City people don't celebrate Dragon Boat Festival very much.
On January 2, 2021, invited by Gaoyou's agriculture, culture, and tourism, a lecture was given to all employees on "Why Wang Zengqi".
The atmosphere of the lunar festivals in the city is always much lighter than in the countryside. This"lightness" is the forgetting of the agricultural civilization by the urban civilization, and also the estrangement between people. Everyone is willing to go home to their hometown to celebrate the New Year during the Spring Festival because the atmosphere of the New Year there is stronger than in the city, the connection between people is tight, and a big family gathers together to have the shape of the New Year.
On the morning of May 21, 2021, the work discussion meeting of Wang Gan's new book "The World of Dust and Heaven: twelve lectures on Wang Zengqi" was successfully held at the Wang Zengqi Memorial Hall.
The Dragon Boat Festival is not a must-celebrate holiday, but the atmosphere of Dragon Boat Festival is still strong in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Mr. Wang Zengqi wrote in "The Duck Eggs of Dragon Boat Festival" that the folk customs are basically still circulating. In Beijing, besides seeing zongzi being sold in food stores during Dragon Boat Festival, it is difficult to remember that there is such a festival. One year before the Dragon Boat Festival, my wife saw a lush growth of mugwort by the side of the road at Honglu Lake in Huaiyuan, and excitedly picked three or five plants to hang on the doorframe at home, which is a custom in her hometown to hang mugwort on the door during the Dragon Boat Festival. Until winter, the mugwort dried up, but it still hung there, like a rusted oil silk of a clock guarding the years.
October 26, 2024, Wang Gan attended the "Home with Six Flavors, Lights and Lights" - Sharing Meeting of Mr. Wang Lang's New Book "Six Flavors Collection"
The most impressive Dragon Boat Festival in Beijing was the one celebrated at Mr. Wang Zengqi's home.
Dragon Boat Festival in 1988, it was a Sunday. In the morning of that day, I took the 43 bus to Wang Zengqi's home in Puhuangyu. That year, I often had the words "Written in 43 Hotel" at the end of my articles. Once, a friend in Nanjing asked me, "Are you staying in a confidential hotel with a code name?" I said no, this is the 43 bus stop here, so it's called 43 Hotel. At that time43 bus's starting point was Unity Lake and the end point was Liujiayao, and the previous stop of Liujiayao was Puhuangyu. And Mr. Wang Zengqi's home was right there in Puhuangyu. At that time, I was seconded to the 《Literary Art Newspaper》 to work. Every weekend, I always had the opportunity to visit Mr. Wang and his wife. A big reason was43 bus provided great convenience. The traffic in Beijing was very crowded at that time. During the peak hours, it could be said to be "impenetrable", and it was also very crowded on weekdays. Going out was a choice that had to be made carefully. Now it says "unless necessary, do not go out". At that time, if it was not going to or from work, it was generally afraid to go out. Of course, I was willing to go to Mr. Wang's house to visit, not only to eat delicious food but also to listen to his teachings. The best thing in the world is nothing more than this. However, if the journey to go there was very tiring, I would not go so frequently. The starting point of the 43 bus is at Unity Lake, and I can always have a seat every time I get on the bus, and I also have a seat most of the time when I come back. For a person who takes the bus, having a seat is a blessing that is too happy. This is also one of the reasons why I went to Mr. Wang's house without fatigue.
43The No. 43 bus swayed all the way to Puhangyu, where I got off, and then to the New China News Agency dormitory, and then to the12 floor by elevator. Knocking on the door, Mr. Wang and his wife were already waiting. As soon as I sat down, Mr. Wang seemed to remember something, and said that today is the Dragon Boat Festival, and in his hometown, they eat"Five Red", I will make "Five Red". He got up to busy himself with lunch in the kitchen. At first, I was a little embarrassed, and also got up to help, but Mrs. Wang, Teacher Shi Songqing, held me back and said that he has always been like this, and he likes to cook. He can't get used to the vegetables bought by others or picked by others. Mr. Wang also said in his article that cooking has to start with buying vegetables, and that is a complete conception.
