seemed to think this was fair. , readily agreed.

I was secretly happy and only picked the red and big ones; while Xiaoqin picked them carefully one by one. In just a moment, the mountain loquat was wiped out by the two of us. At this time, the loquats in my hand were crystal clear, but Xiaoqin's hands were all "second-rate". I was so proud that I opened my mouth wide and "stuffed" a large handful of loquats in. I swallowed it without having time to chew it carefully, and looked at Xiaoqin and smiled (this only happened for a moment). Xiaoqin looked at the "little loquat" in her hand, and tears rolled down silently from her eyes. She had no choice but to put the "inferior product" into her mouth, and walked back to the "coding" place silently and sat there blankly. I cried for a while, but never cried.

Perhaps none of the friends who "made code" in those days remember such things, and Xiaoqin also estimated that (Xiaoqin later married far away) there would be no more resentment, but it was the red The red mountain loquats left a trace of guilt in my heart that could not be erased.

Although my childhood days are gradually passing away with the years, what is shown on the memory screen is a colorful and interesting picture. The unique childlike innocence of children in the mountains is also very rich. Things like "catching Piluo", "playing shuttlecock", "building a house", "building a snowman", "walking six children", etc. are all so tempting. Come, come to us, we will definitely make you feel like you are young again!