The Lantern Festival in my hometown is not very lively.
There are no lions, dragon lanterns, no stilts, no dry boats, no “big-headed monk playing Liu Cui”, no flower stretcher, tea stretcher. These are in the July 15 “meet” – Sai Chenghuang only when the Lantern is not. In many places, the “Lantern Festival”, our Lantern Festival is quiet.
For a few years, there was a gift of a unicorn. In the morning, three men from the countryside, one holding the qilin, a long bench, outside the paper-tied qilin, one hitting a small gong, one playing a cymbal, knocking a gas, singing in unison some auspicious songs. Each verse starts with the words “Gegenbang”: “Gegenbang, Gegenbang, Gegenbang.
I am very impressed with this “Geberit”. What does it mean? It’s a gerund? What is the sound of the word? The unicorn is not performing, no movement, and the tune is very simple. When the unicorn delivery came, there was no excitement at all, but only a series of “G G G G G”. After the “g-bombing”, grandmother gave them a little money.
There was a candy blower at the entrance of Grass Lane. Monkeys dance with swords and mice steal oil.
At the mouth of the North Market, there are noodle makers. Green snake, white snake, old fisherman. The old fisherman’s straw coat is made from the summer grass bought from the pharmacy.
Go to the Temple of Heaven and Earth to see people pulling “Tianbuzi” – that is, shaking the empty bamboo, pulling very loud, Tianbuzi brutal bull-like call. I went to Tai Shan Temple to watch the old mother burn incense. The day is almost over.
But the Lantern will not be counted until the evening, when the lights are on. The Lantern Lantern well. We do not generally called the Lantern Festival. The Festival of Lights will take several days, 13 on the lights, 17 down lights. The “right day” is the 15th.
All the lights in each house are lit up. In the house of the eldest mother (the eldest aunt), there are four glass square lamps. In my second mother’s house, there was a white glazed lamp with red characters for longevity and a bead lamp. My stepmother’s house was lit with red glazed bubbles. A room of lights, bright and gentle, looks very auspicious.
I went to the street to see the horse lanterns. Lian Wanshun’s house has a big lantern. “People in the countryside don’t know horse lanterns, here they come again.” The walking horse lantern is just a shadow of a car, horse and man (soldier) turning back and forth, but you can watch it turn a few times. Later I also made one myself, lit a candle, and watched the paper wheel inside as it turned, the same outside paper screen reflected the shadow, very pleased. Qianlong and the walking lantern does not “go”, just a rectangular paper box, the front of the white paper with some colorful little people, little people connected to a hair, candle flame baked hair, the little people’s hands and feet will move up and down. Although it does not “go”, we still call it a walking lamp. Otherwise, call it what lamp? The little people outside are the Tang Monk, the Monkey King, the Pig and the Sha Monk. The whole picture shows the “Journey to the West” the Tang monk to get the scriptures.
The child has its own lamp. Rabbit lamps, hydrangea lamps, horse lamps …… rabbit lamps are mostly made by themselves. Four wheels are placed underneath and can be pulled around. The rabbit lamp is actually not quite like a rabbit, the face is round, the eyes are curved, like human eyes, and two curved eyebrows! Hydrangea lamps and horse lamps are bought. Embroidered ball lantern is a multi-faceted paper ball, there is a gimlet shelf, the shelf has a bamboo pole, under the shelf there are two wheels, holding the bamboo pole, push forward, the ball that keeps rolling. Horse lantern is two sections, a horse head, a horse butt, tied to the body with a strap. Watermelon lanterns, toad lanterns, fish lanterns, these portable lanterns, is the children play.
There is one custom that may not be found in foreign countries: looking at the hoop screen. Hardwood long box, about three feet high, feet and a half wide, inlaid with silk, painted on a story of fictional characters, installed before the Lantern Festival, a screen around about thirty, after the screen candles. This is actually illuminated by the comic strip. Look around the screen there are two places, one in the Liangyang Guan’s side hall, one in the Temple of Fire God attached to the City God Temple. Liangyang Guan is painted by the “God of Feng”, the fire temple is painted by the “Three Kingdoms”. How many years have I watched the screen, but I still watch it every year. As if it is not a lantern festival if you do not watch the screen.
Some people put flowers on the street. Some people put high rise (start fire), not much a few, start fire rose to the sky, snort – out.
There is a red lantern in the sky. Bamboo gabions for the bone, the outer paste red paper, a rectangular tube, lit candles inside, put into the sky, lanterns are very good to put, even the brain line is not used, in a corner tied to the line, you can fly up.
After the New Year, tomorrow 16, all stores will be “open”. Where we are, from the first to the fifth day, the stores are not open. On the sixth day of the month to open two row doors, selling a little of the public necessary things, called “small open”. Sixteen to remove all the row doors, put a whip, a few firecrackers, called the “big door”, and start normal business.
Year, so passed.
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