潘江濤

年夜飯歷來是除夕夜的重頭戲。老百姓經常說“年年有余”，“無魚不成席”，因為魚和余諧音，有富裕、盈余的含義，又是吉祥的象征，因而年夜飯必不可少的一道菜就是魚。

大約是2005年臘月，父親來電要我回家過年時順便買尾鯉魚，末了還叮囑一句“千萬不要忘記”。

我嗯嗯地應承著，心里不免嘀咕：老家在橫錦水庫上游，一年四季不缺魚腥，為何偏要鯉魚呢？

疑惑是魚攤老板幫我解開的。出于職業(yè)敏感，從菜場返回的途中，一篇《過年鯉魚貴》的腹稿匆匆打就，并趕在《金華日報》“春節(jié)·春意”征文截止前兩天投寄過去。

因為倉促而成，我對稿子能否刊用并不怎么上心。卻不想，半月之后接連傳來喜訊：《過年鯉魚貴》不僅名列征文比賽兩篇一等獎作品之首，還先后被《人民日報·海外版》《聯(lián)誼報》等報紙副刊采用。北京市崇文區(qū)、安徽省蚌埠市實驗中學等分別將它選作初三、初二年級“現(xiàn)代閱讀”范文，并入選期末考試試題。

回頭想想，不是文章寫得多么雋永秀美，實在是天時魚美人和之故。

中國人過年，過的是溫暖感和儀式感，盡管現(xiàn)在大家都說“越來越沒有年味了”，但誰又能淡忘那些蟄伏心底，對于家、對于團聚、對于年夜飯的情感和味覺上的期待呢？即便是餐桌上的一尾魚，雖然類似于舞臺上的“龍?zhí)住?，但不可或缺，甚至頗有講究。

以前，除夕之魚，篤定是“全魚”，通常最后才上桌。這年頭，年夜飯大多很豐盛，“全魚”后上，既可避免“誤食”，還有“連”“余”之意。因為“魚”“余”諧音，“年年有魚”不僅代表富足盈余，還象征降妖除鬼——餐桌上是招財，餐桌外則鎮(zhèn)邪。

紅燒全魚上桌，只看不吃，當然是一種“辜負”。有沒有兩全其美的法子？有些地方革故鼎新，魚可以吃，但僅限于中間部分，留下頭尾到初一，意謂“有頭有尾”。有的人家不差錢，干脆準備兩條魚——年三十吃一條，大年初一吃一條，竟也吃出“連年有余”的好意頭。度娘還說，湖北、臺灣等地，要把魚留到大年初三——留得越久表示越富有。

老家潘莊接壤東陽北鄉(xiāng)，除夕之魚能看不能吃。年初一中午，全魚上桌拆散——呵呵，魚凍下酒，妙不可言。

種種習俗，大多是祖輩傳下的，似乎一成不變。讓我頗費思量的是，既然年魚承載著世俗“重托”，菜場之魚又遠不止三五種，該怎么挑選？

魚攤老板說，過年圖的是熱鬧。鯽魚熱銷，可惜刺多，不適合豁拳行令時下酒;鱖魚可以考慮，但要是廚藝不精，燒不出松鼠鱖魚，也不是最佳選擇;鯧魚鳊魚之類，肉太少，還不夠一家人打牙祭呢……只有鯉魚，特別是斤把重的紅鯉魚，恰好烹一盤紅燒全魚，若不預約，還真難買到。

魚長著鰓，靠水呼吸。在古人眼中，鯉魚是蛟龍、鯤鵬的近親，也是離榮華富貴最近的種族——它躍出水門就是龍，化而為鳥即為鵬。

如此一想，心中便豁然開朗：魚之美者，除了“天時”——過年之外，還有國人源遠流長的崇魚文化。

“魚求水以生，水求魚以活?！濒~水之歡是一種隱喻?！对娊洝飞险f：“豈其取妻，必齊之姜？豈其食魚，必河之鯉？”古代男子上門提親，除了行六聘之禮還要送鯉魚，女子出閣前悉心照料。出嫁當日若鯉魚游弋靈動，色彩明艷，則代表著日后琴瑟和鳴的夫妻生活。李商隱詩曰“水仙欲上鯉魚去，一夜芙蓉紅淚多。”遠行的游子乘鯉飛升，只留伊人無語凝噎。傷感離別中，借鯉魚的意象平添了一抹神話的爛漫。

“客從遠方來，遺我雙鯉魚。呼兒烹鯉魚，中有尺素書?！保h樂府·《飲馬長城窟行》）。“嵩云秦樹久離居，雙鯉迢迢一紙書?！保ɡ钌屉[）古代通訊不發(fā)達，魚傳尺素，或者以魚形木板寄書，雖說別出心裁，但并不普及。人們津津樂道甚至夢寐以求的，往往是“鯉魚跳龍門”。

“魚躍龍門，過而為龍，唯鯉或然?！保ㄋ巍り懙琛钝拧め岕~》）國人皆有“鯉魚跳龍門”之情結，即便是孔子這樣的圣人也不例外。相傳，孔夫人誕下一子，魯昭公賜孔子鯉魚。為感念君主的賜予，孔子居然將孩子取名鯉魚——孔鯉字伯魚。

