Folk customs in northern Shaanxi l Those days living in a cave dwelling on a high slope of loess (Mainland)

The Wangsuli area where we live has a hillside landform. The Qinwang Village is on the top of the mountain, the village is built on a long mountain ridge, and many farmers' cave dwellings are built on the side of the mountain. The construction is basically spread out in a fan shape. I found that the cave dwellings at the bottom of the mountain are very dilapidated and many are abandoned. But walking up the mountainside, the houses are basically relatively new. It is estimated that the village developed from bottom to top. As we walked along, the village began to hear the sound of cicadas, and occasionally we met one or two old men pulling ox carts carrying firewood. People in the village basically go to the river to collect firewood, which can be burned after it is dried.

Walking to the slope of the river, I saw a woman carrying water from a distance, carrying two buckets of water up the hillside, probably for watering the ground. I had only hoeed and plowed the fields before. I had never seen how people in northern Shaanxi took care of grain fields, so I followed them to take a look. This woman’s surname is Zhang, which is my surname. This land was newly opened this year and can only grow a few sunflowers. When I offered to help water it, she agreed immediately. The land is not big, so it will be watered in a short time. I was planning to continue walking along the river bank, but unexpectedly she very kindly invited me to sit in her yard. The peaches at home were worried that no one would eat them, so I couldn't refuse the invitation, so I had to be respectful and obey. This auntie was very talkative, as if she hadn't been spoken to for a long time, so I could only listen. Occasionally she would ask me to ask a few questions when she remembered. However, she was quite interesting, telling me a lot of local things, and seemed to be trying her best to satisfy my curiosity about this small village.

She asked me how I spent the Spring Festival in my hometown. I hesitated and told her that there seemed to be no particularly lively programs. She said: "Ah, it's so short (bad), don't you want to tell me?" "There are really no rituals or activities, just a family eating and watching TV." Then she described the first month here to me. It’s the coldest time of the first lunar month here, with heavy snowfall and snow everywhere. Before the festival, everyone no longer has to be busy with farm work. They are preparing for the festival every day. Celebrations will be held in villages, townships and even counties. People come out of their closed homes one after another, facing the thunderous gongs and drums, and walk towards the happy crowd. Yangko umbrellas are worn along the door to worship the community, and the waist drum club is getting popular. Adults and children will find something to do to join in, either dancing yangko, playing waist drum, or holding up signs. It is very lively. Moreover, women from every family gathered together to cut window grilles, and some little girls began to follow suit.

You can imagine how lively it was and how full of flavor it was. A picture suddenly appeared in my mind: earth-shattering gongs and drums broke through the ice and snow, and high-pitched suonas woke up the winter dormancy. It seemed that all the passion of people throughout the year was released in an instant, and festivals were everywhere. of vitality.

Entering the uncle's cave, the walls of the cave are painted with lime. There are pots and stoves on one side of the cave, and the stove is connected to one end of the kang. Since the flue of the stove fire passes through the bottom of the kang, in winter, the stove Very warm. The walls around the Kang are usually covered with some patterned paper or collage paintings, which people in northern Shaanxi call Kang Waizi. The windows of cave dwellings in northern Shaanxi are relatively particular. The windows are large and divided into four parts: skylight, door and window, slanted window and kang window, all decorated with paper-cuts. The window panes are sparse, allowing sunlight to penetrate freely. At the same time, the local climate is dry with little rain and cold in winter. The cave dwellings are warm in winter and cool in summer, which is very suitable for the local climate. After many people built flat-roofed houses, they suffered from hot summers and cold winters, and ended up regretting it.

The courtyard where Uncle Jin's family currently lives has three large caves, namely the main kiln, the guest house kiln and the miscellaneous kiln. There are also three small kilns: a kitchen kiln, a cart kiln (with donkeys) and a firewood kiln. . The eaves of the kiln are pressed up with bluestone slabs, and the cowshed, pig pens, and chicken coops are built next to the yard. At this time, stacks of golden haystacks with arched outlines have begun to rise on the slopes along the kiln ridge, like the landscapes painted by Constable. Above the corner of the main kiln window, two bunches of red peppers and some yellow tobacco leaves hang. On the door post, bunches of grain ears and millet ears selected as seeds are dried in the cross wind, giving people a novel and unique charm. There are paper-cut window grilles on the bright and delicate windows, and some small flowers are planted on the side of the yard door. Everything looks so harmonious and natural.

Uncle Jinjun showed us a video of his eldest son’s previous marriage, which made us truly feel the difference between the customs in northern Shaanxi and those in the south. Folk weddings in northern Shaanxi are composed of five rites, including choosing a bride, blind date, engagement, setting off the date, and welcoming the bride. The first four rites are equivalent to the first five rites in the "Six Rites" of Zhou and Qin Dynasties, while the wedding ceremony adds a lot of ritual content.

People in northern Shaanxi generally don’t like to get rich by climbing high when they get married, and live well by being well-matched.

When choosing a bride, it is traditional to learn about the other person’s situation through a matchmaker, but nowadays many young people no longer go through a matchmaker. However, four aspects still need to be considered more or less when choosing a bride. The first is to smell the color of the family, the so-called color of the family, that is, whether the other party's family has a history of body odor, especially whether the other party has it; the second is to detect the popularity, the so-called popularity, that is, the person's character and the status of the family in the local area; the third is to test the horoscope, that is, Examine whether the birth dates of both parties match; the fourth is "ask about osteology", but this has gradually faded away.

