The Spring Festival Customs of Hankou in Zhuzhi Lyrics

By Sha Yue

The Spring Festival Customs of Hankou in Zhuzhi Lyrics

By Sha Yue

Folk customs are the best embodiment of the daily living wisdom of local residents. Spring Festival is a good occasion in which local customs bring themselves into full display.During the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic era, Hankou was a splendid stage in which the local customs as family reunion banquets,appreciating traditional operas in Yiyuan and Laopu Theatre, seeing movies in public parks, enjoying the street performance of lotus gathering boats, playing mahjong with friends, having western meals,cleaning themselve up in a bath house etc., were displayed in a row, which inspired some amateur Zhuzhi poets.

Wen Chaobo, a Zhuzhi poet, once described “Visiting your neighbor’s home at Spring Festival time, a cup of warm tea is served as a welcome sign.For it takes time to make the wine hot,the glutinous rice buns are offered to the guests a lot.” What he recorded was how local people in Hankou served the guests at Spring Festival time. When a guest entered your house, a cup of tea is served firstly,then a gathering dinner party is held;Normally the first dish is the glutinous rice bun, also called glutinous rice cake, which was inviting and also had the function of beautifying oneself according to local custom. However,it could not be overeaten for it could easily make one full up. If so, you had no chance of eating more delicious dishes on the table.

民俗，是一方百姓的生存智慧。新年，又是地方民俗表現(xiàn)最充分的時(shí)候。清末民初時(shí)期，每到春節(jié)，漢口猶如民俗展示的大舞臺(tái)，團(tuán)年宴，怡園看戲，老圃看戲，公園影院觀影，沿街看采蓮船，搓麻將，吃西餐，泡澡堂等民俗競相上演，也成為一些民間竹枝詞愛好者靈感的來源。

一位叫文超伯的詩人寫道：“拜了張家又李家，進(jìn)門就是一杯茶。怕因酒熱須時(shí)刻，敬客先呈糯米粑?！彼涗浀氖菨h口接待拜年客人的習(xí)俗。先進(jìn)茶，再開宴；開宴第一道菜肴是“糯米粑”，所謂“糯米粑”，就是糍粑。此物美顏養(yǎng)眼，不過只能少吃，因?yàn)轸亵蜗露?，就?huì)驟然產(chǎn)生飽感。宴席上有再好的菜肴，也只能做看客了。

這位文超伯，目光銳利，尤其擅長觀察。如寫道上問年的寒暄，他寫道：“道途不辨是何人，此禮由來認(rèn)得真。非比尋常輕點(diǎn)首，相逢總要一躬身?！蹦觋P(guān)中，道上相遇，都要互致大禮，要“躬身”行禮問年。瞧，漢口人的文明素養(yǎng)早已有之，是有文學(xué)作品作證的。

“惟有兒童喜過年，腰中壓歲幾多錢。買來鬼臉相群戲，或舞刀槍或舞鞭。”漢口的小孩子，自小生活在一個(gè)時(shí)代變革前沿，他們自小就可以在自然山水中群相游戲，這一點(diǎn)，在道光年間的葉調(diào)元的竹枝詞中也可以頻頻看到生動(dòng)而溫暖的記載。

文伯超更感興趣的是，孩子們的壓歲錢如何處理？漢口的孩子很幸福，可以自己做主的。你看，可以去買自己喜歡“鬼臉”，還可以買刀槍買竹鞭，玩打仗游戲。不像現(xiàn)在，好多家庭的小孩，壓歲錢的紅包一到手，就秒塞到了父母口袋里。估計(jì)，漢口的孩子是特別希望這個(gè)習(xí)俗能夠被父母們傳承下來的。

等拜年人一進(jìn)門，就要敬上一杯茶。那么拜年的人如何進(jìn)門呢？民國初年，民間詩人羅懋其寫道：“盈盈三五當(dāng)街立，尋得門牌說笑前。拔下玉釵輕叩啟，一聲爆竹賀新年?！?/p>

這首詩里的習(xí)俗，現(xiàn)在早就沒有影了。請看這一群群的拜年客，是如何做的。先要認(rèn)門牌，而后由女客上前，“拔下玉釵”，還要輕輕地“叩”門，讓主家歡心適意地開門，來迎接一群群笑臉客。門開了，拜年客的男人們就會(huì)點(diǎn)燃一掛鞭炮，給主家?guī)砟甑南矐c和祝福。

Wen Chaobo was apt at the observation. For example, when asked how to greet each other in the street at Spring Festival time,he wrote, “Meeting the strangers in the street one after another, it is better to say hello to each other;Normally you greet someone just by nodding, but at Spring Festival time you’d better acquaint by bowing.”At Spring Festival time, locals in Hankou made a salution to each other with a polite bow to send the best new year’s wishes when coming across acquaintances. It is evident that Hankou residents are polite and courteous for ages, which can be found in some literature and classic works.

