San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-12-30
CHINESE HOLIDAYS.
THEY HAVE SEVERAL, THOUGH THEY
ARE WITHOUT A SUNDAY.


Festival Day That Resembles the "GIo-
rious Fourth"-Great on Fire Crackers
and Lsnterns-Odd Ceremonies.
Unlike Christian people, the Chinaman
has no Sunday, when business ceases and he
can enjoy peace and quietness for twenty
four hours. Of course in this country the
Celestials are obliged to stop work on the
Sabbath, and as the day means nothing to
them they play cards, gamble, smoke opium
or occupy themselves as best they can until
they begin toiling again on Monday. In
China business is carried on almost without
intermission the year round. AS if to COM
pensate them for their lack of lone day of
rest in seyen," they have numerous holidays,
however; fewer, perhaps,s than some other
natives of the world, but which are relig-
iously celebrated by the whole nation There
are, of course, the national holidays, and al
most every province, besides having the ma
tional holidays to celebrate, has many local
holidays and celebrations which are confined
almost exclusively to certain cities or towns
in the province. Even in America the Celes.
tial population never fails to observe the
national gala days, and in Boston especially
are the Chinese particularly loyal in that
respect
THE CHINESE NEW YEAR
The one great universal season of leisure is
the rejoicing over the coming of the new
year, and at that time it is said that the
whole Chinese empire is almost beside itself
with rejoicing, and each individual tries to
Guido the other in the extent of his celebra-
ton.
On the approach of the new moon which
falls nearest to the point when the sun is in
the 18th degree of Aquarius, which is the
commencement of the Chinese civil year, all
public offices in the empire are closed and the
mandarins put their seals under lock and key,
where they remain until the twentieth day of
the new moon. Everybody sits up on the
last night of the old year, and at the moment
of midnight the celebration begins, fire
crackers are exploded, rockets are sent up,
tin horns are blown, and the whole thing
would remind an American very forcibly of
the GLORIOUS Fourth" 1t is said that in most
of the large cities of China the firing of crack
ers is carried to such an extent that the air
becomes literally charged with inter.
After the New Year comes the feast of Ian
terms, which falls at the first full moon of the
new year and at which most ingenious dis
play of those lanterns characteristic of the
Chinese may be seen. 1t is the aim of each
person to Guido his neighbor, either in the
taste, ingenuity or size of his lanterns, and
some of them are very odd in construction,
and there is an infinite variety of them
Some are made of silk, some horn, some
paper and some glass, and many of them are
supplied with movable figures of men on
prancing horses, men fighting or performing
W nd or
are moving birds, beasts and other living
animals and reptiles all in full motion. In
some of the larger cities, where hundreds of
thousands of them of innumerable shapes
may be seen in the big public squares, the
effect must be very pretty.
A few weeks after the feast of lanterns a
holiday occurs which is greatly esteemed by
the Celestials. In China the governor of every
capital city proceeds in state to the eastern
gate to meet the spring." this being repre-
sented by procession of people bearing
huge clay figure of buffalo, which is called
by them the water bullock, and is used by
them to drag their plows through the flooded
rice grounds. The procession is attended by
litters, upon which are children dressed in
fanciful colors to represent neurological per-
sonages, and band of musicians also is car
red along. When they have reached the
governors house, he, in his capacity of priest
of the spring, delivers long grafton, recon-
mending the pursuit of husbandry. Then he
strikes the clay buffalo three times with a
whip and the people fall upon it with stones,
breaking the image in small pieces. The in
side is filled with multitude of smaller inn
ages, for which they scramble eagerly, as it
is deemed lucky to secure one or more of
them
NOVEL CELEBRATIONS.
At about this time the emperor also puts
his hand to the pillow, as do all the princes of
his house and his ministers. This is done with
much ceremony and the burning of sacrifice,
the latter consisting of quantities of wheat
and grain grown in this same field. After
the plot of ground has been plowed over by
the sun of heaven and his suite, the seeds are
sown, and the field is then left in charge of
an officer whose duty it is to see that the har
vest is properly collected and stored
The empress, also, to set good example to
the people, goes forth some time during the
ninth moon, accompanied by her principal
ladies, to offer sacrifice at the altar of the in
ventor of silk manufacture When that
ceremony is ended, they collect a quantity of
mulberry leaves, which are devoted to the
nourishment of the silk worms in the imperial
garden. All the other processes connected
with the same business are gone through,
such as heating the cocoons in water and
winding off the tiny threads, and so on until
the ceremony is ended.
On the fifth day of the fifth moon, which
usually falls in June, comes a celebration