After going through the marriage selection process, if both parties agree, they can go on a blind date. Usually, the man's housewife first goes to the woman's house to have a look. If she is satisfied, the man invites the woman to meet at home. The woman takes a look at the cave dwelling where the man lives, learns about the family income and how her parents-in-law treat others. The man makes glutinous rice noodles for the woman. If the woman eats the glutinous rice noodles, it means that she has agreed. If she does not eat, it means that she is not satisfied with the blind date.

Blind date is equivalent to asking for names and "Naji" in the ancient "Six Rites". After a blind date, if both parties agree to the marriage, they will have to drink engagement wine when they choose a date to get engaged, and the man will also give gifts to his neighbors, which becomes a "hezhuang gift". Nowadays, young people like to call it "notary fee." When getting engaged, both men should give each other gifts, which is called "passing the handle", usually gold and silver ornaments. After the engagement, the parents of both parties agree on an auspicious date for the wedding, which is called "business talk." They also agree on the amount of the bride price on the day of the wedding.

People in northern Shaanxi call welcoming a bride "inviting people", and there are two forms: "waiting for the bride" and "ying the bride". "Waiting for the bride" means that the groom does not go to pick up the bride in person, but stays at home and waits for family members and relatives to pick up the bride. "Welcome" means that the groom and the wedding team go to pick up the bride together. Before departure, everyone usually drinks a bowl of red bean and millet porridge, which symbolizes harmony, beauty and happiness. When setting off, the drummer is in front, followed closely by the gift givers holding 10 makeup buns. The groom is in the middle, followed by the helpers carrying the bride price. When going out, the cannon is usually fired three times, and the drum troupe plays music, which is played continuously along the way. After arriving at the woman's house, the woman has to look at the bride price, and during the New Year, she sits on the bedding given by the man, takes off her mother's family's old clothes, and puts on her husband's family's new clothes. After the bride has washed and dressed up, the mother of the bride brings a pot of steamed pastry and puts it in front of the bride. She piles the pastry one by one around the bride. This move is called "surrounding the pastry", which means having more children and more blessings. . After the banquet, the groom takes the bride back, usually on foot if the bride is very close, on a donkey or in a sedan chair if the bride is far away, and a few of the wealthier brides take a sedan. However, there is a disadvantage of taking a car. The speed of the car is too fast, and it is difficult to show off the scene to passers-by and neighbors. Therefore, when a car enters the village, the groom, the bride, and the welcoming and seeing-off parties all get off the car and walk. If you encounter other wedding teams on the way to the wedding, the local roads are very narrow, so the phenomenon of "grabbing the flowers on the road" will occur. When two teams meet, they often exchange small jewelry such as flowers or hairpins in a friendly manner to express their blessings to each other.

When the wedding procession enters the village and passes by a family, if the family supports and wishes the wedding, they will set off firecrackers in front of the door. The bigger the firecrackers are and the longer the sound, the better. support. If the wedding team enters the village and cannons are fired continuously, it means that the family has a high reputation in the local area. When approaching the house, the "bridal carrying" ceremony is performed. The groom carries the bride on his back and walks home, while relatives and friends play with them. They stand in twos and threes in front of the groom and gently push them back, or they form a circle and surround her in the middle so that they cannot move. The groom has to work hard to break out of the siege and carry the bride home. Although he is less than a hundred steps away from home, the groom is often dragged for half an hour until he is exhausted. Some young and strong men will be so tired that they are out of breath and have to carry the bride home. The bride lays down. In the past, the older generation would perform "worships to heaven and earth" immediately when the groom carried the bride home, but gradually this step was cancelled, and the groom directly carried the bride into the bridal chamber. The "entering the bridal chamber" here is not a wedding ceremony, but refers to entering the newlywed's cave dwelling. In the bridal chamber, the mother-in-law presides over the ceremony: first is "grabbing the four corners", the bride and groom compete for the red dates, peanuts and candies that have been placed under the four corners of the Kang mat. Then, the bride has to sit on the Kang, which is called "sitting in the tent". The mother-in-law and the bride performed another round of "circling cakes", and then a highly respected old lady "topped" the two newlyweds. That is, the old man held a wooden comb and tied the bride and groom's hair together. In some places, it is called "hair knotting". . When all these ceremonies are completed, the bridegroom and the bride drink wine and then start the banquet.

It has not rained in Wangsuli for a long time. The clear sky needs a few blasts of thunder, and the land on the plateau also needs to be baptized by a downpour, because this itself is a The season of thunder and rain.

Finally, a thick black cloud suddenly rose from the distant and vast northwest sky of the Loess Plateau, and the smoke as thick as a fierce battle advanced heavily towards this side. The sun gradually lost its dominance, the scorching flames were frightened by the rolling dark clouds, the sharp blade was being frustrated, the vigor was about to collapse, and an earth-shattering thunderstorm was imminent.

A few blood-like flashes suddenly appeared on the horizon, followed by the sound of "clack, clack" like cracking ice and breaking dry wood, followed by a series of dull "rumbling" sounds. Shocked, Gao Yuan opened his broad mind. The wind suddenly rose, kicking up the long yellow dust, like a devil breaking free from prison, like an evil spirit breaking through the prison, rolling up from the dry and cracked back without any obstruction. The dark clouds quickly swallowed up the remaining sunlight, making it difficult to distinguish the surroundings. The dark clouds burst, and the heavy rain came overwhelmingly, hitting the loess in thick sheets.

The plateau was completely shrouded in rain, and I couldn't help but fall into the breathless thunderstorm. Everything on the ground stood proudly in this pouring water, beating with pleasure and swallowing the rainwater desperately. This kind of rain is so shocking, a sense of majesty fills every corner of the blood vessels. My uncle and I took off our shirts together, only wearing a pair of football pants. I took off my shoes, rushed out of the cave, stood in the rainy yard, and accepted the baptism of the mountain rain in northern Shaanxi.