Teacher Shi Songqing is a returned overseas Chinese from Indonesia. After returning to the country, she studied English at the Southwest Associated University (Mr. Wang studied Chinese). She knew very little about the customs and habits of the domestic people. She asked me with great interest why people in Gaoyao eat"Five Red"? I said that the five dishes must all be red in color. It is said that this is to avoid evil spirits. The custom of eating"Five Red" mainly originates from the traditional folk custom of driving away evil spirits and poisons.Folklore says that May is"poisonous month". During the Dragon Boat Festival, snakes, centipedes, scorpions, lizards, spiders and other "five poisons" are active. Red, in traditional culture, symbolizes yang and auspiciousness, and can deter poisons. Eating five kinds of red food, such as salted duck eggs, amaranth, river shrimp, red carrots, eels, etc., implies using "Five Red" to overcome "Five Poisons". People in Gaoyao eat "Five Red" to drive away five poisons, prevent five poisons, and overcome five poisons.The "Five Red" food is adapted to local conditions. Every family may not be the same. Take what is available locally and convenient.
We talked while Mr. Wang was in the kitchen"creating", and in a short while the "work" was completed, and several dishes were placed on the table. Teacher Shi Songqing counted earnestly like a child, red radish, the red date zongzi brought by the Hebei female writer a few days ago, salted duck egg, braised pork, she counted over and over again, only four reds, and said, old man, there is still one red missing. Mr. Wang had a flash of inspiration, and he took out the tea eggs he had made the day before, and said, here, it was prepared yesterday, the fifth red. We all laughed.
Mr. Wang opened a bottle of Shaoxing Jiafan wine and said that now there are six reds, and the refined households in Gaoyou make twelve reds. Teacher Shi Songqing told me that this bottle of yellow wine was delivered to him a few days ago by Lin Jinlan, and the two of them, old wine lovers, always think of each other when it comes to good food and drink.
Mr. Wang took a sip of yellow wine and said to me, this代替realgar wine, I also took a sip, the taste is mellow and rich. He asked me, are the customs of the Dragon Boat Festival in your hometown still strong? I said, the city mainly eats"Five Red" and "Twelve Red", the countryside still treats the Dragon Boat Festival as a "festival", most families still hang Artemisia argyi in front of the door to exorcise evil spirits, and children still hang egg necklaces to go to school. The children of wealthy families have two eggs, one egg and one duck egg, but it seems that no one plays the game of using duck eggs with green shells to catch fireflies when you were a child.
Then, I seriously asked Mr. Wang a question, in your "Egg of the Dragon Boat Festival", you wrote about eating Gaoyou duck eggs, choosing the hollow ones, and when you stick a chopstick in, "Zhi - red oil comes out", is this "zhi" a imagination or a realistic description? Mr. Wang took another sip of yellow wine and smiled without answering.I suddenly understood, how could I ask such a stupid question, I remember when "Food of the Past" ( "Egg of the Dragon Boat Festival" is one of its chapters) was just published in "Yuhua", I wrote a review "Beautiful Dream, Sentimental Poem, Cultural Painting". Poetry is not to be interpreted, dreams are not to be interpreted, paintings are not to be interpreted. Later, in the lyrics of "Deep in Love to Gaoyou", I used Mr. Wang's artistic conception: "The egg of the dragon boat festival is imported with a hiss""
The duck eggs at the dinner table were cut open, and Mr. Wang said that the duck eggs from the north could not compare with those from Gaoyou, as they were not oily and the albumen was not as moist as those from Gaoyou.
No words.
Mr. Wang misses his hometown, and so do I.
Opening on May 18, 2020, with the inscription "Wang Bai Nian" at the Wang Zeng Qi Memorial Hall.
I broke the silence and said, next time I go back to Gaoyou, I'll bring some salted duck eggs. Mr. Wang said that salted duck eggs have a short shelf life, and they become salty and taste worse if they are left for too long, so there was no need to bring them. He also said: You have to go to Gaoyou to eat salted duck eggs.
Go to Gaoyou.
2025 year 4 month 6 day in Nanjing Yuanqi Art Hotel
