Chapter 609: Celebrating the Lantern Festival!!!
In order to solve this major case, Liu Yong was unable to go home to spend the Spring Festival with his family again this year. This is the second consecutive year that he has missed the reunion dinner.

At the same time, his second brother Liu Wu, who was serving in the Southwest Military Region, was unable to return home for the New Year due to military duties.

Fortunately, Liu Wen, the eldest son who was unable to go home last year due to work, was finally able to get away this year and return to this long-awaited family reunion.

Although the three brothers could not get together, the return of Liu Wen’s family somewhat added a bit of warmth to this slightly deserted New Year’s Eve.

Liu Wen got married on National Day two years ago. His wife was certainly not the beautiful TV host he had been dating for many years, but his college classmate Gao Xuelian.

Gao Xuelian’s family background is no less impressive than Liu Wen’s. Her family holds a pivotal position in both the political and business circles and has far-reaching influence.

Naturally, the Gao family was eager to form an alliance with the prestigious Liu family of Yancheng.

This marriage is not only a perfect match between two prominent families, but also a strategic alliance between the two sides in multiple fields. It can be said to be a strong combination that complements each other.

Liu Wen, who is only in his early thirties, has successfully become a deputy senior official in a developed city on the southeast coast with his many years of grassroots experience and outstanding performance, and has become a rising star in the political arena.

His wife Gao Xuelian is equally talented. She serves as a deputy director-level spokesperson for a foreign affairs department. With her keen insight and excellent communication skills, she demonstrates the wisdom and elegance of the “rabbits” on the GJ stage.

Since Liu Wen and his wife are both highly career-oriented elites, they have devoted themselves to their work and have not yet had children.

This situation made his mother Gan Ning extremely anxious, and she was looking forward to having grandchildren day and night.

However, his father Liu Zhiyedao is open-minded. After all, Liu Wen and his wife are still young. Haven’t they looked at those older single men and women in later generations who got married in their forties and still had children?

No matter how times change, the Liu family’s traditional rules remain unchanged.

On New Year’s Eve, all family members, young and old, wear new clothes, burn incense and worship their ancestors together, and kowtow to the tablets of Liu’s ancestors in order of seniority to bid farewell to the old year.

Next comes the highlight of New Year’s Eve, eating the New Year’s Eve dinner.

Although the Liu family had become wealthy a long time ago and had no shortage of food or clothing.

But no matter what time it is, the Liu family’s New Year’s Eve dinner must be sumptuous.

Because the older generation of Yanjing people believe that the quality of the food for the New Year’s Eve dinner represents whether the business will be prosperous in the coming year and whether there will be surplus every year. No family wants to not have enough food during the New Year.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, Gan Ning scattered the sesame stalks that she had prepared long ago all over the yard.

Then the whole family, led by Liu Jingzhai, stepped on it.

As the family steps on the sesame stalks, they make a sound, and the “stepping on the year” ceremony is completed.

The Liu family has maintained this project for decades without any changes, while other families may have already stopped having this ceremony.

In fact, ordinary people don’t care so much. Only big families like the Liu family will pay attention to it.

Of course, on New Year’s Eve, all the lights inside and outside the house must be turned on, and the house must be as bright as day, so that the coming year will be prosperous.

As a result, the huge Liu family compound was brightly lit all night long.

Gao Xuelian was deeply attracted when she spent the Spring Festival in the Liu family compound for the first time. These traditional customs of the capital had never been seen in the Gao family, which made her feel very novel.

Although the Gao family is now famous, as an outsider, the family’s prosperity has only been in the past twenty years.

Compared with the Liu family, a prestigious family with hundreds of years of history, the Gao family is naturally difficult to reach in some aspects.

On New Year’s Eve, every household has lights on, and the time spent staying up all night is always filled with warmth and joy.

The adults sat together, playing mahjong or cards, and amidst their laughter and joy, they did not forget to keep a close eye on the wonderful programs of the Spring Festival Gala.

The children couldn’t wait to run to the yard, carrying lanterns and lighting firecrackers. The crisp sound of firecrackers accompanied by their laughter echoed in the night sky.

At this moment, the whole family, young and old, are enjoying the family happiness.

For Zhong Xiaowei, this is the most exciting moment of the year.

Because Zhong Xingguo was also in the army, the family did not return to their hometown for the New Year, so Zhong Xiaowei stayed at his grandfather’s house.

Compared to going back to his grandparents’ house, Zhong Xiaowei obviously prefers here.

It’s not because the food here is more abundant, but because he can have the fun time he longs for more here.

The spacious courtyard of his grandfather’s house provided him with space to play to his heart’s content, and with a large group of brothers and sisters by his side, his New Year’s Eve was filled with endless joy and anticipation.

