Cultural characteristics of Hequ

Haihongguo, a specialty of Hequ County, is a specialty of Hequ County. Hequ has a long history of planting this fruit, and its products are sold all over the country, as well as sea red honey and sea red juice made of sea red fruit. It is favored by local people. It mainly contains trace elements such as calcium, iron, zinc, selenium and total flavonoids which are beneficial to human health 18. Hequ locals call it "longevity fruit" and "Calcium Fruit".

Kaiheyu

In this small place of Hequ, there is the first crucian carp food in the world-Yellow River Stone Carp, which can't be compared anywhere in the Yellow River. This rare carp is produced in Tianqiao Gorge in the southwest of Hequ. Xu Li goes up and down, the torrent slows down the water, and the types of fish are also different. It has always been a royal tribute. Stone carp has red eyes, golden scales and a red line on its spine. Meat is white and heavy, and it is famous for its delicious taste. It can only be caught when the river thaws every year, so it is called "talking fish". Lost several orders of magnitude, and became the best among carp. Those giants who have eaten crucian carp banquets in Zhengzhou and Jinan, after tasting stone crucian carp, all lamented: Yellow River cuisine composes music.

Apricot petals

Apricot petals, a specialty of Hequ County, are one of the traditional foods in Hequ County. According to research, apricot petals were made in the Tang Dynasty. In Hequ area, apricot trees are planted in almost every village. Apricot petals are processed from almonds. It is said that apricot petals were once a tribute.

Before liberation, apricot petals produced here have been sold to Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and other places. In northwestern Shanxi, northern Shaanxi and western Inner Mongolia, most of them are apricot petals of red apricots, and only Hequ area is apricot petals of oil. During processing, the almonds are first boiled in a boiling water pot for 1 ~ 2 hours, then soaked in cold water for a period of time, and then the soaked almonds are taken out, wiped hard with a towel to remove the red skin; Blanch with boiling water and soak in cold water overnight. Take out the white almonds, add various food pigments respectively, and mix in a little butter. It is made into apricot petals of various colors.

Finally, the apricot petals are fried, that is, the apricot petals and coarse bran are put into the pot and fried until the almonds turn from white to light yellow. When frying, bran oil oozed out after heating, so apricot petals were oily and produced apricot petals.

Apricot petals are characterized by full color and flavor, crisp and delicious, and have the effect of clearing away lung heat and resolving phlegm.

Buckwheat noodles wantuo

Buckwheat bowl holder is a specialty of Hequ. Peel buckwheat and put it in a bowl. The bowl holder is made by soaking the bowl in water the day before, stamping it into paste, sieving it, ladling it into a bowl cage and steaming it, stirring it with chopsticks once in the middle and steaming it. After cooling in a cool place, make soup with vinegar, ginger, sesame, Chili noodles, garlic paste and sesame oil, and pour in.

Sour rice

Hequ sour porridge is a special snack food in Shanxi Hequ, which can stimulate the appetite, strengthen the spleen, maintain beauty and taste excellent.

Hequ sour rice has a long history. According to Hequ County Records, it is said that during the Northern Song Dynasty, Liao soldiers often invaded. On one occasion, the people were scouring rice to prepare for cooking. Suddenly, Liao soldiers attacked and left the glutinous rice still soaked in the water and fled. A few days later, the soldiers returned home and found that the glutinous rice soaked in water had fermented and turned sour. If they want to throw it away, they will cook and eat it. Surprisingly, this sour rice is concentrated with the essence, Huang Liang's tenacity, pungent foreign flavor, sour and delicious, and full of color, fragrance and taste. Since then, sour rice has been recorded in the history of Hequ traditional food culture, passed down from generation to generation, and continues to this day.

