Folk Culture in Zhangjiafan Town

Bacon, making rice wine, chopping meat sauce, making tofu and making rice cakes are the most representative things in our Zhang family's New Year tradition. I remember when I was a child, I spent the whole twelfth lunar month preparing these things. The most important thing for us during the Chinese New Year is to offer sacrifices to the elderly (ancestor worship). On the 24th, 29th or 30th of the twelfth lunar month, at least five times on the 1st and 15th of the first lunar month, some of them are at home, but rarely in the ancestral temple. We light a fire with a table, two chairs, two bowls of vegetables, two bowls of rice, three wine glasses and two pairs of chopsticks. You can't eat until after the ceremony. During the New Year's Eve dinner, children are tied to eat and are not allowed to disturb. After dinner, the door was opened. I have asked many foreigners about this custom, but none of them have.

"Thirty fires, fifteen lights and fifteen foreign flavors" is the most frequently heard folk song about Chinese New Year. "Thirty fires" means that a family or relatives of a family sit together, get together, sum up the year and talk about the plans for the new year, especially about debt, building a house, children's marriage and so on. There are fried "mosquitoes" (peanuts) and "fleas" (pumpkin seeds) in the hanging pot for everyone to enjoy, and the unfinished ones are left to the children who come to pay New Year greetings in the first month, and lucky money is also given on the 30 th of the twelfth month. Therefore, the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month is the last day of debt collection and repayment, which is called "Niankan". Some family members get up at three or four in the morning on the 30th to celebrate the New Year. It is said that they hurried out to hide their debts after the New Year and didn't go home until midnight. Every house lights up at night.

You can pay New Year greetings from the first day to the fifteenth day of the first month. Don't cook or splash water on the first day of the first month. You can bring some small gifts (used to be a packet of brown sugar or canned food) to pay a New Year call. Children can get presents in candy and melon seeds.

The second day, the fourth day, the sixth day, the seventh day and the eighth day are the days when men and women come to the door, which is very grand. First of all, there are 10 people, including men, clan elders and brothers, who carry burdens to the woman's house, including gifts (meat, printed cakes, cakes, etc. ) and gifts for all relatives of the woman's family. Then the woman's house goes to the man's house, and the form is similar. In the past, you could only get married after completing this ceremony, but now these customs and habits are gradually forgotten.

On the third day of the first month, if a family member died years ago, then on the third day of the first month, all relatives will come to pay New Year greetings to the world, burn paper, shoot guns, worship, and then eat.

The lights on the fifteenth day mean that every household has lights on all night on the fifteenth day. After breakfast, everyone went out to play in the street. Sugarcane and water chestnuts are sold everywhere. It will be "sent out" at night. Every family lights candles, sets off firecrackers and burns paper in front of their ancestral graves, indicating that "old people" will go home after the New Year (sending light is to light up the way home). There is a saying about seeing Liang off, that is, (Zhu Yuanzhang) fled to a place with his mother. When her mother died, she dug a hole and buried it, so she built a small grave. Later, when Zhu Hongwu became emperor, he went back to look for his mother's grave and found many graves around, but he couldn't find his mother's grave. So he lit a candle in front of each grave to light her way home, and suddenly a gust of wind blew. The custom of lighting lamps to sweep graves on the 15th day of the first month is rare in China, only in Dabie Mountains (such as Shangqiu in Henan, Jinzhai in Anhui, Mu Zi Store and Zhangjiafan in Anhui). On the fifteenth night of the first month, candles everywhere are spectacular from a height, but they often cause fires. I jumped on the mountain fire myself.

There is no historical record about whether Zhu Yuanzhang came to us, but there are many legends about him among people here, such as herding cattle to landlords and killing them; Moreover, he didn't have the money to buy meat for the New Year, so he killed a pig's head and didn't do it when he went home, asking for debts. He took his pig's head away, so he had to drink some soup (folk song "Zhu Hongwu, Pity, Boiling Pig's Head to Make Money …").1.Macheng Meat Pie.

Macheng meat pie is a traditional dish in Macheng. Fresh fish are peeled, pork is peeled and boned, and chopped into minced meat. Put the bean flour, water and salt into a basin in proportion and stir with the pulp. Add seasoning such as Jiang Mo and chopped green onion, make into a round or square shape, put it in a steamer, steam for 15 ~ 20 minutes, take it out, cut it into rectangular strips, and plate it. They can be cooked or refrigerated.

2. Macheng oil surface

Macheng oil noodles are artificially pulled out with white flour, sesame oil and salt. Form a silver thread, slender and beautiful. Oily lean noodles have been listed as "Hubei-style snacks".

3. Macheng Fish Noodles

Macheng fish noodles (commonly known as pound fish) is a traditional food in Macheng city, which is made of fresh fish, sweet potato powder, egg white and salt. It is a natural green food with low cholesterol, which is widely used in family and hotel banquets.

4. Dongshan old rice wine

Macheng old rice wine has been brewed for thousands of years. Zhang Jiafan and Mu Zi Store are the most mellow folk brews. Sour wine is like soup, sweet wine is like honey juice.

5. Wild tea oil

Camellia oleifera is a unique traditional edible vegetable oil in China. It can be seen that people use Camellia oleifera fruit to extract oil. The main components of tea oil are unsaturated fatty acids, mainly oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid. The ratio of linoleic acid to linolenic acid is appropriate, and the content of unsaturated fatty acids is as high as 95%. Macheng wild tea oil is rich in nutrition, which has the effects of lowering blood pressure, reducing blood fat and blackening hair, ranking first in vegetable oil and being known as "the holy product in oil".

6. Wild Ge Fen

Wild Ge Fen, with a long history of homology of medicine and food, is made from pueraria lobata, which has been wild for many years in the deep forest of Guifeng Mountain, combined with traditional folk crafts and modern science and technology. According to modern scientific tests, this product contains trace elements such as zinc, iron, calcium, vitamin B 1, B2 and a variety of amino acids, and is the best natural food for consumers.

7. Wild Gastrodia elata

Gastrodia elata, also known as Red Arrow and Shenma, is a perennial herb parasitic plant of Orchidaceae, with germination bacteria and Armillaria mellea. Gastrodia elata has the function of dilating blood vessels and enhancing blood vessel elasticity, and has obvious curative effect on treating nervous symptoms and cardiovascular diseases caused by dizziness and cerebral basilar artery insufficiency.

8. Macheng Ciba

Playing Ciba in Macheng used to be a very grand event, which can only be eaten during the Spring Festival, long summer and Mid-Autumn Festival. Ciba is a necessary new year's goods in many places in Macheng. It is made of glutinous rice, a special product, through many processes! Ciba can be eaten in many ways, which can be roasted or boiled. Delicious, delicious!