What’s more, Liu Jingzhai bought so many fireworks and firecrackers this year that the little ones might not be able to finish setting them off until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

After dinner in the evening, children like Zhong Xiaowei lit fireworks and firecrackers in the yard, and then the sound of firecrackers rang out throughout the Liujiazhuang area.

As soon as twelve o’clock arrived, amid the sound of firecrackers, the Liu family gathered again in front of the altar filled with offerings in the yard, burning incense and kowtowing to welcome the gods to descend to earth.

This also means that as time goes by, people get older, and all we can hope for is for the world to be filled with spring and blessings.

During this process, it is also necessary to burn money and grain to invite various gods to come down to the world.

Celebrating the Spring Festival at Lao Liu’s house is considered the most important event of the year.

In the past, the Spring Festival for the old Yanjing people lasted from the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which was the climax; it then continued until the second day of the second lunar month when the dragon raises its head, which was the final stage.

It took nearly two months.

As time goes by, the content of the activities will inevitably be very rich.

Starting from eating Laba porridge on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the New Year customs and activities follow one after another, such as worshiping the kitchen god, buying New Year goods, cleaning dust, pasting Spring Festival couplets, hanging the word “Fu”, making New Year dishes, worshiping ancestors, praying for good fortune, setting off firecrackers, exorcising evil spirits, making dumplings, reunion dinner, giving lucky money, praying for the New Year, visiting the factory market, eating Yuanxiao, watching dragon lanterns, guessing lantern riddles, watching flower shows…

These are not only the customs of the Liu family and the people of Yanjing, but also a concentrated release and display of the folk customs gradually accumulated by the Chinese nation over thousands of years.

The Chinese have always used “loyalty and honesty are passed down from generation to generation, and poetry and books are passed down from generation to generation” as the moral concept and behavioral norms for educating their descendants, as well as the principle for establishing a good family tradition.

In order to supervise the daily behavior of a family and encourage and urge family members to act according to the rules of etiquette, the custom of worshipping the Kitchen God in the kitchen, the place where family disputes and quarrels are most likely to arise, emerged.

The Kitchen God is used to supervise the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, sisters-in-law, and the entire family, so that everyone will have a sense of awe.

This has also formed a consensus among the whole nation, that is, the Kitchen God must keep everyone’s performance in mind.

On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, they will return to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor will personally inspect the human world, give rewards and punishments based on each person’s performance, and psychologically guide people to be tolerant and do good.

Therefore, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month every year, the elders would buy sugar-coated melons and other offerings, and solemnly hold a ceremony of kneeling and burning incense to respectfully send the Kitchen God to heaven.

This may seem ridiculous to today’s young people, but this ritual of educating people has had a positive and beneficial meaning in agricultural societies for thousands of years.

“Sweep the house on the 24th”, the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month is also called “Dust Sweeping Day”, which is a thorough cleaning done before the New Year.

Taking apart and washing bedding and clothes, cleaning utensils and furniture, dusting off dirt and cobwebs, unclogging open and underground drains… National Hygiene Day is undoubtedly beneficial to the health of the entire population.

The “Patriotic Health Campaign” once advocated by the government is also in line with this.

In addition, because “dust” and “Chen” have the same pronunciation, this activity has the meaning of “getting rid of the old and welcoming the new”, and people hope to drive out all the old luck, bad luck, and bad luck.

Just like people dress up after bathing, it is natural to dress up after sweeping the yard.

First, you have to put up Spring Festival couplets and hang the word “Fu”. Write the word “Fu” on red paper and stick it on the screen wall facing the door, the wall inside the house, the water tank in the yard, etc.

Legend has it that evil spirits are afraid of fire, because fire is red, so red can drive away ghosts.

The word “Fu” symbolizes the five blessings of the coming year: the first blessing is longevity; the second blessing is wealth, being rich, having status and being respected; the third blessing is health, being healthy and well-off both physically and mentally; the fourth blessing is having noble moral sentiments; the fifth blessing is having many children and grandchildren and having someone to rely on in old age, and some people also say it is a good death.

These five blessings can be said to be the values ​​formed by the Chinese nation over thousands of years, but they are more concentratedly reflected during the joyous days of the Spring Festival.

The “Collect Five Blessings” activity during the Chinese New Year on a certain payment platform in later generations originated from this.

At the same time, people buy New Year pictures and paste them in the house. The contents of the pictures all have the meanings of “blessing, wealth, longevity and happiness”.

For example, a fat boy holding a golden red carp means “abundant good fortune”; “magpies climbing on plum trees” means good news has arrived; posting red couplets and hanging colorful money are for praying for good fortune, warding off disasters and seeking peace. In short, all the decorations and preparations before the festival reflect people’s pursuit of a better life in the future. This folk custom, which has remained unchanged from ancient times to the present, is the driving force of social progress.

