History in Gaomi: The hammer on the kang

Chapter 51 of "Dream of Red Mansions": Among the riddles written by Xue Baoqin, there is this one: "The little red-bone is the weakest, and she was secretly carried and raped by a private agent. Although she was often hung up by her wife, she has already To seduce each other." What does this passage say? This is the hammer, also called the hammer.

Before the 1970s and 1980s, in the winter in rural areas, every household would have a hammer with hemp wrapped around it, in addition to a cigarette basket and a sewing basket.

What is the hammer used for? Do you remember the thousand-layer-soled shoes you used to wear, especially the four-eye cotton shoes you wore in winter? They were all made by my mother stitch by stitch under the dim kerosene lamp. They were very warm when you put them on, and you didn’t feel cold all winter long.

How many layers of Yuanzi (called Yuanzi in Xixiang, Gaomi) need to be put together to make the sole? The so-called Yuzi is a thick sheet made of rags or old cloths and paper linings glued together layer by layer. It is mostly used to make cloth shoes, insoles, cigarette baskets and other items. And the thin hemp rope is used to hold the soles, which is twisted with this hammer.

There are not too many hammers made of wood, at least I haven’t seen them before. Most of them are made of cow bones. The hammers I have seen are all made of cow bones, using cow calf bones. It is generally about an inch in diameter and about 20 centimeters long, slightly thicker at both ends and slightly thinner in the middle, similar to dumbbells used for exercise today. To make a shank bone from a cow, you need to drill a small hole in the middle of the bone that connects the upper and lower parts. Then, place a bamboo stick with a hook in the hole, and push the hook downward to stop the hemp. It's very simple. It is a thing that plays a great role and every household cannot live without it.

In that era, cattle were the main labor force of the production team. The cattle raised by the production team were like treasures. Generally, cattle would not be killed easily. Only cattle that were occasionally injured and lost the ability to work were willing to kill. Therefore, cow bones are also a rare resource, and even a hammer can be made from generation to generation. After being used for a long time, the sweat of many people makes the cow bones red, shiny and smooth day by day, which is extremely rare. Therefore, the mallet is not only a work tool for housewives, but also a beautiful handicraft.

Let’s talk about hemp rope. At that time, the production team mostly planted a plant called hemp, or “flower hemp” in the ditch. The scientific name is flax, flower hemp or hemp, which may be due to the local dialects. This kind of flax has a special smell, which is very unpleasant. The livestock keep away from it. The purpose of planting it is to prevent livestock from harming the crops, and to peel the skin of "flax" to make carriages and horses. The rope used for tying and the hemp rope used at home to make shoes and hold shoe soles.

After the "flax" matures, it needs to be "retting" in a smelly ditch for a few days. After the hemp skin and the hemp stem are loose, the hemp skin can be peeled off and dried, and then the hemp rope can be tied. .

To tie hemp rope, you must first make the hemp blank into hemp sutra, that is to say, twist the hemp into strands. The hemp fibers peeled off from the retting hemp stalks are in narrow strips. To become hemp, each end must be twisted finely and evenly to form a bundle. When making Ma Jing, hold the hemp blank with one hand, use the mallet skillfully to apply force to the hemp piece, and while turning, add hemp pieces into it one by one. In this way, you can twist the Ma Jing.

Using a mallet to beat the hemp sutra is a very time-consuming task that requires a lot of patience and skill. Older women usually choose to do it in winter when the farmers are slack. During the long winter, when there was no work in the fields, the women sat on the hot bricks and began to use the hammer to beat the hemp sutra. As the hammer rotated, circles of twisted hemp sutra were wrapped around the hammer. After the warp is full, start to wind down the hemp warp, wrap it into a ball and put it aside to be used as a synthetic hemp rope.

Using a mallet to create hemp strings is a technical job. The hemp strings produced by skilled women are smooth and of the same thickness. The synthetic hemp rope is very uniform and can be passed through smoothly when placed on the soles of shoes. Pinhole, save effort. For people with poor skills, the hemp rope will become thicker or thinner when the hemp is added, and the hemp rope will be broken in the middle. The hemp rope will be thicker and thinner, and there will be knots in the middle. It can be used to synthesize the hemp rope. The work was strenuous and annoying, and the women said that it was not the job of old women who were passing through their days.

After the hemp sutra is tied, the two pieces are put together to form a hemp rope, which can be used to hold the soles of shoes.

I haven’t seen a hammer in many years. I occasionally saw it when I visited an old man. It is conceivable that in a few years, if you want to see the mallet again, it will only be in pictures.

Although the little mallet has left this era, its contribution in the past years can be seen and touched. It accompanied our ancestors and rotated through the sun, moon and stars. What spins is the villagers' longing for a better life, and also spins the hard work and family affection of the older generation, spinning out the strong and indomitable national spirit of our ancestors.