Arizona republican., 1892-01-10
THE FESTIVAL OF JANUS,
ITS CELEBRATION AMONG DIFFER
 ENT NATIONS.

toe Rough.
 Among the Romans the deity of the new year was Janus, the president of doors, gates and all new enterprises, Commonly represented with two faces, he was supposed to look both into tho past and into the future, He was the father of the new year, and on his statue was inscribed tho famous enigma, "There is one father, who has twelve sons; each of these has sixty daughters, of whom thirty are white and thirty black; all are immortal and yet all must die" In Rome March 1, formerly the opening day of the year, was .signalized by sacrifices; white steers were offered that the year might be fortunate for the state, the consuls made oblations and ibations, at the same time assum- ing the duties of their offices; offerings were presented at the shrine of Juno, and friends made each other gifts at first of republican simplicity, such as baskets of dates or figs, pots of honey or clusters of grapes, but with increasing Nttilh Shbo bNNtNiiiO AiVAO anu ihNAV costly, until complaints were made that young men were sometimes beggared by the necessity of satisfying the demands of their female acquaintances.
 The custom of celebrating the new year in some especial way probably had its origin in the cradleo of the human race. The Hindoo religion being among the oldest forms of established worship, it is somewhat remarkable to find among the people of India the same reverence at- tached to the day as exists among our selves All stores and offices-are closed and the day-iudeed most of the month is given up to religious observances and social festivities.
 Bands of singers, from two to six in number, make the rounds of the houses in their districts and are received with consideration. invariably obtaining aims, large or small, for on this day to refuse to give is accounted sin. They do not ask for charity as on other days, for it is taken for granted that on this "day of days" the hearts and purse strings of all will be open. So everybody gives, but whether to gatify charitable impulse or to get rit O the noise is conundrum. The latter motive is not impossible, for the music of the wandering bands of beggars consists of drums, rattles and small cymbals, these instruments being accompanied by ear splitting screeches, which in any other country would en- title the singer to immediate incarcera- ton. But the Hindoo ear can stand a good deal of noise, and as the words of the hymn sung by the mendicants are purely devotional, every Hindoo lays up for himself treasure in heaven by open ing his pocketbook.
 But the observance of the day does not begin and end with almsgiving. The idols are to be washed, pitchers and other vessels and food are to be offered at the sacred shrines; every family must feed at least one Brahman, and every woman invites to her house at least one personal female friend, whose hair she dresses and adorns. During the day there is, there fore, much running to aud fro, for the woman who has just received and enter tained guest goes herself to be enter tained elsewhere and thus the social balance is kept even.
 No nation on earth welcomes the new year with more elaborate ceremonies than the Chinese. On the last day of the old year all accounts must be closed, all debts paid. for he who allows an indebt- edness to go over the New Years day must seek for his debtor with lighted lantern, an indispensable accompani- ment, by which he proclaims his own thriftlessness, and without which the debtor is justified in refusing to pay any thing.
 The last day of the old year is by the Chinese reckoned peculiarly unlucky, for during its hours the goddess of smallpox wanders about seeking whom she may infect with the dire disease, and it is highly important that she should be con- ciliated, or at least deterred from infiict- ing injury on persons against whom she may cherish q grudge. There are several ways of composing this end.
 Some persons deem it wise to gain her good will by leaving presents of food and dainties outside their doors for her use, and as these articles are always gone in the morning, of course the deity must have taken them and passed by the house where she was so we'll treated. But as it has sometimes been noticed that she returned and brought the dis ease even where she was well fed, it is considered the safer plan to frighten her away. Her only object in causing infec- tion is to make handsome children ugly, and if she can be deceived into believing them already so, the end is gained So on the last day of the old year all hand some chldren are fitted out with gro tesQue masks to dclude the malevolent deity into the b-ief that they are home ly, while at the same time great quanti- ties of fireworks are discharged and crack $ lightgl, it being well known tha, all evil spirits despise the sight and smell of all kinds of pyrotechnics When the children are sent to bed gourd is placed ovsr the head of each, that the goddess may pour into it the seeds of the distemper, and in case all these precau- tions fail, large package of vile smell ing herbs and charms is placed in the bedroom in tine hope that the deity's nose may have a conscience that will warn her away.
 Before dawn on the first day of the new year every Chinese family of means makes its offerings to the deities. Five or ten little bowls of vegetables, rice, wine, oil and meats are placed in the cor ridor of the dwelling, and over the con