Original Wu Fengxiang
The Eight Immortals Table is one of the longest traditional Chinese furniture, the history can be traced back to at least the time of the Yu family, when it was called the Yu, mostly used for sacrifices, the name of the case only appeared in the late Zhou Dynasty, the Song Dynasty Gao Cheng compiled the "Origin of Things": "There are three generations of Yu and there is no case, the Warring States period has its name. "Song Renchao's "Eight Immortals Case Inscription" has a song of "Donggao Songju Hall, Drinking the Eight Immortals Case". The name of the table was only produced in the Five Dynasties, and it prevailed in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The length of the four sides of the table is equal, two people can sit on each side, and eight people sit around the four sides, just like the eight immortals, so it is called the "eight immortal table". Its shape is square, the knot is firm, the mortise and tenon joint is rigorous, the shape is concise, and there are only four parts of the tabletop, the table leg, the tooth plate and the horizontal fang, which constitute a table of eight immortals that does not move.
According to the principle of "human-machine system engineering", the height of the Eight Immortals Table is about 1.2 meters, the side length is about 1.5 meters, and the shape is square and the knot is firm. Like a great Confucian, stable and peaceful, cordial and atmospheric. People sit on stools and face the table of the eight immortals, whether they are eating, meeting friends, or reading, they all give people a sense of stability and comfort. The Eight Immortals Table is mostly made of high-quality wood such as beech, cypress, and even mahogany, and the surrounding of the table is also carved with auspicious woodcut patterns, and colored with red lacquer, meaning "red and hot" and "auspicious". The Eight Immortals Table is often placed in the center of the central axis of the hall (stove) room, and together with the four long wooden benches placed around it, it forms the most lively home "activity center" of a family.
For as long as I can remember, my Eight Immortals table, like most people, is a log color, simple in structure, square in shape, peaceful and solemn, not only strong and firm, but also easy to move. My family lives at the foot of Nanshiqiao East in Pakpu Town, with two north-south houses, located on the banks of the Baipu Yunyan River, with a living room, kitchen and barber shop, and the door of the shop faces east, across the narrow street, towards the former Bakpu Middle School girls' dormitory. Every morning, after getting up, the first thing my mother did was to take a rag and wipe the table of the eight immortals seriously, and then clean the house, and move the table from the center of the house to the stove at the foot of the west wall with my father.
The years of living with the Eight Immortals Table were very hard, and the three meals a day at that time were all from the meager income from the hard work of the hands of the parents who helped customers with haircuts. Throughout the year, green vegetables, radish, and pickles, along with grits porridge and white rice, have become the protagonists of the Eight Immortals Table. In order to improve the life of the family in a certain season, the mother will also change her tricks to make all kinds of delicious food on this small stage. Rolling noodles, wrapping wontons, and steaming cakes to make cakes are all inseparable from the support of the Eight Immortals table. However, it is only in the evening that the guests have dispersed, and the barber table and the hair ends on the ground have been cleaned, and there is space, so that the table of the eight immortals in the corner of the wall can be moved to the center of the house. In the lunar month, other people's families are busy with the New Year, and my family is busy with business. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the white and fluffy dough on the table, in the skillful hands of parents, after kneading, kneading, twisting, and kneading, gradually evolved into different forms of New Year's "dim sum".
As a traditional piece of furniture, the Eight Immortals Table best reflects the etiquette rules that the Chinese people pay attention to. The placement of the Eight Immortals Table should follow the principles of "sitting in the north and facing south", "still respecting the east" and "façade positioning". In general, the table should be facing the south-facing doorway, and the position directly facing the doorway is historically positioned as the upper seat, and the two sides are the side seats. "Shang" is a symbol of power and status in people's minds, and "Shangzai" can generally only be seated by the elderly or powerful and powerful people, and others can only be seated after they have been seated. It can be seen that the idea of order between the young and the young is also deeply rooted in the ideological world of the Chinese.
