Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-01-04
A Chinese New Year.
from a California Lctter.l


The Chinese have week Of holidays at
their new year, just as we do between the
Goth of December and the 1st of January
In the cities they make n fine display of
fireworks, but none of the Chinese peo-
pie in Santa Barbara are rich, so there
were no fireworks, except crackers but
there were barrels and barrels full of
these, and the Chinese boys do not fire off
crackers on their New-Year's day as
American boys do, n cracker at n tune or
one package at time they bring out q
large box full, or barrel full and fire
them off, package after package, us fast as
they can, till the air is as full of smoke as
if there were a fire, and tho grouul is COW
cred with rcd, half-burued ends. Long
before we reached the part of the town
where most of the Chinese live, we heard
the noise of the crackers going Off bat
the Chinese did not seem to mind it at all.
They were hopping about in the smoke,
pouring the crackers out on the ground,
box after box, barrel after barrel. You
could not see their faces clearly for the
smoke. Groups of American boys stood
as near as they dared, looking on. Now
and then one would dart in and snatch up
one cracker, or a string of them, which
had not gone off.
1 thought the American boys had al
most as much fun out of it as the Chinese.
Every Chinese family keeps open house
on New Years Day. They set up pic
ture or an image of their god i'll some
prominent place, and on table in front
of this they put little feast of good
things to eat Some are for an Offering
to the god, and some are for their friends
who call. 1t was amusing to watch the
American boys darting about from shop
to shop and house to house, coming out
with their hands full of queer Chinese
things to eat, showing them to each
other, and comparing notes . "Oh, LET
me taste that - one boy would exclaim,
on seeing some new thing and, Where
did you get it? Which house gives
that?" Then the whole party would race
off to make descent on that house, and
get some more, thought it wonderfully
hospitable on the part of the Chinese peo'
pie to let all these American boys run in
and out of their houses in that way, and
help themselves from the New Year.
feast. Some of the boys were very rude
and l-mannered- little better than stree
beggers but the Chinese were polite and
generous to them all. In some of tho
stores there were men playing a game
which has been played, under different
names, all over the world. 1t consists
simply in one man holding out his hand
with part of the fingers closed and par
open, and his antagonist calling out, in
stantly, how many Of his fingers are open
One would think nothing could b'
easier tlan this. But when the move
ments are made rapidly it is next to I'm
possible to call out the number quickl.
without making mistake. For ever,
mistake fine of some sort, according t
the agreement of the players. is to b
paid These Chinese men played it wit
such vehemence that the perspiratlo
stood on their foreheads, and their shril
crying outssof the numbers sounded lik
unbroken sentences; there did not seem
breath between them. They rested thei
elbows on the table, and, with eyes oper
= ing and closing with the fingers, thrust th
forearm forward to its full length, S
there WAS violent exercise in it.