Sour porridge is a breakfast that Hequ people can't break all year round. In the morning, put the glutinous rice (a special product of Hequ) cooked in the rice threshing tank all night into the pot, cook for a while, and return the cooked rice soup to the rice threshing tank as part of the next rice threshing. This cycle, constantly, slurry soup will be better and better, more and more fragrant. Cooking sour porridge pays attention to the heat. The so-called "tight fire and slow porridge, increase the stove and cook porridge". Turn the fire to slow fire (adjust the fire on the cover of the kang furnace, the fire will be big if the cover is tight, and the fire will be small if the cover is pulled open), and keep stirring in the pot. About ten minutes, the sour porridge will be ready, and you can eat it with a slight bend. Working in the field, eating a bowl of sour porridge or drinking a bowl of sour rice soup, I am not hungry or thirsty for a day, and my spirit is doubled. I don't feel tired or sleepy. It has become an indispensable part of Hequ people's life for the whole family to sit together and eat "sour porridge" in the morning, "sour rice" at noon and "sour porridge" at night. Eating pickles is a delicious breakfast for Hequ people. A "rice jar" and a sauerkraut jar are two indispensable utensils for Hequ people.

Hequ folk song sings: "You are my brother's love for yam, sour porridge and spicy horn vegetables". "Drinking sour rice soup is not thirsty, and it is difficult to live if you miss your sister."

Mimi

Mimi is a native product of Hequ, which occupies a unique and superior position in the whole grains of Hequ so far. Xiaomi doesn't choose terrain, and he doesn't want water and fertilizer. "Millet as long as catch seedlings, there is half of the harvest. So glutinous rice has become the traditional staple food of Hequ people who have been suffering from drought for ten years and nine years. Mimi can make porridge, fish rice, or be ground into flour to make a nest head and make a "painting stall". " "Painting" has always been a fixed food for Tomb-Sweeping Day, a Hequ man, which shows that Mimi is extraordinary. During the Spring Festival, every household has to cook a pot of glutinous rice every other year, hoping that there will be more next year. Mimi shoulders such a sacred mission, which inevitably adds a bit of mystery. According to the determination, glutinous rice contains sugar, crude protein, phosphorus, calcium and 18 amino acids, which is the highest crude protein content in cereals. Rice can also be brewed into sour rice. The sour rice contains lactic acid bacteria, which has the functions of promoting fluid production to quench thirst, promoting digestion, invigorating stomach, cooling and purging fire, and has excellent taste. From Spring Festival to New Year's Eve, there are 27 large and small folk festivals throughout the year.

New Year's Eve, Spring Festival

On the 29th or 30th of the twelfth lunar month, couplets and door gods are posted in front of every house, and meals are cooked once every other year, wine and food are served, and ancestors and gods often worshipped in the house are worshipped. When the night is ugly, young and old wear new clothes and open the door with hemp guns. Men send fire dragons. There is an altar in the middle of the yard. The altar is covered with a red cloth skirt printed with dragon, wind and tiger patterns, and long sections made of yellow fine paper are hung at the two corners of the front. The "three sacrifices", "offerings", incense burners and candles are all ready, and parents will go north to worship the gods, ancestors, burn incense, burn tables, boil water and serve tea. There are five bowls of vegetarian dishes on the table-fried tofu, fried shredded radish wrapped in white flour, fried yam, fried beans and fried pumpkin slices-dedicated to the gods of land, happiness, wealth and longevity. After the offering, vinegar charcoal is made: one person holds a casserole with charcoal, and the other person holds a vinegar bottle. Every time he goes to a house, he pours some vinegar on charcoal, which is called the god of vinegar charcoal. Legend has it that Jiang Ziya, the god of a generation, forgot himself when he was deified, so he had to be the god of vinegar and charcoal, but the gods stood in awe before vinegar and charcoal. After playing vinegar charcoal, Jiang Ziya came, and the immortal dared to sit down and offer sacrifices. When I was in charge, the hemp guns were fired, deafening, and even in the distance. It was dawn after the connection, and then some people sent money and water in court, all begging in disguise. There are also younger generations at home who pay New Year greetings, and others go to a nearby temple to burn incense and kowtow with incense lamps. Followed by breakfast, vegetarian dishes with long bean noodles, oil cakes at noon and vegetarian noodle soup at night to make tea. Shoot before meals and worship God. Greet the Western God after breakfast, which is also called "going out". The orientation of welcoming God changes every year. When you arrive at the scheduled place, you should shoot, burn incense and kowtow and pray for good luck for a year. When you come back, pick up some firewood and put it in the stove as a symbol of wealth. On New Year's Eve, the whole family doesn't sleep, which is called "Enduring the Year". Speak softly, take things slowly, don't spill water on the ground, don't say unlucky things, don't make children cry, don't let dogs bite, don't let cats bark, don't turn off the lights in the house and yard, don't put out the fire in the stove, and don't order bowls on the eaves and walls. On New Year's Eve, sour plums are put in the water tank and Atractylodes are stewed in the room. Children and adults are holding atractylodes rhizome, red dates and garlic under their arms, and children are carrying small guns and ancient copper coins on their shoulders. Grandpa, mom and parents should give their children lucky money to help healthy qi and suppress evil spirits. When giving birth, the whole family eats jiaozi, which means "carrying gold ingots".