In the fifties and sixties of the last century, when "more people are stronger", my mother was pregnant with nine births and seven children, and my parents and grandmother ate ten people in my family. After the death of my elderly grandmother and young sister Fenghui, there was a table of people at my house eating. According to the principle of "façade positioning", my family's Eight Immortals Table "sits in the west and faces east", following the rules of "Shangzuo Zundong", my parents sit in the north and face south, and my youngest sits in the west and faces east, just to see the pedestrians coming and going on the street in front of the store. Every time I eat, I like to eat in my mouth, and my eyes keep looking out, for fear of missing the "news" on the street, and I am often scolded by my parents: "I can't fix my mind when I eat." ”
The table of eight immortals means both rules and reunion. On weekdays, it is the main hall furniture, but my family moves to the stove at the foot of the west wall every morning because of the haircut, and both family members and customers can sit and sit casually, without too much attention. But once you want to entertain relatives and friends, eat Chinese New Year's Eve dinner, or "worship" the ancestors during the New Year's Festival, there are still many rules. For example, when an elder or an elderly person comes to the house, the parents invite them to sit in the upper seat, and they accompany them to sit down. In the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, the whole family, men, women and children sit around the table of the eight immortals to eat a reunion dinner, which is also an eternal rule.
Every year on specific days such as Qingming, the seventh half of July, the winter solstice, the New Year, or the birthday and death day of the ancestors, my family will hold corresponding ceremonies to pay tribute to the ancestors in a pious manner. At this time, the Eight Immortals Table became a place for the ancestors, but according to custom, the table top gap must be rotated 90 degrees, indicating that the Eight Immortals Table at this time is used by the people of the underworld. On three sides of the table of eight immortals, six pairs of dishes and chopsticks, wine cups, and three benches are placed. Even on the poorest days, if you try your best, you should at least have "two meat and two vegetarians" on the table, that is, braised pork, braised (bream) fish, tofu, and shutters (or dried tea), of which bean food is indispensable. Incense burners and burning candles are placed at the table directly in front of the ancestral statue or ancestral plaque.
Before the sacrifice begins, the father (the person with the highest rank in the family) asks the "door god" to go away, let the ancestors enter the house and sit at the table of the eight immortals, pour some white pu yellow wine in the wine cup, and fill a full bowl of rice to the ancestors, and the family from the eldest sister and eldest brother to me (from the eldest to the youngest) kneel in front of the table of the eight immortals in an orderly manner to kowtow to the ancestors, burn three incense sticks in the incense burner on the table, and silently make a wish. The mother (hostess) also has to keep reciting words and saying things like asking for the forgiveness and blessing of the ancestors. When a stick of incense is almost burned and the "Jiongyang" activity is coming to an end, we male juniors will go to the door to burn paper money to ensure that the ancestors have abundant pockets and no worries about food and clothing. After the paper money is burned and the smoke clears, remove the candlestick on the table, turn the gap seal on the table outward, move the bench, and after the sacrifice is over, the meal will return to the pot, and then it will be the turn of us Yang people to plump their bellies on the table of the Eight Immortals.
Since ancient times, Chinese marriage has paid attention to "the life of parents, the words of matchmakers", and people and adults, naturally want men to marry women. At that time, it seemed that there was no such thing as falling in love, and the matchmaker pulled the match, and "eight characters and one combination" made a marriage. When I was a teenager, someone from my family proposed to my eldest sister who worked in the Baipu Fertilizer Factory. No matter how poor the family is, the scene still needs to be. The parents were busy for a long time, and they just put together four cool and four hot delicacies on the table of the Eight Immortals, treated each other with tea, drank and fed, and the matchmaker wiped honey in his mouth. When the eldest sister and the second sister got married, they all did it at home, and they invited the chef to take charge of the cooking. At this time, the table of eight immortals, which carries traditional etiquette, has become an indispensable supporting role in the banquet. Make a mark under the borrowed table and stool so that you don't make a mistake when you return it. At that time, it had long been an unwritten rule for people on Pak Po Nan Street to borrow tables for red and white ceremonies, and the neighbors were very happy to share the joys and sorrows of the main family in this way. The arrangement of seats also best reflects the etiquette rules such as respecting the elderly and respecting the virtuous.
In real life, I gradually learned: the Spring Festival, Duanyang, Mid-Autumn Festival and other ancestral worship gods, marriage, full moon, birthday, housewarming and other banquets on the seat of the folk customs, that is, the left is respected, the right is secondary, the upper is respected, the lower is the second, the middle is respected, and the bias is secondary. The son is married, and the uncle's family is the elder; The child is full moon, and the child's mother is the eldest parent; The old man is a birthday star; The bricklayer sits first, the carpenter master sits second, and so on. To be big is to sit in the first place, and we children can't sit on the table.
