_NEW YEAR’S DAY_
This is the Feast of the Three Beginnings—that of the year, the months,
and the days.
From break of day, which is saluted in every house with formidable
detonations of crackers, all the functionaries of the capital betake
themselves to the Imperial Temple to present their respective
congratulations to the Sovereign in person before the tablet which bears
the name of His Majesty. This duty accomplished, they present their
homages in order to the temples of Heaven, of Confucius, of the God of
Literature, and of the God of War. After this they pay calls to each
other, an exchange of courtesies which lasts for four or five days.
On entering a relation’s house, it is the rule, first of all, to salute
the tablets which represent the ancestors. If the visitors are newly
married, besides tea and cakes, a bag of oranges and water-melon seeds is
offered to them. Both these signify that it is hoped they may be blessed
with a large family.
Parties are given every day in turn at the different houses of friends,
and these are made the occasion for games of every description. At the
same time presents are distributed amongst the servants of one’s friends
and relations, whilst to the children of one’s acquaintance one gives
ingots of silver or pieces of silver coin wrapped up in red paper, or
coins threaded on red strings, which are called lucky coins. I may
mention here, since I am speaking about children, a striking peculiarity,
which is specially noticeable in the case of very young children; that
is, that in China we don’t count people’s ages by the number of their
days, but from year to year. Thus a child born on the 31st of December is
two years on the evening of the next day, that is, on January 1st of the
following year.
The fourth day of the first moon is the Feast of the God of Wealth and of
Happiness. All the drawing-rooms are then lighted up in honour of these
divinities, which are represented either by images or by a simple piece
of writing on paper.
The seventh day is consecrated to the Feast of Man, and the ninth to that
of God, and so on; for the feasts almost daily follow in quick succession
up to the end of the Feast of Lanterns.
During this time all that the people think about is to organise
pleasures, and to give themselves up to enjoyment. Debts have all been
paid off at the end of the old year, and the public and private holiday,
which is general, gives all the liberty needed. The season of the year
is not favourable to travelling, and so all that remains for pastimes
are the indoor games which are best adapted for killing time. There is a
great deal of playing in China at the time of year under consideration.
Games are played with cards, with dominoes, with dice, and with the
twelve beasts. There is also a more instructive game, which represents
the steps of official promotion. I need hardly say that music is not
wanting at these fêtes.
Many families do not eat meat on New Year’s Day. According to Lie-Tseu,
this custom originated as follows:
“‘The people of Han-Tang,’ says this author, ‘had offered
a pigeon as a New Year’s gift to a certain philosopher. He
accepted the present, and giving wing to the bird, said, “All
things should live happily on this day.”’”
This is a pretty tale with a delicate sentiment. Superstition is not,
however, wanting. With regard to the crackers which one might suppose are
only let off for fun, or in invitation to noisy revelry, it appears that
a good many people fancy that they serve to frighten off evil spirits,
who would never dare to knock at doors behind which such terrible
explosions are taking place.
But there is more than this. Many people paint a charm on their doors,
or draw a cock, or two guardians, which are thought to be capable of
swallowing whole any demon who might take it into his head to show
himself.
The astronomical works published under the dynasty of the Han family
state that one can judge from the wind that is blowing at daybreak on
New Year’s Day what kind of weather one is going to have throughout the
ensuing year. Thus a south wind means general dryness, a south-westerly
wind partial drought, and so on. An easterly wind on New Year’s Day
morning means war, a north-westerly wind a good harvest, a north wind
a moderate harvest. A north-easterly wind indicates a peaceful year,
wind from the west warns one of coming floods, and from south-east of
epidemics.
In the same way, the first word that one writes on New Year’s Day gives
its character to the whole year, good or bad. So, to make sure, people
always begin their letters on that day with such words as, Happiness,
Wealth, Felicity, Long-Life, and so on.
This manner of ensuring a happy New Year has inspired a woman philosopher
with the four following lines:
“Everybody to-day dips the brush into ink,
To write the words Happiness, Wealth, Felicity.
If I might give wise advice to the ambitious,
It is to bear the life that is laid upon us, and not to ask for things
which Providence cannot possibly accord to all.”