As the whole nation strives for a well-off life, celebrating the New Year with prosperity is a review of the past year and a refueling station for moving forward.

When the festive decorations and various delicacies are prepared, it is time to worship ancestors on the night of 30th.

The portraits of ancestors and wooden tablets of ancestors that are collected on a daily basis are placed on the table. The offerings are abundant, red candles are flickering, and the incense burning in the incense burner has smoke that slowly drifts away.

The Liu family knelt and kowtowed in order of seniority, and the atmosphere was solemn and dignified.

Even children like Liu Kun, who was only three years old, followed the adults’ instructions and kowtowed in a very proper manner.

He didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until the adults pulled him up, and the seeds of respecting ancestors, and being filial to the past and inspiring future generations were gradually planted in his young heart.

In fact, the most lively festival in Liujiazhuang is not the Spring Festival, but the Lantern Festival.

Only after the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month can the Chinese New Year in Liujiazhuang be considered truly over.

Since it is the Lantern Festival, it is different from other festivals. In addition to eating, you must also have fun, which feels a bit like a carnival.

In the past, from the 13th to the 17th day of the first lunar month, the people in Liujiazhuang area would entertain themselves for five days and nights.

The main activities during these five days and five nights are: eating Yuanxiao, playing with lanterns, guessing lantern riddles, playing with dragon lanterns, lion dancing, touching door nails, and walking away diseases.

Speaking of the Lantern Festival, Liu Jingzhai told Zhong Xiaowei and Liu Kun the stories of his childhood Lantern Festival.

Nowadays, when you mention the Lantern Festival, you must think of eating Yuanxiao first.

But for a period of time, the older generation of Yanjing people did not dare to call Yuanxiao “Yuanxiao” and could only call it “Tangtuan”.

What is going on here?
It is said that in the early years of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai usurped the fruits of the Xinhai Revolution and became the president.

Yuan Datou felt that the word “Yuanxiao” was not right. Isn’t the homonym of “Yuanxiao” “Yuanxiao”?

So he ordered the people in Yanjing City not to call it “Yuanxiao” anymore, and changed the name of Yuanxiao to Tangyuan, which was popular in the Jiangnan region.

Later, Lao Yuan himself might have felt that it was not a good idea. The “Yuan” in “Tangyuan” is a homophone of “Yuan” in “Tangyuan”. And doesn’t boiling tangyuan require boiling water?
He then ordered that the name be changed to “Tangtuan”. All shops selling Yuanxiao were not allowed to write the word “Yuanxiao” on their doorstep advertisements, but had to change it to “Tangtuan”.

It is said that on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, after Yuan Datou returned home, one of his favorite concubines brought him a bowl of Yuanxiao and said, “Have some Yuanxiao.”

When Yuan Datou heard this, he was so angry that he slapped the concubine twice.

When the name of Yuanxiao was changed, someone even wrote a doggerel to satirize Yuan Datou: “The poem about Yuanzi dates back to the previous dynasty, when it was steamed and boiled, it floated on the water; in the Hongxian era, a ban was issued, forbidding people from shouting Yuanxiao on the streets.”

There is also a folk song that goes: “The President is a true saint. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the hardest to sleep. ‘Big head’ is worth a copper coin, and the Lantern Festival has been replaced by glutinous rice balls. After the Lantern Festival next year, who will call it glutinous rice balls?”

People in the north call it Yuanxiao, while people in the south call it Tangyuan.

The biggest difference is that Yuanxiao is shaken out, while Tangyuan is wrapped.

At first, people called this food “floating dumplings”, and later called it tangyuan or tangtuan. These names are homophonic with “reunion”, which means reunion, symbolizing the reunion of the whole family, harmony and happiness.

In the past, people made glutinous rice balls at home, but now people buy ready-made ones from supermarkets to save trouble.

However, the Liu family still insists on making their own Yuanxiao. The production process of Yuanxiao is quite unique. Usually, the filling is rolled in glutinous rice flour to form a round shape.

The Liu family has made many flavors of Yuanxiao this year, such as the traditional black sesame, hawthorn, and five-nut fillings, as well as the innovative sea buckthorn, blueberry, and low-sugar fillings in recent years.

There are also special flavors of Yuanxiao that you can buy, such as the durian Yuanxiao from Huguo Temple and refined chocolate, and the food is varied.

In addition to eating Yuanxiao, the most lively time in Liujiazhuang is watching lanterns on the 15th day of the first lunar month.

On this day, the most prosperous commercial street in Liujiazhuang’s West District is filled with lanterns, big, small, tall, short, square, round, made of silk gauze, glass, and sheep-horn shapes. Some shops even cast ice lanterns in a unique way.

