The people of the Yellow Earth attach great importance to festivals, and there are many festivals in a year, but the most important one is the Spring Festival. People who have been working hard for a year attach all their joys and hopes to the New Year.
In Lunar New Year, as the tide of the year rises, the busy year. The hardest work at this time of the year is done by the women of the farming families. They are busy with the family's food and clothing, washing inside and out, steaming buns, making rice wine, deep-frying cakes, pressing tofu, and cleaning inside and out. It is the men's job to go to the market to buy New Year's goods. Selling their own chickens and goats, in exchange for the cigarettes, wine, sugar, tea to entertain friends, to buy new clothes for their parents, to their children to pull a piece of cloth, but also not forget to buy a few firecrackers.
The twenty-third day of the lunar month should be sent to the sky. Zaoshen is a small god sent to the earth by the God of Heaven, but this makes him the closest to the people. Zaowang and Zaowang grandma" are like husband and wife on earth: most of Zaowang's niches are located in the north or east of the stove, dressed in red; Zaowang grandma and Zaowang, who have pulled up their hair sideburns, and Zaowang, who has a smooth black beard, are seated in the middle of two big red roosters. 365 days a year. Three times a day, observing and recording the consistency of each family's pot.
"Money or no money, can't bring hair for the New Year." This is a saying that has been popular here for a long time. As the Spring Festival approaches, men shave their heads and women cut their hair as a rule in northern Shaanxi.
The women of northern Shaanxi are even more handy, they grew up learning from their mothers to learn the art of paper-cutting from their mothers, colorful paper in their hands turned to cut, a moment of work into peonies, pomegranates, roosters....... touching the long and pretty, window clippings cut good or bad is also the standard of the local people talking about marriage. Which family's window cutter is good, will win the envious eyes of the village. New Year's Eve in northern Shaanxi Province called the "end of the month", this day is also the busiest day for the locals, after the window sticker sticker couplets, the door sticker, the second door sticker, window sticker after the intersection sticker, doorway sticker "out of the door to see the joy", stone mill sticker "Qinglong Daji", even the chicken nest is also affixed to the "chicken eggs" red couplets, hanging up red lanterns, red lanterns, red couplets, dolls also wore red clothes, the mountain townships a happy, red-hot.
The day will be late, the village of each family are up bursts of cooking smoke, the farmers of New Year's Eve feast began to prepare. This meal is very elaborate, chicken, duck, fish, meat, needless to say, but also the family's powder soup stewed mutton and home-brewed yellow rice wine, usually double the number of ten bowls, eight dishes, full of bubbling, figure is the year. Annual feast before the release of cannons, burning incense, bowing to the gods and ancestors after the annual feast at this time on the official start, a large piece of meat, a big mouth to drink, from time to time will also be sung a wine song. This meal is eaten a long time, if you go out at this time, you will be infected by the laughter coming out of every house. On New Year's Eve, it is also customary to hold a vigil, where the whole family plays together, and adults put firecrackers, garlic, flour flowers, and New Year's money under children's pillows. In the yard to hang up a long light, the older people according to the custom of their own pot to put something to eat, which is called "shine pot", on behalf of a year without worrying about food and drink, in the doorway to put a chopper or axe, which is called "shine door", to drive away the evil spirits, peace in all seasons.
The first time the rooster crowed, people scrambled to fire cannons to welcome the god of the stove, and began to bread dumplings, dumplings, also put some coins, who ate a good fortune to have good fortune.
The first day of the year does not go out, the second day of the year to go to relatives, back to his mother's home, the third day of the village rice-planting songs, red fire. The students have eaten enough meat, drink enough wine, hold all the energy twisted rice-planting song to pay tribute to the New Year - along the door. Early in the morning on the third day, the organizers will carry the gongs and drums and household goods around to call up the red fire, the students heard the gongs and drums, have rushed to, ink drawing eyebrows, rouge face, less play the old man, men play the woman, in fact, are the color of the young man. White sheep's belly handkerchief tied on the head, white shirt and green pants to wear on the body, the waist with a willow wood drum, mighty spirit. A careful count of exactly 28, they represent the sky 28 stars, with the cannons ringing, Yangge team first temple, God, entertainment, and then is along the door Yangge New Year's Eve. Every household, the umbrella head will touch the scene, improvise appropriate lyrics to sing with the master, good or bad depending on the umbrella head a mouth, a happy congratulations, difficult to express sympathy and encouragement and condolences, to do the funeral is sung to the words of sadness, so that the joy is also happy, anger is also happy, also by the sadness of sadness into happiness. A few rice-planting songs are sung by the hosts happily, and sometimes the hosts can sing a few phrases to correspond with the hosts. Umbrella head from time to time at the request of the master with the hands of the six-pronged wooden bucket in front of the house dance back and forth, the six-pronged wooden bucket in the hands of the umbrella head of the legend is the Queen Mother in front of the door of the Queimu bucket, can play the role of eliminating disasters and warding off evil spirits. The hosts kept offering cigarettes and wine to all of you, sending drunken jujubes and peanuts. Before leaving, the Yangge team would also ask for some lamp oil and cloth (the oil is for the village lantern festival, and the cloth is for those who can't have children to make hundreds of clothes). As the host sends off the guests firecrackers, rice-planting team twisted into the next yard ......