The Eight Immortals Table also functions as a desk. After school, most of our brothers and sisters squeezed their little heads and watched their homework around the Eight Immortals table. Especially in the evening, the customers who got the haircut dispersed, after cleaning, the table of eight immortals was moved to the middle of the living room, and after dinner, my mother lit a kerosene lamp and placed it in the center of the table of eight immortals, and the light and shadow of the clusters of flames flickered and accompanied us to study.
Throughout the year, the kerosene lamp reflects our hard work, and the Eight Immortals Table has become our learning partner.
In the summer, there was no trace of cool wind in the stuffy house, and the choking mosquito coils were difficult to drive away the swarms of mosquitoes, so my father found a bucket of water, filled with a bucket of well water and put it under the table of the Eight Immortals, so that we could soak our feet in the water, so that we could avoid the heat and cool down, and also prevent mosquito attacks.
In the season when the water is dripping into ice, even if you breathe hot air with your mouth on your numb hands, it is difficult to resist the biting cold, and those hands full of frostbite sometimes find it difficult to hold a pen. In desperation, I could only get on the horse and pour a hot water bottle (salt water bottle) into my hands. Our parents were frugal, and used scrap copper and scrap iron in exchange for a copper stove, from which the unburned firewood rod was picked up from the stove at night, and placed under the table of the Eight Immortals, so that we could take turns to put our feet on it to resist the cold of the soles of our feet.
The eldest sister learned chemical equations under the lamp, which made her an excellent worker in Baipu Fertilizer Factory in the future; The eldest brother practiced hard writing under the lamp, and achieved his life as a people's teacher; I kept a diary under the lamp, which cultivated my lifelong interest in writing; My mother sat on a small stool under the table of the Eight Immortals, and by the faint light, she slowly stretched the six of us brothers and sisters with the soles of her shoes that could never be finished. The joys, sorrows and sorrows of the family are gathered and released here, and the emotions are condensed and sublimated here.
It is said that cupboards, rice cans, and oil pots were the "windows" to explore the wealth and poverty of a family in that era, but in fact, the table of eight immortals that can most directly and transparently reflect the living conditions of small citizens is none other than the Eight Immortals table. Four seasons a year, three meals a day, what is cooked at home, what is eaten, the table of eight immortals is clear at a glance. If this family eats three meals a day all year round, and the food (dishes) on the table is not only varied, but also sufficient in quantity and good quality, then this family must be a wealthy (well-off) family, and perhaps a clever hostess.
Like beds and wardrobes, the table is an indispensable piece of furniture for normal people. After graduating from high school in Baipu, I went to the countryside, became a farmer and then enlisted in the army as a railroad soldier, my mother died during the army, I went home from the army and just joined the work, my father died, and after the death of my parents, my brothers and sisters worked in different places, each "starting anew". When the family was separated, because the two elder brothers got married before me, they inherited the two simple beds in the family, and the brothers politely gave me the only eight-immortal table in the family and the shabby high-cabinet for storing clothes. After I got married, I settled in the Deng Yuan commune behind the factory, and I just built three bungalows with double roofs to save money, but I didn't have the money to buy furniture, whether it was new or old, as long as it was useful. A year later, a small kitchen was built next to the three bungalows, and this time there was one less table, so I bought a new eight-immortal table at the door of my house, and the new one was put in the living room and the old one in the kitchen. Who knows that after two or three years, the new cracks will be deformed, but the parents' inheritance will be intact.
After the reform and opening up, I was laid off to find my own job, to catch up with the temple fair, to do the night market, to break into the market, after poverty alleviation and expand the courtyard, build a building, and then Rugao Economic Development Zone to open up Qingyu West Road, I demolished the compensation after the house bought into the city, after the renovation of the commercial housing in the Dutch town, I bought new furniture, what to do with the old furniture? I even gave all the old-fashioned furniture I made when I got married to my relatives in the countryside. When I invited my brothers and sisters to my new home to play, my second sister asked me, "Where is the Eight Immortals table at home?" "I'm telling you: it's all gone. At this time, the eldest sister and the second sister told me the ins and outs of my family's Eight Immortals Table.