The patterns painted on the lanterns are also varied, including flowers of the four seasons, funny jokes, and stories of characters from “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, “Water Margin” and “Journey to the West”. If you look carefully at the rows, you might even be able to make out a comic strip!
From the 13th to the 17th day of the first lunar month, the people in Liujiazhuang have fun for five days and nights.

During the Lantern Festival, Liujiazhuang is packed with people, whether they are dignitaries or ordinary people, men or women, old or young, all go out to the streets to watch the lanterns.

It is an old tradition for people in Yanjing to view lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

In the Ming Dynasty, the people of Yanjing held the Lantern Market at the East City Lantern Market on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. On the night of the Lantern Festival, merchants hung various lanterns made of silk gauze, burnt beads, bright horns, wheat straw, and tongcao for people to admire.

However, lights and market are actually two concepts: lights refer to “lights”, which are hung from night to morning; market refers to “market”, which is open from morning to night.

In the Qing Dynasty, lanterns were separated from the market. The market moved to Liulichang, and the location for hanging lanterns was changed to the area around Qianmen and Di’anmen.

At Qianmen, there is a historical legend that Emperor Qianlong would watch the lanterns with his mother, practice filial piety, and have fun with the people on this day.

This year’s Liujiazhuang Lantern Festival is even more lively, with performances like the “fire-burning judge” that had been extinct for decades making a comeback.

“Shaohuopan’er” was also an important viewing item during the Lantern Festival in the old days. Unfortunately, it has disappeared from the capital several decades ago.

Liu Jingzhai introduced to his family that “Pan’er” refers to the judge.

In the past, during the Lantern Festival, many shops in old Yanjing would make a giant clay sculpture of the Judge. Inside was a furnace filled with coal and lit. The Judge would be burned red all over, with flames spewing out of his seven orifices. It was a very beautiful sight and attracted a large number of people to watch.

There is an old City God Temple on the north side of today’s Ping’an Road. The “fire judge” burned there was once the most famous in Yancheng.

The last time the judge was burned in Beijing was forty-five years ago in Beihai Park!

Decades have passed, and many people in Yanjing have forgotten that there was once this popular traditional program in the Lantern Festival.

During the three days from the 13th to the 17th of the first lunar month, a three or four meter high hollow clay statue of “Judge” is placed in the main courtyard of the City God Temple in Liujiazhuang.

The judge wore a black hat with two wings and held a “Black Impermanence” soul-calling tablet with the inscription: “You are here, I am going to catch you!”

A large brick stove was built in the belly, which could hold 200 kilograms of coal.

After the fire was lit, the judge’s whole body was burned red, and fire could be seen spewing out of his ears, mouth, nose, eyes, navel and breasts, which looked very majestic.

It is said that any businessman who donates coal to the firewood will have a prosperous business in the coming year.

Of course, watching lanterns and guessing lantern riddles are inseparable activities during the Lantern Festival.

When housewives in Yanjing had nothing to do, they liked to make up riddles for their children to entertain themselves.

The answers to “Menr” are mostly real objects, which are a little different from lantern riddles.

Most lantern riddles are “word riddles”, which are made based on the shape, meaning and allusions of Chinese characters.

The wording of the riddle should be concise and the answer cannot be derogatory.

In Liujiazhuang, some merchants with great literary talent hold guessing games with prizes at the door of their shops. If passers-by guess correctly, they will receive a prize.

In addition to watching lanterns, the most lively thing about the Lantern Festival in Liujiazhuang is setting off fireworks.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, all the big merchants in Liujiazhuang would post a red paper notice at the door of their shops, which read: “To thank our customers, we will set off fireworks tonight to celebrate the Lantern Festival and enjoy the spring night. We welcome your visit and guidance.”

Often, there are more than a dozen shops competing against each other on a street, and the owners would rather spend more money than show weakness.

It was truly “the sky was covered with silver flowers and the streets were filled with thick smoke of gunpowder.”

In addition to major business families, the wealthy people in Liujiazhuang were not far behind, with countless acts of fireworks, such as cannons lighting lanterns and golden plates falling on the moon.

In addition, during the three days of the Lantern Festival, there are also Lantern Festival activities with singing and dancing in Liujiazhuang.

Every year, there are thousands of people who come to participate in the lantern dance. Each person holds a pole with another pole across it, and a colorful lantern is hung at each end.

The people of Liujiazhuang sang and danced, singing “Taiping Song” and dancing with lanterns as gracefully as dragons. Although there was moonlight, only the lanterns could be seen and no people were visible. They also arranged the words “Long Live Taiping”, fully demonstrating their superb skills and attracting great surprise from foreign tourists.

(End of this chapter)