周華誠
在喝彩的習俗里,彩詞都是吉祥如意的佳辭,東家得個歡喜,眾人得個彩頭,之所以能一代又一代數(shù)百年生生不息地流傳,實在是反映了老百姓心中對于美好生活的向往。
2020年1月,“稻之谷”建筑落成,我想到請老曾來喝彩。
老曾,曾令兵,國家級非物質(zhì)文化遺產(chǎn)“常山喝彩歌謠”的傳承人。喝彩歌謠是什么?簡單說,是流傳在常山大地的一種古老的口頭文學樣式,也是一種民俗文化。以前的人結(jié)婚、上梁、祝壽之類的喜事,都有這一種習俗參與其中,而喝彩歌謠,一般通過父子、師徒間口授心傳。
一
最常見的喝彩,是民間上梁,其歷史可以追溯至明萬歷年間,我國僅存的一部民間木工營造專著《魯班經(jīng)匠家鏡》——“匠家鏡”,營造房屋和生活家具的指南——就專門提到了“立木上梁儀式”:
“凡造作立木上梁,候吉日良辰,可立一香案于中亭,設安普庵仙師香火,備列五色線、香花、燈燭、三牲、果酒供養(yǎng)之儀,匠師拜請三界地主、五方宅神、魯班三郎、十極高真,其匠人秤丈竿、黑斗、曲尺,系放香桌米桶上,并巡官羅金安頓,照官符、三煞兇神,打退神殺,居住者永遠吉昌也。”
這是上梁。那么生日祝壽、結(jié)婚大喜,也是要請喝彩師傅亮一亮嗓子的。喝彩師傅那么一亮嗓子,眾人們齊聲應和“好啊”,其聲高亢,此起彼和。這種喝彩的習俗里,彩詞都是吉祥如意的佳辭,東家得個歡喜,眾人得個彩頭,之所以能一代又一代數(shù)百年生生不息地流傳,實在是反映了老百姓心中對于美好生活的向往。(譬如說,老曾口中的“福也”,在書上也常寫作“伏以”,而民間常作“福也”,也并不錯)
喝彩傳到老曾手上,成了可以追溯、流傳有序、有名有姓的第六代傳承人。他個頭一米八,體重一百八,身寬體胖,一笑就是彌勒之相。曾令兵以前熱衷于收藏小人書,20年間收藏了4萬多冊,為了給這些藏品安一個家,他還造了一個“半典閣”。初中畢業(yè)時,他跟隨父親學木匠手藝,經(jīng)常聽到父親的上梁喝彩聲。那時農(nóng)村造房上梁,都要有人喝彩,喝彩聲一起,十分熱鬧——曾令兵就記得父親每回上梁喝彩:
“開地開場,日月同光;今日黃道,魯班上梁——”
耳濡目染之間,曾令兵也學會了喝彩。到他21歲時,父親把自己多年積累的手抄的喝彩詞本鄭重地傳給了他。曾令兵如獲至寶,一有空就琢磨、整理,并增添了許多有時代特色的詞句,使得彩詞內(nèi)容更為生動鮮活、生機勃勃。
二
“稻之谷”的想法,緣起于2014年“父親的水稻田”。自從老家種田始,一雨一晴春,一種一收秋,不知不覺幾年過去,這一文創(chuàng)活動的內(nèi)涵,早已超越最初的想法。它是當下我們對于理想生活方式的探尋。而“稻之谷”作為建筑作品,既是物理意義上的承載空間,也是精神意義上的構建空間。
這些年來,我們與稻友一起,既在大地上耕種勞作,也在紙上用文字創(chuàng)作,種了糧食,也出了不少書。按我不完全統(tǒng)計,稻友們除出版了4部合著《每一個簡靜的日子都是良辰》《這是我想過的日子》《各自去修行》《唯食物可慰藉》,還有不少稻友也出版了自己的書,如許麗虹、梁慧著《吉光片羽:〈紅樓夢〉中的珠玉之美》《古珠之美》,禾子著《借個院子過生活》,何婉玲著《山野的日?!?,何越峰著《不器:我只是個生活家》,章衣萍著《水下三千米》,鄭國芬著《四時花朵作陪》,沈春兒著《菜花螺螄過老酒》,韓月牙著《一切幸福,不過恰好》,肖于著《都是好時光》,宛小諾著《高黎貢山下雪了嗎》……不統(tǒng)計不知道,一統(tǒng)計確實也很壯觀了!