The second day of the first lunar month.

Relatives and neighbors invite each other to drink, which is called "Nianjiu". Also called "eat a meal" friends drink. The spring breeze takes a seat, the marriage is repaired, and the concept of comity is in the countryside. Old, weak, women and children are immersed in New Year greetings, feasting and having fun. The married daughter will go back to her parents' home to pay a New Year call, and stay on the second and third day of the second year. Pay New Year greetings to your in-laws and uncles before going back to your parents' home. Officials, gentry, famous and prestigious people should leave their business cards and businessmen should use red paper to pay New Year greetings. These business cards and stickers are also given to friends and relatives, old friends and others from other places. The setting of New Year greetings is also very particular: there are 4 to 6 plates of tea on the kang table or table, 1 plate of tea, 1 pot of wine. After you leave, please eat and chat at the dinner table and compliment each other to bridge the gap and seek cooperation in the new year.

The fifth day of the first lunar month

The fifth day of the first month is called "Breaking Five". Sweep the dust and filth in the room at dawn, send it to the alley, burn incense and explode, and occasionally call it "sending the poor". If there is a paper-cut in the shape of a woman, it is called "sending the poor daughter-in-law". On this day, eating several plates of three kinds of meat offered to the gods is called "broken plate", and shops and workshops will announce the dismissal of dissatisfied subordinates after eating the "broken plate". Don't treat people that day, don't go out, be careful.

camps

The seventh day of the first month is called "Qi Ying", also known as off-year. It was dark that day and the population was safe. Except that she is absent-minded, she is similar to the Chinese New Year, with a stick of incense in the morning and three kowtows in the morning and evening.

Sacrifice a star

On the eighth day of the first month, when all the stars are at 10 in the evening, light lamps and candles and offer sacrifices to the stars. Every household has a kang table with five lines of gossip and seven cake lanterns written on it, symbolizing the Big Dipper. The whole family kowtowed to Beidou in turn from small to large, knocking a head at each age, and then kowtowing to heaven, earth, father and mother.

the Lantern Festival

That is, the fifteenth day of the first month, also known as Shangyuan Festival and Lantern Festival. Three days before and after, lanterns were lit in the street, and fire dragons were piled at the door to bless the heavenly officials, local officials and water officials, which was called the "Three-Yuan Victory Meeting". The gongs and drums are loud, and the city is singing and dancing, singing Fengyang songs; Hundreds of lanterns are inserted together and arranged in a matrix, and the lantern watchers wander among them, which is called the lantern-turning tour. Every household hangs lanterns, including watermelon lanterns, cabbage lanterns, octagonal lanterns, red gauze lanterns and so on; Colorful, colorful. Boudoir women also go to the streets to see the lights. There are even children taking to the streets, carrying lanterns, riding small bamboo horses and wearing bronze bells. On the stage of Dazha Street, you should sing for Hod Xing Jun for three days to avoid a fire every year. There is heavy traffic on the street. There are dragon lanterns here, lion rolling embroidery there, pavilions, stilts, dry boats, the front of the car, big-head monk dance dance drama Liu Cui, two girls pulling wheels, yangko, duet, martial arts and so on. After nightfall, the fire dragon bursts, the lanterns are brightly lit, and all kinds of fireworks come and go, just like thousands of guns, gorgeous and spectacular.

Heavenly storehouse

The twentieth day of the first month is Tiancang, and the twenty-fifth day is Laotian Cang. In the evening, we light sesame cakes in the courtyard of the house, offering sacrifices to the stars in the sky warehouse and wishing a bumper harvest that year.

