by
wenhousecrafts.com
20 February 2007
Chinese New Year in the
Old Beijing
Traditionally,
Chinese New Year festival would begin in Beijing
as earlier as on the eighth day of lunar
December, three weeks before the New Year’s
Day.
Lunar
December 8 initially is a Buddhist festival day.
It is said that some 2500 years ago on that very
day Sakyamuni Buddha, after being nourished by
milk porridge which gave him much needed strength
to carry on his meditation, attained his
Buddhahood. For celebrating this historical
enlightenment occasion, Buddhist temples in China
would cook large pots of nuts-rich rice porridge
(腊八粥) to open
their annual one-day soup kitchens. Later on,
this practice was widely adapted by lay Buddhist
followers who used this opportunity to cultivate
the spirit of charity, eventually it developed
into a popular kick off event of a month-long New
Year festival.
But it
had to wait until a half month after this brief
introduction, on the 23th day of the twelfth
lunar month, when the households kissed goodbye
to the Kitchen Godt, that the festivity would
begin to gain momentum. Kitchen God normally
appeared in a post on the supporting wall of the
giant brick stove range; behind his paper-thin
image with never-fading amicable smile, though,
is the deep connection to a higher world that is
believed to have jurisdiction over the lives of
people (at least Chinese people) on earth.
Apparently, the Chinese had struck a deal with
the higher world: they would send a firefighter
to mind family's kitchen fire, and the family
members, in return, would have to behave
reasonably well (such as, for instance, not to
dump rubbish in front of a neighbourng house in
the north of the village, not to throw
firecrackers through the windows into a
neighbouring building in the west of the village,
not to kidnap, kill and rob neighbours living in
the south of the village, and not to stir trouble
and try to break up a neighouring family situated
in the east of the village; otherwise, this
naughty household wouldn't get any protection and
might be left alone to face a kitchen fire, a
house fire, or even a bushfire). Anyway, as the
result of the deal, Kitchen God was sent to the
each household, sometimes along with his wife, as
the super firefigher, dwelling in his humble
abode (a paper) right on the site (over the
stove).
When on
lunar December 23, Kitchen God returned to the
Heaven to file his annual report, every household
made a big fuss to hold a snack party to bribe
him with candy that was made of sticky rice flour
(二十三糖瓜粘), in a
hope that his lips might get stuck together and
wouldn’t be able to speak evil of the family.
In reality, of course, the paper image did not
eat anything; it was always the kids in the
family to help the Kitchen God to do the eating.
For this sweet action of self bribe and cheating,
the day was so dearly loved, especially by
children, and it is thus called the Minor New
Year’s Day (小年)
From that
point on, the preparation activities for the New
Year accelerated: lunar December 24 was the day
to disperse old qi by cleaning up the
house (二十四扫房日), and
inviting fresh qi by sticking a new Door
God image (门神) on the
front gate, a new Spring Couplet (春联) at the
both sides of the door, red papercuts (窗花) on the windows, and a
New Year Painting (年画) in the living room. The
Next day, 25th, was the time to make tofu (二十五做豆腐); and
the day after that, 26th, went to market to buy
some meat (二十六去割肉). Then
came 27th, the day to dress a chicken (二十七宰年鸡); came
28th, the day to rise flour dough (二十八把面发); came
29th, the day to make and steam buns (二十九蒸馒头); and
finally, came lunar December 30 (年三十), the
Great Eve（除夕）of the
Chinese New Year.
Traditionally,
to Beijingers, and indeed, to majority of Chinese
population, the focus of the whole year is
Chinese New Year’s Eve, and the focus of the
whole eve, is New Year’s Eve Dinner. It is the
time to call the roll in the family, for the
junior ones to report their annual achievements
to their seniors, for the seniors to offer some
life-wise tips to the juniors, and for everyone
to review, to reflect and to look ahead. And most
importantly, to have fun, throughout the night (三十晚上闹一宿). When
the midnight comes, by then everyone is one year
older, firecrackers explode and New Year
dumplings (更岁饺子) are
ready to serve. Another year formally starts.
If one
says that Chinese New Year kicks off with bangs,
you know he means literary. On the first morning
of the lunar year, everyone wakes up by the
blatant sound of firecrackers, marking
this morning the most special one, different from
the rest of 364 days in the calendar. It is the
day when no one is supposed to work, but only to
visit each other to say a New Year prayer (大年初一去拜年), and to
drink to eat to laugh, and to go to bed early.
Beijing
youth watch old-fashioned clip show (拉洋片)
through peep holes
An easy
life like this would continue (ideally) for the
next fifteen days. In the old Beijing, over 700
temple fairs in the city and flower shows on the
outskirts kept running day after day like soap
operas, performing high heel balancing (踩高跷),
harvest drum (敲太平鼓), land boat dance (划旱船), folk
dance (扭秧歌), lion
dance (舞狮子), bamboo
horse dance (骑竹马), banner display (经幡会)，with White
Cloud Daoist Temple (白云观), Great
Bell Temple (大钟寺), Mt Tai Tempele (东岳庙) being
the centres of the shows.
It was a
fortnight long street carnival that would not end
until the splendid lantern
parade on the night when the first full
moon of the year rose high up in the sky.
After
that everyone went back to work or study, and
worked hard and studied harder, and counted the
days to lunar December 8, and counted frequently
and eagerly, if you were a child.
Happy
Chinese Year of Pig!
Pre Chinese
New Year of the Pig Next:
Your
Zodiac Luck - Rat in 2007
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