消失的廟會 老去的手藝

朱申琪

城里長大的孩子，很少有趕廟會的記憶。我的奶奶是上個世紀40年代生人，聽奶奶講，她小時候每年的農歷三月廿八前后，村里大型的廟會便開始了。廟會定是有戲文看的，若是趕三天廟會，必須做三天戲文。唱戲的雖不是大角兒，但人氣旺得很，戲臺下老的、少的擠得滿滿當當，越劇、紹劇、鸚哥班、蓮花落，雅的、俗的，歷史的、傳說的乃至胡編亂造的，全都登場亮相。孩子們最愛湊熱鬧了，嘻嘻哈哈從下午看到晚上也不肯回家。

農歷三月廿八的廟會，集市一般在廿六日就開市。自己村的，隔壁村的，百姓從各處趕來；農副產品、春耕農具、百貨雜物，有賣的，也有買的。石板路上人擠著人，河面上船擠著船，熙熙攘攘，熱鬧非凡。太奶奶孩子多，家務繁忙，每次只得等到落市前人稍少時，才抽空去添補東西：買一個新的竹曬匾，補一補用舊了的洗腳桶……

咸芥菜是紹興人下飯的一道好菜，曬芥菜時需要用到一種用竹篾編成的曬匾。我第一次看制作竹曬匾，是在紹興會稽山北麓的平水鎮。靠山吃山，靠水吃水。平水小鎮有崇山峻嶺，茂林修竹。現年69歲的平水人宋運福14歲上山砍毛竹，學習竹編手藝。竹篾交錯間，指腹游走；循環來往時，華發已生。

在離家不遠的山上，宋運福擁有10畝左右的毛竹林，砍毛竹、劈毛竹、分篾片、編篾絲，都由他一人完成。因阿姐近期去了杭州定居，宋運福又多了阿姐的40多畝竹林，毛竹的供遠遠大于求。宋運福說，做竹編制品萬萬用不得當年的毛竹，因為新竹既不夠粗也不夠硬，太陽一曬便壞，他用的竹子都是三年生的。一棵棵直聳的參天竹，在這位篾匠師傅手里可以花樣百出，常見的可做成竹席、竹匾、竹籃、竹燈罩、竹掃把、竹篩子、竹蒸籠、竹椅子等等。

宋運福的家里有好幾張自己做的竹曬匾。新匾黃綠色，老匾咖啡色。他的妻子把腌好的芥菜攤晾在匾上。竹曬匾天然無毒，且有淡淡的竹子清香，曬出來的干菜既衛生又美味。宋運福和妻子熱情地留我在他們家吃午飯，說兒子一家正好也回來吃，熱鬧得很。問起下一代是否繼承了這份篾匠手藝，宋運福搖了搖頭，他說幾周前有個紀錄片攝制組來找他取景，要求他從伐竹到編制，完成一個制作的全部過程。雖然配合拍攝很辛苦，但宋運福覺得很有價值。

篾匠一天做工8小時，能做出一張竹曬匾。“現在城里時髦的小姑娘也買這個匾，在這上面平曬羊絨衫好極了。”宋運福沒想到，自己做的竹曬匾還能曬高級的羊絨衫。現在只要不做工，他就用電瓶車裝上幾個做好的曬匾，騎到鎮上換乘公交，去紹興市區賣80元一張。“毛竹是毛筍長大的，筍是可以吃的！”每回介紹自己的曬匾，宋運福總會強調天然和環保，“除了曬芥菜和筍干，這竹曬匾盛放剛剛包好的餃子和餛飩都是相當好的。”

到了我父親小的時候，村里一年一度的廟會依舊是孩子們最盼望的時刻。那是屬于我父親一代人童年時的快樂記憶，父親講起還時不時地興奮：鏘鏘鏘，賣武膏藥的來了！只見膀大腰圓的壯漢把外套一脫，順勢扎在腰間，拍拍拍，使勁地拍著胸脯，豪飲一大口燒酒，一邊打拳耍戲，一邊大嗓門地吹著牛，吆喝自家的膏藥如何藥到病除。看小販耍著武功，忽有一絲香味飄進鼻腔，循著香味即可找到馬阿二的小吃館，馬阿二正用一雙長筷撥弄著油鍋里翻滾的油條，這香味能鉆到最深的巷子里。阿二店門口柜臺上醒目的缽盂里，醬紅色的扎肉凍得晶瑩剔透，一層皮一層油一層肉，令人饞涎欲滴。

父親說，那時，紹興水鄉沿街集市往往都有延綿不盡的路篷，行人所到之處，即是路篷的延伸之處，因而廟會幾天里買的賣的熱熱鬧鬧地討價還價，遇到下雨也不怕。

趕廟會和串門總是分不開的。農忙前的三月廿八是春節后的又一次聚會，廟會集市所在村的人家就要做東。主人招待客人時，會把糖果點心用一種木盆裝起來，稱之為“茶食桶盆”；過年祭祀祈福時，還要用到一種“五牲桶盆”，用來盛放五牲福禮。這些桶盆，均出自箍桶師傅之手。

我的小爺爺就是一位箍桶師傅。爺爺兄弟四人，只有兩位延續了太爺爺傳下來的手藝——箍桶，小爺爺便是其中之一。小爺爺大名朱伯榮，因為屬狗，鄉里人都喊他阿狗。在紹興市樊江村一帶，小爺爺的手藝是頗有名氣的。

小爺爺17歲開始挑箍桶擔。箍桶擔的一頭是一個木桶箱，裝有鋸子、斧子、鉗子、鑿子、刨刀等工具，另一頭則捆扎著木料、鐵箍等用來修補和替換的物品。箍桶師傅每日挑著擔子走街串巷，修理各式各樣的木桶制品，若有制作新的桶盆的活，就接了立刻趕回家里做。小爺爺說，那時候的他正學技術，只要抓到生意就做，每天晚飯后是交賬時間，一般他能上交2元錢。