The second day of the second lunar month

The second day of February is called "The Dragon Raises its Head". Before getting up in the morning, lying in the quilt and eating a snake is called "biting the head of a snake". Eating noodles at noon is called "holding the leading noodles". In the afternoon, I took an iron pot to fetch water from a spring well, and it always flowed home. It was called "Lucky Dragon". At night, the courtyard is surrounded by fire dragon dust, which is called "enclosure". On this day, we will also go to the West Loukou to turn on the lights for sightseeing, so as to eliminate disasters and diseases and get good luck.

Shangji steet

On the third day of March, every family will plant a willow tree at the door. Men, women and children, all dressed in festive costumes, went to visit the city, went up from the Arctic Pavilion, circled the city, and then came down from the Arctic Pavilion. Then visit the temple, burn incense and watch a play to ward off evil spirits in the Chenghuang Temple.

Cold food is transparent.

Tomb-Sweeping Day was a cold food the day before, and prepared food and wine to burn paper money on the grave. After the sacrifice, eat among local fans. Today, millet flour is used to make cakes, which is called "spreading Huang Er". The villagers are swinging. Apricots began to blossom and grass buds were unearthed. Qingming, steamed noodles fish, noodles, relatives send each other. On the same day, the city god was carried to the "Lonely Soul Beach", where the families who buried the dead had to burn paper money.

March 25th.

On the birthday of the drug king Shennong, the drug king temple in the city sang for three days. All medical homes should offer sacrifices, vegetarian dishes or two plates of snacks in temples. For Shennong, as well as Hua Tuo, Bian Que, Zhang Zhongjing, Wang Shuhe, Sun Enmiao and other top ten famous doctors.

Tianqihui

On March 28th, I spent the Tianqi Fair in Daiyu Prison Temple, ten miles away from the county seat, and sang for three days. Pilgrims gathered in the temple and gunfire continued. Businessmen in the city went to the market to set up stalls to sell goods. The biggest selling clay figurine-made of mud and paper pulp, painted with color, is cheap, and everyone at the meeting bought it as a souvenir. This understanding is to pray that Tianqi will live a long life and avoid disasters and diseases.

April 8(th)

On Buddha washing day, every household sends incense sticks to Niangniang Temple, so it is also called Niangniang Temple Meeting. Niangniang means "give your son to Niangniang". There is also "Brother Dou" in the temple. On this day, young women came to the temple in droves. Qi begged the queen to give her a son as soon as possible, and qi begged the "Dou Ge" with children to let the children recover from smallpox as soon as possible. They give alms, offer vegetarian dishes, eat "in-laws", and some steal the "mud" from the children in the queen's arms. Some prayed for the paper hat and paper coat of "Brother Pox".

Chunyang steet

April 14 is the Pure Yang Festival, which means Lv Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals.

On this day, I held a meeting in the Drum Tower and sang opera for three days. People attending the rally asked for a sign and divination in front of the statue of Lv Zu to show their way out. The monk gave them a confession and sat for an hour.

Dragon Boat Festival

On the fifth day of May, in memory of Qu Yuan, every family eats zongzi and drinks realgar wine, which is used on children's foreheads, hands, feet, hearts, wrists and tied with five-color threads, and herbs are brought to brush Atractylodes lancea and garlic on their bodies. Hang wormwood leaves and paper cocks on the door, take a bath with the water fried with wormwood leaves, and draw a cross on the top of the door frame with realgar wine. You He also wrote couplets in yellow: "The sun rises at noon on May 5, and the world is lucky", "Realgar is like medicine to drive away all diseases, and wormwood leaves are like swords to kill thousands of demons". Cover for exorcising evil spirits and avoiding poisonous insects can also delay illness. Boy, Mr. Bai sent a gift.

Ghosts'Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival (July 15). It is said that Sui Ma only eats children. On the contrary, people take noodles as human figures, so relatives pay each other when giving them away on the Mid-Autumn Festival in July 15, and the relationship has not changed.

It was the second time that the Japanese city god became a monk, and every family went to the grave to sacrifice. On the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Sanguan Temple in the city organized ordinary families and waterway traders to raise funds to sing in the river temple for three days, and put boat lights on the Yellow River at night, which was colorful and very beautiful.

This festival is a grand festival of Hequ. Besides singing in the Temple of the River, there are 365 lanterns on the river and a fireworks show in the middle of the river.