當然,除了文學樣式,“稻之谷”還收藏其他各個藝術門類的作品。譬如“稻之谷”建筑本身,由中國美術學院出身的著名青年建筑師趙統(tǒng)光先生擔綱設計,取法自然,融合傳統(tǒng)與現(xiàn)代,數(shù)易其稿而完成。這樣一座現(xiàn)代建筑,融合了中國傳統(tǒng)的天井與谷倉概念,注重人與空間、自然三者之間和諧流動的關系。建筑與天空、叢林、山野你中有我。我中有你,生活在建筑中,亦是生活在天地自然之間。
“稻之谷”的內(nèi)裝設計,則由同樣為國美出身的青年設計師龔孜蔚先生擔綱,施工則由常山半典閣團隊完成。空間本身,即是作品,可參泉壑,可悟山林?!暗局取庇质詹亓吮姸啻罂嬜髌?,包括吳紅霞的美術作品《盛年》系列,敘利亞詩人阿多尼斯的作品《一朵云》。阿多尼斯曾說,“一切都是詩歌,畫和詩的區(qū)別不過是所用的材料”。而在我看來,一切也都是寫作,種田、畫畫、看云都是;插秧割稻,俯身起身,亦是在表達個體與這個世界的關系。
三
2017年的秋天,“父親的水稻田”稻谷成熟,開鐮在即。為了讓外地來的朋友領略一下“喝彩歌謠”的魅力,那次我特意把老曾請到了稻田中間。
老曾大肚圓臉光頭,渾身都是喜福之相。他托一個酒壺,站在金黃的稻田里,亮開喉嚨喊一聲:“?!病?/p>
這一聲中氣真足,在天地之間響起,震得空氣嗡嗡作響,震得稻穗顫顫巍巍。
但見老曾立于稻田之間,豐收的稻浪在他面前搖擺,他大手一揮,連續(xù)三聲喝道:“福也——”
眾人應和:“好啊——”
這一嗓子的吆喝,是喝彩的“起”,喝彩師傅要把這一聲彩頭傳遞給稻谷、麻雀、山川、溪流,傳遞給高處的神明,傳遞給所有辛苦勞作一年的農(nóng)人。
接下來,一連串的詞匯,是一首獻給土地、獻給糧食的最樸素的贊美詩:
稻谷兩頭尖,
天天在嘴邊,
粒粒吞下肚,
抵過活神仙……
那些詞句,都是老曾自己整理和編寫的。他每高聲吆喝一句,眾人都會齊聲應和一句“好啊——”這洪亮的聲音,齊整整地綻放在田野之間,也響徹天地之間,令人回腸蕩氣。在老曾幾十年無數(shù)次的喝彩經(jīng)歷里,這樣為稻禾收獲所作的喝彩倒是第一次,但對他來說,面向低沉稻穗的喝彩,跟面向鄉(xiāng)里鄉(xiāng)親的喝彩一樣素樸,一樣動情。老曾繼續(xù)喝道:“福也——”
“好啊——”
“正月燈,二月箏,三月蛤蟆嘰噶叫,四月放牛孩子扮鬼叫;當月平平過,五月有麥磨,六月吃吃苦,七月?lián)螖喽?,八月砍砍柴,九月打打牌,十月算一算,十一月有戲看,日子過得好像吃了蜜一樣……”
這是常山本地流傳的“十二月謠”,我在當?shù)匚氖焚Y料中查閱到了。當然,四鄉(xiāng)八里之間版本略有不同,我在《一飯一世界》里記錄過:“正月陪陪客,二月鏟鏟麥,三月平平過,四月苦一苦,五月拉麥馃,六月餓腹肚,七月出新谷,八月有戲瞅……”(見1989年5月編《常山縣風俗志》)
老曾一口氣把“十二月謠”誦完,眾人齊聲叫好。然后他一仰脖,縱飲壺中美酒?;趾甑臍鈭觯实暮炔试~,激起稻友們的熱烈掌聲。田野之間,喜慶祥和。其實,這樣的豐收喝彩場景,在常山的田野里也是第一次,既是對于水稻文化的傳播,也是對于喝彩這一優(yōu)秀傳統(tǒng)民俗文化的傳播。三四十位稻友,還有那些在稻田里像風一樣奔跑嬉戲的孩子們,這會兒齊齊站在沉甸甸的稻穗前留影,所有人臉上掛著笑。這會兒,大家一起領受了土地賜予的美好。
現(xiàn)在,“稻之谷”落成,我又想到了老曾和他的喝彩。喝彩是聲音的藝術,也是在當?shù)孛耖g的文化藝術。老曾的喝彩歌謠,也成為“稻之谷”記憶的一部分。
老曾喝彩道:
福也——
天地開張,日吉時良。
我問此梁生在何處?長在何方?