孔鯉是孔子的獨苗，且比孔子先故，一生毫無建樹。但他畢竟是圣人之子，有祖蔭福佑，不僅被宋徽宗封為“泗水侯”，還被孔氏子孫尊為“二世祖”，榮耀之至。

凡夫俗子顯然沒有這般幸運，要想改變命運，實現(xiàn)飛黃騰達之夢想，唯有“頭懸梁，錐刺股”一途。正因如此，“鯉魚跳龍門”雖然只是傳說，但并沒有妨礙國人對鯉魚的喜愛。據記載，遠在殷商時代，池養(yǎng)鯉魚已相當普及，特別是輔助越王勾踐的范蠡竭力推崇，認為“蓄養(yǎng)三年，越國當盈”。

然而，世移事易。到了唐代，因為皇帝姓李，“李”“鯉”諧音，“養(yǎng)鯉”“捕鯉”“賣鯉”“食鯉”便統(tǒng)統(tǒng)成為禁忌，違者課以重罰。于是，在整整300年間，唐朝的養(yǎng)魚百姓只得另覓他途，并漸漸出現(xiàn)青、草、鏈、鳙“四大家魚”。

魚之美味可與熊掌媲美。周代，周宣王討伐獫狁獲勝，特以“炰鱉膾鯉”大宴諸侯。梁代陶宏景甚至說，鯉“為諸魚之長，為食品上味”。

陶宏景之論，雖說有些夸張，但熟知古典文學的吃貨，大多知曉一些有關鯉魚的故事。譬如，宋江想吃活鯉，李逵拍大哥馬屁，自告奮勇與浪里白條張順爭斗，而張順一見宋江，便乖乖送上四尾金色鯉魚?！段饔斡洝防锏臐O翁張稍每天送算卦先生袁守誠一尾鯉魚，老袁就告訴他在哪里下網，引起涇河龍王不滿，間接導致了唐僧取經。

年少看越劇《追魚》，印象頗深。及至年長，每每宰殺活蹦亂跳的鯉魚，腦海便閃過鯉魚精被刮去鱗片，疼得在地上打圈的情景，不由得心有戚戚，竟一時下不了狠手……

女兒心善，見不得種種殺生。不止一二回，我順從女兒意愿，放下菜刀，悄悄地把鯉魚放歸婺江——起先，它似乎驚魂未定，并不急于游走。然而，當它回過神來，便倏忽而逝，只留給我一個淺淺的背影。

青山不老，綠水長流。婺江是錢塘江的重要干流，發(fā)源于我老家磐安的龍鳥尖，岸闊水深，生生不息，正孕育著一個個“魚躍龍門”的偉大夢想！

（站酷海洛 供圖）

For most Chinese people， fish is one of the main courses at the year-end dinner on the eve of Spring Festival， the traditional Chinese New Year. Fish in Chinese reads “Yu”， a homonym for “surplus” in Chinese. When the fish course is served at the year-end banquet， family members understand it stands for “May there be surplus year after year”， a traditional Chinese idiom. In celebration of a completely new year， fish symbolizes peoples wish for prosperity and good luck.

I learned something important about fish in 2005， a month before the Spring Festival. My father phoned me and asked me to buy a carp on my way home for the family reunion dinner and Spring Festival celebrations. I accepted the mission but wondered why. There was a reservoir near our home and fish was easily available all year round. Why a carp for the Spring Festival？

So I stopped over at a food market and a fish vendor unraveled the puzzle. I continued my way home， thinking about the importance of a carp for the year-end family reunion banquet and composing in my head an essay around the puzzle and its answer. Back home， I wrote the essay out and submitted it to Jinhua Daily， the biggest newspaper in Jinhua prefecture in central Zhejiang， for an essay competition in celebration of the Spring Festival， two days before the deadline. As I wrote it in a hurry， I didnt look forward very much to winning. But to my surprise， it came out the top winner. It was reprinted in some other media. Moreover， the essay was included into a textbook of required readings for middle school students in a district in Beijing and in a city in Anhui Province. A question in some term-end tests was based the fish story I wrote for these students.

In retrospect， my story was by no means brilliant. It just wrapped around a right subject at the right time and in the right place.

For Chinese， Spring Festival is a ceremony and family reunion. Though many complain celebrations nowadays are not as ceremonious and exciting as they were in the past， dont we all cherish the same wish for a better year just as people did in the past？ Nowadays， a fish course at the year-end banquet may look not as important as it did in the past， but it is a must and it must be served ceremoniously. A fish course must be prepared in whole and served in whole as the last course. And how to eat the fish has inspired different responses across the country.

In some parts of China， a fish at the year-end banquet is an exhibit. No chopsticks would touch it. It is like a sacrifice offered to deities. In a town in Dongyang， which is not far from my home， a fish course is not touched at the reunion banquet. It becomes a cold fish jelly and the delicacy is eaten at lunch the next day. In some parts of China， the fish head and the fish tail are left untouched， symbolizing a Chinese idiom that “you bring what you start to a good finish”. In some families， one fish is served at the reunion banquet at the last dinner of the old year and one at the first lunch of the New Year.

Carp in Chinese culture is a cultural symbol that represents a lot of good things. It is a close relative of dragons and ， a mythical creature which lives like a huge fish in the sea and flies like a huge eagle in the sky. In traditional Chinese culture， the carp is the only fish that can jump high over a dragon gate and becomes a dragon， a vivid metaphor for grassroots scholars who were appointed to important official positions after they passed imperial examinations. Nowadays， similar situations still exist in everyday life and carp lives very much alive in the phrase that describes such a situation and describes peoples wish to metaphorically become dragons over all kinds of dragon gates.