I may add, that in spite of this excellent advice everybody continues to
ask for what is unobtainable—the pauper for a little wealth, the rich man
for more than he can have.
Fables which take something from superstition know how to mingle with it
a certain amount of wisdom. I will give in proof the following story:—
“A poor man of letters, who had not the wherewithal to
celebrate the change of the year, was fast asleep. In China, as
elsewhere, it is true that he who sleeps dines. In the cottage
where he lived there was neither fire, nor food, nor wine, nor
light, nor pleasure in any form.
“Meanwhile his neighbours were celebrating the feast with
joyous revelry; the feast that was so sad for the solitary man
that we are speaking about.
“All of a sudden, at about midnight, somebody knocked at his
door.
“‘Who is there?’ asked the man of letters, disagreeably wakened
just at the moment when he was dreaming about victuals, drink,
and luxurious apartments.
“‘It’s I, the God of Wealth.’
“‘I am sorry to say that I cannot receive you.’
“‘And why so?’
“‘Because I have no luck.’
“In spite of the insisting of the God of Wealth, the poor man
absolutely refused to open the door.
“A few moments later another knock was heard at the door.
“‘Who are you?’ cried the sleeper, again awakened from his
dreams.
“‘’Tis I, the God of Luck.’
“The man of letters sprang out of bed, and received the visitor
with open arms in the dark cabin. The excellent god then wrote
something with the tip of his finger on the poor man’s forehead
and then disappeared.
“The cottager had hardly time to get back to bed when the God
of Wealth again announced himself.
“This time, he was received in the most cordial manner, and at
once placed in the poor man’s hand treasures of great value. He
then asked the poor man to tell him why, after having at first
refused to receive him, he now gave him so cordial a reception.
“‘Oh, it’s simple enough. Now I have got luck, which I hadn’t a
short while ago. I knew that you always follow the God of Luck,
and so it was him that I waited for.’”
It is evident that this means that without luck, fortune itself is worth
nothing.
The God of Wealth, whose good works we have just related, is nowhere
more fêted than in the town of Canton. Every evening, after the shops
are closed, candles are lighted and incense is burned before his altars,
which are fitted in niches on the outside of the shops. The whole town
is illuminated and perfumed. This is an universal adoration to which no
inhabitant of the Chinese empire gives himself up more fervently than
the Cantonese, who are the most commercial of the Chinese. Now, the God
of Wealth is also the God of Commerce, and that is as it should be, for
commerce is money after all; at least, money is the object of trade and
of traders. Plutus is the complement of Mercury.
The spring equinox, which we call the beginning of spring, often falls on
the first days of the new year. Then, there is a great fête.
A veritable procession is organised in each town. At the head come the
prefects and sub-prefects, and all the members of their official staff
in gala uniform. Each holds in his hand a spray of artificial flowers,
representing the peony, the flower of the spring. They ride in their open
sedan-chairs, escorted with music and soldiers. By their side are carried
tablets, on which are written their titles and the services they have
rendered.
This is the procession of the spring ox.
Behind the official procession is carried the gigantic statue of an ox,
made of clay, which is plastered over with papers of many colours. Each
colour stands for some atmospheric change—fine weather, drought, change,
and so on.
Behind this statue comes the real ox, all gay with ribbons and rosettes.
A statuette is stuck up on its back, which represents the coming year.
Its dress also portends the weather that is going to be prevalent
throughout the coming year. If it has shoes on its feet, that means that
the year will be a dry one; if it has clogs, that the year will be rainy.
A clog on one foot and a shoe on the other, mean that the year will be a
temperate one.
The whole procession makes its way towards the temple of the God of
Agriculture, where the sacrifices take place. The ox is slaughtered and
its flesh is distributed amongst the crowd.
Thus in the extreme East the “spring ox” is being led in procession at
about the same time that the Parisians are leading round their Carnival
“fat ox.” The two ceremonies are evidently agricultural feasts, such
as formerly were celebrated in Egypt with the ox Apis. Man is the same
everywhere; his customs, languages, and institutions are different, but
those are only differences of form, the substance is everywhere the same.
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