Mid-Autumn Festival

On August 15, every household processes moon cakes; Relatives send each other, the number depends on the distance between relatives and friends. At night, the moon is offered and enjoyed. Moon cakes and fruits are placed on the table in the yard, burning incense, kowtowing and lighting the table. Incense is a special kind of moon fragrance, which can grow into new words or endlessly. You can burn it from night to noon the next day. The store is more grand for the moon, so it is necessary to build a colorful shed for Chang 'e and prepare a "bedroom" in the moon.

Double Ninth Festival

Visiting the mountain, brewing chrysanthemum wine and eating oil cakes are gifts of clothes on the moon, anvil pestle, answering questions in adjacent lanes, sewing clothes with needle and thread, and turning on the lights at night.

Winter solstice

The elders of the clan worship in turn, which is the so-called "winter worship", food and entertainment, accompanied by mutton soup and red dates brewing, as well as the legacy of lamb friends and wine.

Association of laboratory animal breeders

Eat red porridge at dawn with soft rice and Jiang Dou; Made of red dates, it's called Laba porridge. I don't know what it means to stand ice cubes on the dung and pour red bean soup noodles at the gate on the seventh night, on both sides of the house. Brother, go to the west, little sister, I really can't stay any longer;

Take my brother's hand and walk him to the door.

Brother, go to the west, little sister, I have news to leave;

When you walk, you have to take the big intersection, so many people can solve your worries.

……

A song "Go West" sings the bitterness of the children of the Yellow River; A song "Go West" subverts the clank of the iron man in the world; A song "Go West" lets everyone know that there is an ancient city called Hequ at the corner of the Yellow River. The folk song art of Hequ can be said to lead the way in Shanxi. The most common form of expression is "Errentai", which used to be ugly, good at singing and dancing, vigorous and lively, and was deeply loved by people in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. There are more than one hundred plays in Errentai. Among them, the most famous ones are going west, visiting the sick, hanging red lights, playing with money, planting fruit trees, picking up carbon and so on. Most of these famous songs are mainly about praising the love life of the sons and daughters of the Yellow River, with strong local characteristics and the Yellow River customs. "The mountain temple fair is full of running water all day, and the town and the opera turn to sing very late." The prosperity and drama of ancient Hequ City are talked about by later generations. (Note on Taiyuan Road: Please refer to Shanxi Famous Songs section of this website for "Walking to the West Exit" and "Two-person Table")

Bai Pu, a great dramatist in Yuan Dynasty, is a representative figure in the prosperous history of Hequ drama. Bai Pu, whose name is Ren Fu, was born in 1226 and died in 13 12, and was born in Yi (Hequ, Shanxi). As one of the four masters of Yuanqu. Most of his works are about love stories that show the joys and sorrows of men and women, such as Dead Marriage, Moonlit Qiantang Dream by Su Xiaoxiao, Autumn Night Rain by Tang, Climbing the Wall at once by Pei and so on. Many of these masterpieces are still enduring plays on the stage of drama.

Walking around Hequ County, I really want to find some cultural relics about the great dramatist Bai Pu. Although there are very clear records in history, there is no trace until now. Just when I was full of melancholy, the radio suddenly remembered the euphemistic and lively duo. At this time, I finally understood that Hequ people dissolved Mr. Bai Pu's cultural essence into that insatiable folk song, and they really inherited and broadened Mr. Bai Pu's thoughts in spirit. From this, I thought of a strange phenomenon at present: in order to take advantage of the celebrity effect to attract tourists, individual counties in Shanxi constantly catch the wind and catch shadows, climb and pull long-dead historical celebrities as township sages, build temples and monuments, and never spread their spirit. From this point of view, the simple Hequ people are much nobler and smarter than them. An affectionate duet immediately reminds people of Bai Pu, the first great dramatist who wrote Butterfly Lovers in history. Come down in one continuous line, the culture and art of Hequ, like the Yellow River, are full of souls and flow endlessly.

In 2006, Hequ Folk Songs, declared by Hequ County, Shanxi Province, was selected into the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage lists, with 33 categories of folk music projects.

Hequ county 20 10 won the title of "the hometown of northern folk songs in China".