Text/Li Zhaoxin
The song of the hometown is centered on the drum. On one side of the big drum, the sound spreads in all directions; the hand drum dances, and the crowd is excited. Although the division of labor is different, the rhythm of the drums is consistent. "Boom-boom-boom-boom, boom-boom- From the Han Dynasty to today, industrious hometown people have stepped on this drum and come step by step. This encouragement is the world-famous Shanghe Drum Song.
In the north of China, the customs of the New Year are much the same. Eating dumplings and setting off firecrackers are the most important traditional customs in this area. As the saying goes, eating dumplings is the New Year. Also, no firecrackers are set off or called The New Year. Why, you ask? Needless to say, the reason for eating dumplings is not only a salute to celebrate the New Year, but also a big move to say goodbye to poverty. The croppers who have had enough of the poor days, no matter how tight their hands are, must also buy a few firecrackers, in order to use the sound to drive away the unhappiness of the year, to drive away this poor and obscure atmosphere, and to pray for a good harvest in the new year. In Shanghe, there is also an unwritten habit: not making a fuss about the song is not counting the New Year. Why? Because here, more than nine hundred villages, small from just walking, old to ninety-nine, men, women and children will run songs. In the sound of drums, people held umbrellas, beat drums, and ran and danced with their hands and feet. And everyone's movements are related to this drum beat, and people express their yearning for the new year to the fullest. After years of research, experts in literature and history have summed up the historical origin of drums and songs, forming several different theories. Some sacrifices say that the song is a folk ritual held to sacrifice ancestors. Some Qingfeng said that after the harvest, people can't help but dance and celebrate the harvest. There is also a saying called prayer, which says that it is for a good harvest in the coming year, praying for the wind and rain to be smooth. No matter which way it is said, it is related to agricultural affairs, and it is people's yearning and expectation for a better life.
Prosperous songs, happy farmers. Running song is a symbol of the grandeur of a village, and there are also rules for not singing. If in the past year, there have been natural disasters and man-made disasters, the harvest is not good, or if a person of high moral standing in the village dies in this year, the village cannot run a song. Watching the neighboring villages run and sing in the wind and fire, but their own villages can't run, there are always people with itchy palms. At this time, there are people in their own homes, picking up drums, walking, comparing, just not making a sound. There are also young people who fidget listen to the drums coming from afar. Simply lift the drum up into the street and knock a few times. As soon as this drum sounds, men, women and children will put down their work, find the sound, and walk out of the house. Groups of three or five people are talking about a common topic: next year, we will also run the song.
Drummers, agitators, encouragement also. Shanghe Drum Song is a must-have cultural feast for the New Year. Spring was greeted by the sound of neat drums. From this point of view, isn't this drum beat the song of welcoming spring? Isn't this dance step the footsteps of spring? As the saying goes, the plan of the year lies in the spring. Isn't this spring gong and drum a mobilization order to boost morale and cohesion? The golden drums are chirping in unison, and the tiger is a dragon. Look at this formation, listen to this rhythm, what kind of difficulties can not be overcome? What other diseases cannot be driven away? Generation after generation of Shanghe people, on this alluvial plain of the Yellow River, greet one year after another, and write one historical chapter after another, which is the unique feeling of the hometown people. Speaking of the Feelings of the Shanghe people for this drum song, there is really a way. Many people hang drums with colored silk in a conspicuous place in the living room, enlarge and frame photos of their own family running songs, and celebrate the New Year's Festival. Take it out and show it. Some people even pass on the roles in the drum songs for several generations, and have become a folk masterpiece passed down from generation to generation.
Just after the Spring Festival, the shops in the county town have not yet opened, and the vehicles walking the streets and alleys to worship the New Year are one after another. But there was a rumbling drum on the middle of the road. It is known that the drumming came from Old Cross Street Square. Yes, the craftsmen who make drums, a busy winter, just look forward to these days! In the square, the golden yellow drum is particularly conspicuous, and the small drum with a diameter of thirty is placed on the ground. Gongs, plucking hammers, everything you need. "Boss, how much is your big drum?" The questioner was a young man. "Boy, we have a price for the big drum of the Shang River, a drum and a gong and two cymbals." Not for making money, just for inheritance. "The lad was busy dividing cigarettes among the drummers present. In the kung fu of this cigarette, everyone knows that this young man is a small boss who returned to his hometown to start a business. He contracted more than 200 acres of land in the village, and he wanted to lead the villagers to realize the real modernization of agriculture.
Spring returns to the earth, and drums are beating. On one side, the golden drum has an indissoluble relationship with spring. This drum tells people: at the beginning of the New Year, everything in Vientiane is renewed. Standing at a new starting point, a new cycle begins. This spring-welcoming gong and drum, this spring-stirring song, inspires us. You listen: "Boom-boom-boom, boom-boom-boom," the deafening drums of war, inspiring people to start a new spring planting and autumn harvest.
Spring drums, golden drums of spring, and those dancers who paint spring are depicting the most beautiful picture of the north gate of this spring city.
(Image from the Internet)
Contemporary EssaysSponsored by the Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Association, the prose bimonthly publishes the works of the members of the Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Association, and welcomes Shandong prose writers to apply to join the Shandong Provincial Prose Association. The Shandong Provincial Prose Literature Association holds various prose activities throughout the year to provide book publishing services for writers. Submission email: [email protected], [email protected]
One Point Number Contemporary Prose