I was born and brought up in Hangzhou. Now I am a retiree. Spatially, the city has changed a great deal since I was born. Emotionally, however, it remains unchanged. Hangzhou is the anchor, stage and background of my life, my emotion and my memory. What the Spring Festival brings into my heart remains unchanged. No matter where I am, the festival is all about reunion and excitement and happiness. It is a time when I rearrange my realized and unrealized hopes inside my heart.

As a playwright, I consider the Spring Festival as a drama, as a well decorated backdrop on a theater stage, some poetic lines in a play. Before my retirement, public festivals and holidays were usually my busiest time. I used to pack up things and got ready for the troupe’s road show. I used to travel from city to city, from town to town, and village to village. Stages differ widely. Even though the internet era has been around for a long time, watching an opera performance in a theater has remained as an irreplaceable experience for many a theatergoer. For many rural residents, theatergoing is still a ceremony. Nowadays, such exciting life seems a little bit far away from me. I am no longer a little girl waiting for the Spring Festival to come back and enjoying all the festivities happily. I am now a woman who fusses busily about preparations for the reunion dinner on the last day of the old year and for new garments for the first day of the New Year.

Though I am no longer so engaged in road shows of Zhejiang Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe where I worked for a long time, I still remember what I saw and experienced during these Spring Festival festivities. Zhejiang is a province of prosperity. Villages and towns open their deep pockets and vie each other to see who can stage the biggest show and who can get the biggest star to appear in these shows. In a Spring Festival, I remember, our Yueju opera troupe was scheduled to give a performance in a village on the second evening of the New Year. Stage technicians left for the show on the first day of the New Year. Mao Weitao, the biggest star of Yueju Opera in the province, promised to appear after the show. She was to show up in the village and say “Happy New Year” to residents on the morning of the third day of the New Year. I tagged along. 

We were astonished to see the preparations made for a banquet on a village square. Dinnerware, chickens, ducks and fishes, pork, beef and mutton, and vegetables in various colors, were heaped on a large waterproof blanket placed on the square. For those who primarily see the world through social media, this is a spectacular sight. I was more than astonished. I was also touched, tears welling up in my eyes. It was the real life I suddenly saw face to face. Then it was the third evening of the Spring Festival. Our troupe was staging the second opera play in the village. I wandered to neighboring villages to see what was going on out there. To my excitement and surprise, I saw Shanghai Yueju Opera House, Nanjing Yueju Opera Troupe, Shaoxing Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe, Ningbo Xiaobaihua Yueju Opera Troupe and some folk troupes putting up their respective grand shows. It reminded me of the good old times of the Peking Opera. In the past, some Peking Opera stars gave their shows respectively in Tianjin or Shanghai at the same time. Theatergoers would attend shows staged by the stars they championed.

Traditional Chinese operas have been a key part of the Spring Festival festivities since very ancient times. Some folktales about the Spring Festival explain, in a sense, why the hustle and bustle of the festival is necessary: to scare away the monster and keep safe.

China Central Television (CCTV) started a gala on the eve of the Spring Festival in 1983. It has long since become the biggest Spring Festival celebration for the whole nation and overseas Chinese communities. The Spring Festival customs were inscribed onto the first list of the national intangible cultural heritage by the State Council in 2006. For many people, the Spring Festival is all about happiness and excitement and hope. For me, it is a ceremony. Happiness, excitement, hope in life can’t happen without a ceremony.

        又到了中国农历年辞旧迎新的时节。古今中外，世间仪式千千万，对我们而言，唯春节仪式不可亦无法辜负。春节仪式中哪怕是最不起眼的微小细节，也如此牵动我们心灵深处的缕缕情丝。

        无需问“我”在哪里过年，过年就要以大团聚、大热闹、大欢喜的方式安放各自内心已经实现或尚未实现的种种期盼。每年春运之所以年复一年为媒体高度关注，它内涵就在于春运关乎的不仅仅是一张车票或一张机票，其已成为揭开中国年盛大仪式的民间序幕。“春运到，红红火火过年了”可以是歌词，可以是戏词，可以是色彩，当然更可以是心境。

一

        在剧团工作多年至退休，逢年过节，公众放假休闲的日子通常是剧团的忙碌时光。我们把适合节庆假日上演的各类戏码，连同自己的洗漱用品和衣物装进旅行袋，辗转城市与乡村建筑风格迥异的舞台。毋庸置疑，即便在互联网时代，现场演出依然是无法替代的传递和感受真善美的重要方式。无论中外，与现场演戏和看戏相比，影视的历史委实有点短。当然，正因没有成长包袱，年轻的影视花样迭出、活力无限，唯有比它们更年轻的互联网似可抗衡。有人认为互联网消解了仪式感的存在，且慢下此定论，就像儿时的我们迫不及待盼除夕降临，那桌出自爷爷奶奶或外公外婆或爸爸妈妈之手的年夜饭想想就流口水；期待大年初一一睁眼就到来，可以穿上大人们提前备好的新衣蹦蹦跳跳去左邻右舍拜年……不知不觉中我们被人生转换了角色，自己成了过节时忙忙绿绿为晚辈准备年夜饭、新衣物的那位长者。年轻的影视艺术和更年轻的互联网终究也会拥有回望过往的时刻，到那时，它们会告诉未来的自己，曾经的选择有多么自豪与光鲜，又有哪些浅浅的追悔……