拜訪小爺爺的這天正好天晴，他很忙。“天氣干燥，我要把桶圈上上好。”小爺爺讓我自己倒茶喝，他正低著頭專注地箍桶圈。箍桶圈是箍桶最關鍵的一環，箍得不緊就容易漏水。上箍時，要用榔頭推緊桶圈，邊推邊敲，然后用一根木頭頂著桶圈均勻地往下推，越往下推，木器體積越大，因而越推越緊。天氣對箍桶圈很有影響，若在陰雨潮濕的天氣箍，天晴干燥時木頭就會回縮，箍好的桶圈就會變松甚至脫落，因此天干物燥之時是箍桶圈的最佳時機。

老底子的紹興人準備女兒出嫁的嫁妝時，必有各類木桶，如盛放點心的茶食桶盆、洗臉用的臉盆、洗腳用的腳盆、盛米量米用的斗、寓意多子多福的“子孫桶”等等。但不知從何時起，偌大的樊江村箍桶師傅越來越少。小爺爺今年72歲，年輕時一個工時干的活，現在他至少得花兩個工時做。原來抓到活就做的他，現在也變得有些“挑剔”，修修補補的活早就不接了，做新的整套桶盆也需由熟人相托才勉強答應。我離開前，小爺爺起身送我，由于常年彎腰箍桶，他的腰背已無法直立起來，整日接觸干木的雙手，皮膚有一種與老樹皮紋理相似的感覺，關節也出奇的粗大。小爺爺的孫兒時常打電話給他，說爺爺你別再箍桶了，來我家住吧，小爺爺總是笑笑說我不去，你這一口普通話，講得快我都聽不懂哩。“現在人都把箍桶師傅當稀奇東西看了。”小爺爺笑著說。

在我的記憶里，已沒有令人盼望的廟會，也無法想象在集市上買一條咸魚鲞，農忙時作為“長久菜”吃上幾個星期。但現在城市里的農副產品集市上，吃的仍是最討人喜歡的。麻糍、印糕、艾餃、蝦餅、南瓜花、臭豆腐、蘿卜絲餅，不到10元錢就能買上一些，吃到嘴唇泛油光。小朋友喜歡的還有糖畫，糖畫制作者必須具備扎實的手上功夫，一勺糖漿被舀起，抽漿如絲才能作畫，畫的內容一般刻在一個印有很多動物造型的轉盤上，小朋友轉到哪一個動物，就能吃到這個動物造型的糖了。

Most city-born children of today dont have a memory of visiting a temple fair. My grandma was born in the 1940s. She says the village where she lived as a kid held a temple fair around the 28th day of the third month on the lunar calendar. In her memory， the temple fair was spectacular. For children， the biggest attraction at the village temple fair was opera shows. Troupes staged all kinds of shows for at least three days.

Usually the market would start on the 26th day of the third month. Local residents from the host village and neighboring villages gathered gradually. Vendors sold all kinds of household commodities and farming tools. Village streets were full of people and the rivers were full of boats. One of the commodities at the temple fair， according to my grandma， was the circular bamboo tray， which was largely used to air-dry pickled vegetable， which used to be a favorite food decades ago. The bamboo tray is something I can identify. The first bamboo tray maker I met is the 69-year-old Song Yunfu at Pingshui， a town at the northern edge of Kuaiji Mountain in Shaoxing. He started his bamboo-weaving career at the age of 14. He owns a small forest of bamboos in the mountain. After his elder sister moved away， she turned her family bamboo groves to him. He can make all kinds of bamboo-woven household things. A few weeks ago， a documentary production team came over and filmed the complete procedure of making a circular bamboo tray. Nowadays， he sometimes carries a few bamboo trays to the downtown Shaoxing to sell. To his surprise， the tray is still useful in modern life. Song is happy to learn that some girls use it to air-dry cashmere sweaters. Song regrets that his son refused to learn the craft decades ago.

My father， in his boyhood years， visited the village temple fair many times. He becomes excited whenever he starts recalling the things and the people he had seen at the temple fair. He imitates the drug seller who took off his dress and showed his muscles to spectators. He took a drink of alcohol and boasted about his miracle drugs. In my fathers memory， riverside market streets in Shaoxing had roofs overhead. Pedestrians would never get wet when it rained. He recalls how a neighbor made Youtiao （deep-fried dough sticks） in a large boiling oil wok with a pair of long bamboo chopsticks. The alluring smell wafted far and wide.

On the last day of the temple fair， residents of the host village entertained visitors because they would soon get busy with farming and they wouldnt be able to meet each other for months. Sweets and cakes were served in large wood tubs or buckets. Such wood tubs and buckets are no longer seen in everyday life now.

My 72-year-old grand uncle is a cooper. In his younger years， he traveled around carrying carpenter tools and wood materials on a shoulder pole. Nowadays he works at home. The other day I visited him. It was a sunny day and he was giving a wood bucket new hoops. He isnt as strong and efficient as he was in the past. Nowadays， it takes him two hours to finish what he was able to complete in one hour when he was younger. Usually he does not do repairing jobs. Occasionally he makes a complete set of wood buckets and tubs only for friends and relatives. His grandson often phones him urging him to retire and move to live with the grandsons family. The grandpa declines， laughing and saying “I dont even understand the mandarin you speak so fast”. Now many people consider him a living antique.

The old temple fair is no more. I did not see such a temple fair in my childhood. I cant imagine how a salted fish could be the most delicious food on a kitchen table for weeks. But I have to accept the fact that the old-time crafts are fast vanishing.