“记忆的味道”之“家乡的年俗”

成果展示（第四期）

人类小小的舌头上，

分布了一万多个味蕾，

身在异乡，

历经千万种酸甜苦辣后，

却能瞬间识出那一个独特的味道

——家的味道。

时光将家乡的味道

烙在了我们的味蕾上，

随生而生，永不磨灭。

本期“记忆的味道”家乡年俗篇，

让我们跟随2018级本科生侯亦阳，

探寻她的记忆，

一起来看看她讲述的西安年俗吧。

Dumplings

The celebration of Chinese New Year means the continuation of family traditions to me.

Each family celebrates different traditions during Chinese New Year. The variety of such activities and traditions is clearly seen from photos of “New Year‘s Eve Dinner” posted to WeChat Groups. My cousin and her family celebrate New Year’s Eve with a big lunch instead of dinner. This goes with a meal of dumplings (“Jiǎozi”) in the afternoon. When my mother was a child, the family had regular dishes for dinner and only started cooking and eating dumplings when the New Year’s bell rang at midnight. When my father was a child, the family would not have dumplings until the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Lotus roots

In addition to the timing of dumpling eating and that of the big meal, New Year’s Eve recipes also vary from family to family. My aunt’s family, for example, usually have prawn crackers. One of my cousins and his family save preserved eggs for New Year’s Day, which are definitely New Year specialties for them. Another cousin of mine and her family always use whole chicken recipes for their New Year’s Eve Dinner. In my family, we have cold-cooked lotus roots. My grandmother said that lotus roots had holes in them which stood for the eyes of an intelligent person. It brings us good luck by eating lotus roots. Anyway, these traditions are all blessings for the new year.

Dumpling-making

Despite the variety of celebrations among different families, New Year customs in varied parts of northern China bear quite a lot of similarities. Dumpling making, for instance, remains universal. It offers a good chance for the younger members of the family to learn how to make dumplings. My father learned how to make dumplings from his grandmother and my mother from her mother. We have thus two types of dumplings. Dad’s dumplings are all beautifully marked and pleated as if they have been produced on an assembly line, while Mum’s dumplings were small but bulging with meat filling, like a Tang Dynasty beauty. Mum also shapes dumplings into Chinese ingots and wheat ears. I always ask for advice on this and try to learn all my parents’ dumpling-making skills. There will probably be three different types of dumplings at our New Year’s Eve Dinner in the future. It could be me inventing my own style or a new person joining my family……

I want to pass on these family traditions.

Flower buns

西安，或者说长安，是历史书上的常客，但对大多数异乡人来说，熟悉而又陌生。

这是一座北方的城。北方人该有的豪迈，北方饭该有的海碗，它都有。面食是陕西人最为自得的，包饺子算是家常便饭，不过春节须得用更隆重的花馍烘托出节日氛围。

这也是一座现代的城。春节联欢晚会的西安分会场打开了异乡人看西安的窗。张灯结彩不只于城墙，花灯遍布城市的每个角落，装点着春节的红火喜庆。

花馍与花灯，传统而精致，现代又朴实。

无论脚步走多远，

在人的脑海中，

故乡的味道都是如此熟悉。

它就像一个味觉定位系统，

一头锁定了千里之外的异地，

另一头则永远牵绊着

记忆深处的故乡。