For example, “Only children are fond of the Spring Festival in anticipation, for their pocket money can be used for celebration; Wearing ghost masks to amuse each other, or playing a game of sword and whip to frighten one another.” This Zhuzhi poem best described how the kids in Hankou played during Daoguang period in Qing Dynasty, either played in the era of transformation or in the harmonious nature.

What interested Wen Chaobo more was how the children dealt with their lucky money. In fact, children living in Hankou were particularly fortunate, because they were able to use their lucky money on their own.They could buy ghost masks that they longed for; they could also buy swords and whips to play the game of soldiers. Unlike us now in many families, once given lucky money,they have to hand in to their parents.

Presumably, children in Hankou heartily hope their parents will stick to the tradition.

A cup of tea should be served to those who visit your family to send new year’s greetings. Then, how did they enter a house? Luo Maoqi, a folk poet, wrote, “People on the street in dribs and drabs standing, chatting with pleasure the door number finding; taking off jade hairpin to knock the door softly, suddenly a sound of firecrackers marks the new year’s coming loudly.”

The customs revealed in this poem have already disappeared. However we could still find how the locals practised it at Spring Festival time. To start with, locating the door number,then female guests walked forward,taking off the jade hairpin to knock the door gently, then, the host opened the door and welcomed the smiling guests. With the door open, malevisitors would set off firecrackers,indicating to bring happiness and blessings to the family.

This poem was written in a rather warm tone, creating an atmosphere of scenes of animation that could be nearly heard. At the beginning of the poem, the poet penned a reduplicated word “Yingying” which meant “l(fā)impid and graceful manners” in a dictionary.It also had connatations of glorious appearance, decent behaviors,delightful expressions and happy moods. Imagine yourself standing in the street accompanied by a group of female beauties on the street looking around in such graceful nanners. How delightful it is!

In 1992, Luo Maoqi also described how lottery ticket buyers celebrated the spring festival. “Hundreds of businesses were closed for the Spring Festival, while lottery ticket company operated all alone. It is quite natural to aspire power and wealth, yet it in turn undermine the social customs and buyers’ health.” The lottery ticket company could never close the door with so crazy lottery buyers. It was said that only lottery ticket company opened up during the Spring Festival.And their business were booming. In the period of the Republic of China,playing the lottery became one of spectacular customs of Hankou urban life.

（Excerpted from the Author’s Blog）

這首詩寫得格外溫馨的，除了一個(gè)個(gè)聽得見聲音的動(dòng)畫般的場景以外，還有一個(gè)氛圍。作者開頭用了“盈盈”這個(gè)疊詞。詞典中解釋：“盈盈，形容清澈?！笨梢砸隇槌溆?，用以形容美好的儀態(tài)，快樂的神情，美好的情緒。你想想，當(dāng)街一群群拜年客，都是這樣“盈盈”地左右顧盼，年間的當(dāng)街，是多么令人神往?。?/p>

1922年，羅懋其還注意到另一群人的過年?duì)顟B(tài)?！靶履臧贅I(yè)皆停歇，獎(jiǎng)券公司獨(dú)照常。自是人爭貪萬利，豈知民俗自茲傷?！笔且蝗籂幭瓤趾蟑偪裢娌势钡娜?。有了這樣一群癡迷彩票的擁躉，獎(jiǎng)券公司怎么能關(guān)門呢？據(jù)說，每進(jìn)年關(guān)，只有彩票公司開門樂歲，異常熱鬧。民國時(shí)期，漢口年俗還有這個(gè)玩彩票的洋洋大觀哦。

（摘自作者博客）

Note

Zhuzhi Lyric is one form of China’s folk songs. In Daoguang period of Qing Dynasty, a group of poets represented by Ye Diaoyuan composed plenty of Zhuzhi Lyrics to describe Hankou’s local urban life, which were popular at that time, earning Hankou Zhuzhi Lyric a good reputation and finally listed itself in the ranks of one of four major Chinese Zhuzhi Lyric genres. At the beginning of the Republic of China, many poets as Luo Han carried on the tradition of Zhuzhi Lyric composition. Hence, their works are witnesses to the rare cultural

legacy and social development for later generations.

注

竹枝詞是中國的一種民歌形式。清道光年間，以葉調(diào)元為代表的一批文人創(chuàng)作了大量描寫漢口社會(huì)及市井日常生活的竹枝詞，在民間廣為傳播，使得漢口竹枝詞一舉揚(yáng)名，躋身中華四大竹枝詞之列。民國初期，羅漢等將漢口竹枝詞的創(chuàng)作進(jìn)一步發(fā)揚(yáng)光大。前人的創(chuàng)作為后世留下了珍貴的文化遺產(chǎn)及鮮活的社會(huì)發(fā)展研究史料。

竹枝詞中的民國漢口年俗

文|沙月