生在昆侖山上,長在臥龍山岡。
大樹長了數(shù)千年如對,
小樹長了數(shù)千年成雙。
八洞神仙從此過,
眼觀此木深丈長,
特請東家做主梁,
有請魯班下天堂。
此梁此梁,不同尋常,
棟梁上屋,穩(wěn)穩(wěn)當當,
紅星高照,金碧輝煌,
合家吉慶,人丁興旺……
一聲“福也”,一聲“好啊”,回蕩在“稻之谷”,也回蕩在山野之間。老曾身著傳統(tǒng)服裝,手拿五尺桿,彩詞滔滔,雄風浩蕩,贏得滿堂喝彩。
儀式結(jié)束后,老曾又把木匠的吉祥之物“五尺桿”贈送與我。這一件傳統(tǒng)工匠文化的象征器物,也將被“稻之谷”長久收藏。
In January 2020, I invited Old Zeng over to sing a chant at the unveiling ceremony of the Rice House. Old Zeng is Zeng Lingbing, the designated master of Folk Ceremony Chants of Changshan, a national intangible cultural heritage. He is the sixth-generation master of the tradition in Changshan, a rural country in the southwest of Zhejiang. Though the tradition could go farther back in history, the chanters from the Zeng family are all scholars can trace now. Other chanters, if any, were lost in history.
Old Zeng is a strong and tall man. He smiles like a Buddha. He has a passion for pictorials. He boasts a collection of 40,000 built up over a period of 20 years and stored in a library he built exclusively for the collection. After his graduation from middle school, he worked as a carpenter under the guidance of his father and learned folk ceremony chants from his father. In rural Zhejiang, a ceremony is usually held when a house under construction comes to setting roof beams in place. In Changshan, part of the ceremony is dedicated to a ballad chant. His father used to be leader of the chanting chorus. When he was 21, his father gave him a notebook which contained a complete range of chants his father personally copied which respond to various folk ceremonies. The junior learned these chants by heart. Moreover, he has improved some chants and expanded the repertoire with some new chants he has created.
It wasnt the first time I invited Old Zeng over to sing a chant. In 2017, he came over to sing a chant before we harvested the crop from My Fathers Rice Paddy, a program my father and I started in 2017, made possible by an online crowdfunding. Standing among the crop, he sang loud and clear, we sang a simple refrain in response at the end of each sentence. Over the last decades, he had performed chanting on various occasions, but it was the first time he performed at a rice harvest ceremony. After a brief overture with us as a chorus, he performed a solo chant he had created for this ceremony and then he sang , a popular folk ballad in Changshan. About 40 friends of the program witnessed the ceremony. They were happy. We took a group photo by the rice paddy. It was a memorable day.
The idea of Rice House germinated with My Fathers Rice Paddy in 2014. The program is a success. The house is a space to further the program and entertain the friends of the program from all over the country. These friends have visited the rice paddy at seedling planting in spring and harvesting in autumn. They have closely followed my online coverage of the program progress over years. Among these friends are essayists and poets and novelists. Many of them have published new books since they joined the program. Some of them got inspiration from the program.
The designer of Rice House is Zhao Tongguang, a young architect and graduate from China Academy of Art. The structure presents some elements of the traditional Chinese architecture such as a patio and a traditional granary. The interior design was provided by Gong Ziwei, also a graduate of China Academy of Art. The construction work was done by a team from a business of Old Zeng.