Fire sickle. An ancient kindling vessel, named after its shape like a curved sickle, collided with flint to produce Mars. Rural areas in northern Shaanxi, especially in the fifties and sixties, were still popular, but it is hard to see them now. Older people only say with relish that it is not easy to find one from any corner. Just because it is too ordinary and inconspicuous, it is not noticed or forgotten. And another image reflected in the memory of the years will linger for a long time, which is the historical evidence of the past.
The fire sickle is basically composed of three parts. Flint: generally produced in floodplain, stones washed by river water collide with each other, leaving a hard bottom after friction, which can generate sparks when hitting at high speed. Some are mined directly from the mountains, with high purity and the same composition as modern flint. Velvet: It's the tender leaves of Artemisia argyi. The preparation method of perennial shrubby herbs of Compositae is to pick their leaves in late spring and late summer, air-dry or dry in the shade, and knead them into floccules by hand for later use. Because Artemisia argyi itself has antibacterial, mildew-proof, insect-proof, antitussive and expectorant effects. Since ancient times, there has been a folk custom of "picking moxa sticks and hanging doors on the Dragon Boat Festival" and "leaving moxa sticks at home to keep Xian Yi safe forever", so it is not surprising that our ancestors used it as a kindling to light a cigarette. Steel bar: it is popular to use a small piece of ordinary steel bar with less hardness to make it into a curved sickle shape and become the main part of the sickle. The owner of the more exquisite utensils carved patterns such as unicorn fire and dragon swallowing fireball on the steel bar decoration, and embedded a piece of leather on the curved steel bar to make it look like a small handbag held by modern women. There are two pieces of iron embedded in the mouth, one of which is magnetic and will automatically seal the mouth when not in use, so as to prevent flint, moxa and other items in the bag from being lost or damp. Wearing beautiful ropes, beautiful beads, jade or agate not only increases the volume but also beautifies the main body of the sickle, reflecting the owner's taste and grade.
Fire sickle is an accessory of men, especially men who like smoking. It is different from a snuff bottle. Snuff bottles are decorations for officials' families and are only used by a few people. It is deeply loved by the people and has special applicability, decoration and operability. It began in June, and it is impossible to verify it, but its disappearance was really replaced by the appearance of matches and lighters.
Prometheus, who was circulated in ancient times, stole the fire of Apollo, the sun god, with the branches of fennel trees, while the modern Olympic Games collected the fire with parabolic dish-shaped focused solar energy. Ordinary textbooks introduce survival skills such as fire with bow drill, fire with rattan, fire with stone, fire with sawdust, fire with convex lens, fire with flashlight bowl, fire with magnifying glass and fire with ice. Can not be widely popular among the people, but a combination of simplicity and wisdom, can not but be said to be evidence of evolution and survival of the fittest.
The principle of using friction to make a fire. When in use, the steel bar is repeatedly rubbed against the flint to make it heat up, and then the flint is forcibly knocked down, and the generated sparks ignite the moxa under the flint, and the moxa is placed on the head of the smoking pot full of sweat and smoke, and a few mouthfuls are forcibly sucked, so that the smell of Ai Xiang and smoke diffuses in the air with the smoke. In the urban and rural areas of northern Shaanxi, men tied up in a pile to play poker, twist threads, knit wool socks, listen to lectures and chat, while lighting a pot of old sweat and cigarettes, the wrinkles on their brows relaxed. Tell me what's bothering you and tell the old guys that it's okay to solve it. The burnt cigarette is still of some use, and another cigarette stick is sucked on my partner's hookah brain. Around the sweaty old telephone poles, the smoke curled up and the pleasant smell erased the fatigue of a day's work. Therefore, sickle has become an important tool for collecting kindling in an era.
In the long river of history, human beings are constantly innovating, constantly choosing the best from the best and making progress. The disappearance of artifacts cannot be equated with the disappearance of a species. Some artifacts can be copied, but their birth dates are different. It once existed in the hands of our ancestors, which brought convenience and fun to life, and the kindling method that replaced it has more applicable and convenient performance. The sickle of fire has become a memory of the past, sealed by the dust of history. It is just a small flower in the ocean where human beings live, which is the inspiration given by history.