My family originally lived at the foot of the city outside the east gate of the Sanguandian Bridge, and after several generations of efforts, there were seven or eight shops along the street to operate a fish business. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, because someone revealed that my uncle was the New Fourth Army, the Japanese devils set fire to my shop, burned the company camp, and Rugao East Gate Street was reduced to ashes. Overnight, my family went from rich to poor, my grandfather was blind, and my grandmother led the family to flee to the countryside of Baipu Township, 30 kilometers to the southeast. After the liberation, my parents relied on their hairdressing skills to build two rooms by the river in the east of Nanshiqiao in Baipu Town, and two seats were placed in the living room and kitchen for parents to give haircuts to customers. At first, I didn't have the money to buy a table, so I borrowed an idle table of eight immortals from my second aunt (my mother's second sister), who lived a little north of my house, for eating and resting.
As the old saying goes, "There are times when tongues and teeth fight." "The same is true for people getting along with each other, no matter how intimate the relationship, there will inevitably be disagreements and disputes. Once for a trivial matter in life, the sisters quarreled, and the second aunt wanted to go back to her eight-immortal table, and the family had to hold the bowl and squat on the ground to eat. Parents are also strong people, and for a long time, there was no vegetable oil in the pot at home, so they bought a table of eight immortals by mouth. My sisters said to me, "Not to mention that we also have the right to inherit, you have no right to give away your parents' inheritance!" "Listening to my sisters' words, I had mixed feelings and burst into tears, knowing that the table of eight immortals left by my parents was not easy to come by......
Later, I told the story of the Eight Immortals Table to my relatives in the countryside, and I said, "All the other furniture will be given to you, but please leave me the Eight Immortals Table anyway." "Relatives in the countryside are also reasonable, and return the Eight Immortals Table left to me by my parents, I put the Eight Immortals Table in front of the portraits of grandparents, father and mother on the long platform in the garage, and every year on the "four major festivals", especially the Chinese New Year's Eve, I have to go home from Pudong to pay tribute to my ancestors according to the customs and customs of Baipu. The gap between the panels on the table has long since widened, but it is still smooth and has a faint woody scent. Looking at the remains of my ancestors and looking at the Eight Immortals Table, which has been insect-free and corrosion-resistant for nearly a hundred years, I have a surge of thoughts, thousands of thoughts, and thoughts......
"Build a seven-star stove, boil three rivers in a copper kettle, set up a table of eight immortals, and entertain sixteen parties" This song of A Qing's sister-in-law in "Shajiabang" concisely counts the status and function of the eight immortal tables in the traditional family ritual culture for hundreds of years. Time flies, when the round table and the western table gradually replace the Eight Immortals Table to become the mainstream of residents' furniture, the Eight Immortals Table still retains the stories and emotions of time, representing an ancient way of life and values. In my memory, the Eight Immortals Table at home is not only a table for children to have a full meal, but also a school table when I was young, a "heaven and earth" for relatives and friends to gather, and a "paradise" for family members.
More importantly, the Eight Immortals Table made me realize that being a person should be as square as the Eight Immortals Table, and the mind should be moved by the spirit; Benefit is humble, tolerance is great; Do things like the Eight Immortals Table is square, rules and regulations, bright and fair, and down-to-earth!
Author: Wu Fengxiang, male, from Baipu Town, Rugao City, Jiangsu Province, high degree of Chinese, rural knowledgeable youth, enlisted in March 1978, soldier of the 11th Regiment of the 3rd Iron Division. After retiring from the army, he worked in the state-owned Rugao Canned Frozen Vegetable Products General Factory in Jiangsu Province, successively served as the deputy secretary of the Youth League Committee of the factory, and the full-time safety officer of the enterprise management department, and successively published more than 80 articles in newspapers and magazines such as "China Labor Daily", "People's Fire News", "Jiangsu Workers Daily", "Jiangsu Fire Protection", "Jiangsu Labor Protection", "Nantong Daily", "Nantong Fire News" and other newspapers and magazines. After retiring, he published more than 200 works on Xinhuanet, People's Daily Online, Toutiao, Yidian Information, Sohu.com, Tencent.com, Railway Soldiers' Comrades-in-Arms, Pheasant Water Pioneer, Veteran's Original Home, Railway Soldiers, Railway Soldier Culture, Educated Youth Family, Pheasant Water Pioneer, Xixiang Charm, Jianghai Wencui, Ancient Rhyme Baipu and other public accounts, as well as "Rugao Daily", "Railway Soldier Memory Newspaper" and other media, and is now settled in Pudong, Shanghai.
Source: Veteran's original home public account
Braided hair: Iron Sword