二

        春节看大戏的风俗由来已久。经济发达的江浙一带素有逢年过节各乡各镇各村攀比谁有能耐请到大名角之“嗜好”。而在温州地区此风尤盛。

        记得某年春节期间，团里舞美队大年初一就出发了。正式演出是初二晚上。为满足广大村民的“好胜心”，组织那场演出的相关人员再三诚邀被国务院授予中国非遗越剧代表性项目传承人，时任浙江小百花越剧团团长的茅威涛前往“站台”，她的任务是在开演前或开演后给村民拜年。有大角儿站台拜年，该村村民倍感风光！于是那个春节的某个上午茅威涛搭乘火车赶往演出地，我恰好与她同行。

        一进村，我俩就惊呆了：铺着防水布的地上摊放着样式各异的锅碗瓢盆，已褪毛的鸡、鸭和开膛去鳞的大鱼，未切成块的各种肉类以及青白红黄的蔬菜！那是当下在微信等虚拟空间成长的一代人无法想象的景象。那种天然热度与时下人们热衷的“流量”无丁点关系，那些生机盎然，让人情不自禁地被打动，甚而双眼湿润。

        那个春节的夜晚，无风无雨，无寒冬之冰冷。事先听说晚上方圆四处有多台越剧演出。果真，那夜相邻的村子有上海越剧院、南京越剧团、绍兴小百花越剧团、宁波小百花越剧团以及民间戏班，在同一片夜空下“你方唱罢我登场”，抑或同时开演同时结束，与以前上海、天津等京剧重镇盛行一时的大角儿“打擂台”的热闹相差无几，作为主要娱乐方式的戏曲，在春节里一时风光无两。

三

        相传，我国古代有种叫“年”的怪兽生性凶残，每年冬春之交常出来毁坏田园伤害人畜，闹得人人惧怕。当时有聪明且勇敢者想出一招妙计，在大院里架起木柴堆，在大院外摆开桌子，桌上摆放猪头、牛头、羊头等食物。当那只名叫“年”的怪兽看到食物张开血盆大口欲饱餐的那一刻，众人点燃柴堆，敲响锣鼓，大放鞭炮。一时火光冲天，锣鼓声加鞭炮声震耳欲聋，怪兽便吓得落荒而逃，于是人们互道平安。

        另一种版本略不同。相传名叫“年”的怪兽逢岁末便跑到各村庄为非作歹，孰料某次竟被家家晾出的大红衣物吓跑。于是过年大人小孩都穿红戴红。还有更温馨的版本。名叫“年”的怪兽令村人害怕，每年人们会择日离开避之。某个岁末，一位老人来到空空荡荡的村里偶遇一位小男孩。老人问村里何以冷清，小男孩就把众人怕“年”的事说与老人。老人告知小男孩，今天有他在就不用担心被“年”吃掉了。老人让小男孩在门上贴了红春联，在屋里点起红蜡烛。天黑后一老一少放起串串红鞭炮。脆响的鞭炮声和在鞭炮照射下格外显红的对联，果然把“年”吓走了。待等田野恢复宁静，小男孩发现老人已悄然消失。这段场景，有气氛、有人物、有对话，想来是适合作为儿童剧创作素材的。那位和蔼可亲又像金庸笔下身怀绝技的侠客的老人，似乎还与西方圣诞老人具备些许近似的传奇色彩。

四

        相对各家各户的爷爷奶奶、外婆外公、爸爸妈妈、夫妻儿女精心营造的样态迥异的过年场景，蕴含在公众娱乐氛围中的逢年过节的记忆或许更具被记录的价值。因其公众化所赋予的仪式感，“红红火火过大年”这简简单单的七个汉字，便有了扑面而来的栩栩如生。

        行文至此，倏然思及，在关于过年的古典诗词中，北宋王安石创作的七言绝句“爆竹声中一岁除，春风送暖入屠苏。千门万户曈曈日，总把新桃换旧符”中的第一句和最后一句，算得上是公众集体记忆里印象深也流传广的辞旧迎新的佳句。或许，很多人并不知道诗中“曈曈”的确切含义，但这丝毫不影响佳句的咏传。南宋大家陆游创作的《除夜雪》更显江南情调：“北风吹雪四更初，嘉瑞天教及岁除。半盏屠苏犹未举，灯前小草写桃符。”同样，“粘”着网络、手机成长的年轻人或许也不了解诗中的“屠苏”在古代是一种酒的别称，“小草”是指毛笔书写，这同样也不妨碍中国年在他们心里所具有的无可替代的位置。

        众所周知，春节与清明、端午、中秋并称中国四大传统节日。“春节民俗”（亦不妨理解为春节仪式）经国务院批准列第一批国家级非物质文化遗产。在春节这个特殊的节日里，始于1983年的央视春晚至今仍是大多数人年三十晚上感受审美与享受娱乐的重要载体之一。从直播大厅舞美空间、灯光设计到主持人的服饰装扮，处处体现着“红红火火”。从远古到当下，“红红火火”就这样闪烁在我们的目光里，印刻在我们表情的纹路内，裹卷在我们声音的起伏中，粘合着我们的小情感与大情怀，年复一年而面向未来。

        又到农历辞旧迎新之时。红衣服，红围巾，红对联，红剪纸，红灯笼，红鞭炮，烫金压岁纸质红包，在微信里嘀嘀嘀转来转去的小红包……里里外外透着红的春节驾着欢悦、驮着生动，正飞奔在与我们相拥的途中。