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.