The temple fair in northern Shaanxi gradually spread to urban and rural areas, every year from the first day of the first month of the Yellow River is located in the Baiyun Mountain is the gathering of incense, incense and wishing for a steady stream of people, the mountain down the hill became a downtown area.
The small temples in the countryside of northern Shaanxi, the turn of the temple will be more interesting, these dispersed in the four townships of the temple, there are fixed locations, time, every day, four villages and eight neighbors will be gathered here for the temple. Some are not, the temple fair rotation, a few, dozens of villages, to a few years, decades to a turn. Temporary temple and theater in front of the village has become a place for people to gather. In northern Shaanxi Province, there is a "busy two classes in the first month," said. In the first month of the busiest to count the blowing class and a small theater, the villages along the door, the red fire to have a sound, please blowing class to help, the countryside over the temple to celebrate some of the theater to help, the troupe came to sing is three days, from the morning on the stage began to dress up, has been sung to the midnight moon shine, the crowd dispersed, eat and drink all on the stage. From the beginning of the first month, where there is a temple fair where there is their figure.
The small temple across the stage incense curls into the clouds, the guests endless stream, they are from all directions to burn incense kowtow to the townspeople. The temple honors the Jade Emperor, Guan Di and the Queen Mother. The opera on the opposite stage is also for them, praying that the gods will bless the people with peace in all seasons, drive away diseases and disasters, and bless them with children. In the open space between the temple and the stage are people from the four neighborhoods. The old people have been integrated into the play, and the young people and little dolls are turning around and watching. The grocery stalls were colorful. The gongs and drums of jugglers and storytellers were deafening. Snack stalls on the steaming, sumptuous local snacks to attract people to the temple fair. Mutton buckwheat Haplo, buckwheat bowl, buckwheat sip section, all local authentic buckwheat made food. A ball of buckwheat in the pressure on the bed, the master will put his entire body on the pressure rod, a strong pressure, only to see the thin round noodles fell in the pot has been boiling, the master will cook the noodles fished up, divided into bowls, poured with previously stewed mutton bacon, sprinkled with cilantro, leeks, sesame oil, chili oil and other condiments, tasty nose. The stall also has donkey plate sausage, fried cake, horseshoe cake, oil fruit, haggis, powder soup flatbread ...... if you can taste, really have a tantalizing flavor.
The Lantern Festival in northern Shaanxi is the most lively days during the Spring Festival, the village went out along the door of the rice-planting team turned a big circle, are rushed back at this time. Eating the Lantern Festival, rice-planting songs, turning nine curves, watching lanterns and releasing flowers are activities unique to this land.
The fifteenth day of the first month is also the Taoist festival of the first yuan, the heavenly officials to give blessings, the earthly officials to forgive sins, which is the most important thing for the townspeople. Every house is decorated with lanterns and colors, the streets and alleys are noisy with gongs and drums, and the sound of firecrackers and laughter are all connected together. People enjoyed themselves to the fullest. Various towns, the county's annual rice-planting song performance is the climax of the festival. It can be said that all the empty alleys, the flow of people like a tide, the townships and villages to send the rice-planting songs, drums, social fires to the townships, the county town of the streets and alleys full of people. Wen field, martial arts field, rowing dry boat, put bamboo horse, jumping rice-planting songs, singing Taoism. The sound of suona blows people as if they were mesmerized. Everywhere is a sea of people, from this side of the street to the other side of the street, either squeezed out of the hat or squeezed out of the shoes. Children are afraid of being crowded, was held high above the head by adults, and everyone watched the annual event.
Fire Tata Tower is one of the major sights on the 15th day of the first month here. In front of the village, on the street and in front of the door, large pieces of coal are built into the shape of a pagoda. Listen to the locals say that the largest fire tower tower with three or four cars of high-quality coal to base it, when the moon rises, the village people around the burning coal tower singing and dancing, next to the flames, suona blowers as drunk, cowhide drums resounding, singing and laughter echoed in the Loess Plateau above. Adults from time to time pick up underage children in the fire prairie a prairie, which is called prairie hundred diseases, to ensure that the hundred diseases can not, peace and security.
The Lantern Festival night sky is even more gorgeous, Mili Suide around the rural areas of the flower pole is even more intoxicating, a tree a hug thick and thin more than 30-meter-long wood, horizontal and vertical bundled hundreds of kinds of various types of ceremonial firecrackers, stood in the village of a clearing, a patriarch under the order of a dragon of fire flying straight up to the sky, the flower pole was suddenly fire trees, the night sky was rendered colorful, extremely spectacular. The hospitable farmers brought out hot rice wine and sang the intoxicating Xin Tian You over and over again.
The lights, the songs and the cold wind echoed in this place covered with thick loess, which is the first month in northern Shaanxi.