St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-12-24
CHRISTMAS TN
IHE FAR EAST.
How the Native Christians of China
Observe the Day.
The Great Heather Feast of Chang Sin and
its Resemblance to that of Yuletide-Kow
the Little Folks Dress for the Occasion-The
One Cloud Upon the Horizon of the Christian
Chinaman at Christmas Time.

Christmas in the Far East is not as simple a
| matter as 1t Is with US western baroarians.'
| The Europeans celebrate it with lavish hospi.
tally and the proverbial punch bowl The
| Christian Chinese observe it in a manner alto
gether their own, while the Heather Chinese
have festival known as the Feast of Chang
Sin, which bears a vague resemblance to that
| of the Yuletide. What strikes foreignermo
of all who is sojourning in the iowery kingdom
is the enthusiasm with which the Chinese
Christians enter into the observance of the day.
Nearly all these converts belong to the Roman
Church and are attached to the Jesuit missions
which are so prominent feature in Monaghan
life. Only a handful belong to the various
| Protestant sects.
The converts seem TO regard their new faith
as being about the same as the old under new
| names and use on Christmas day nearly all the
| forms and ceremonies which are employed by
! their compatriots who belong to the Buddhist
| and Taulst Churches. In the morning they all
| go to mass. The church or chapel is generally
| decorated for the occasion. The familiar ever
| greens are there as are the lilies and bright
bowers used by ourselves. But in addition to
| these are Chinese gariands, tinsel flowers, bits
OF scarlet paper, vermillion flags and banners,
and such fruits as may be in season. The mo-
ment mass is over the firecrackers begin Mil
| lions upon millions are burned and the whole
day kept noisy and smoky by the young and old
alike. In the evening they have fire cracker
| pyrotechnics which would astonish an Ameri,
| can boy upon the Fourth of July A common
piece Is a fire cracker tree. This is a figure
| shaped like a tree of which the trunk is a banl-
| boo pole firmly sunk in the ground. Arms like
| boughs run out in every direction growing
| smaller and smaller until they eliminate in g.
little bush on the top of the pole. The leaves Of
this tree consist of countless fire crackers ar
ranged in strings, in punches and little knots.
| 1t looks for all the world like an evergreen
whose foliage has been suddenly turned into
bright vermillon. The tree is usually lighted
about dusk. The flame starts at a central point
and then rushes rapidly along central fire
strings until the whole affair is ignited. The
fusilade begins at the very outset. 1t increases
| in volume and rapidity for several minutes and
| then changes in character to the imitation of
battle in which heavy and light artillery alter
nate irregularly with musketry fired in volleys.
| by battahons or in single shots by individual
soldiers. Here and there from paste-board tubes
long colored flames shoot out in every direction.
| After the first few moments series of trans
| formations begin which are simply unique.
| What seems q piece of wood explodes, opens
and falling down becomes suspended lantern
with light burning inside of it, Another piece
of wood similarly changes but becomes a bird
cage in whose centre swings fiery bird. A
third piece of wood becomes a flower pot with
growing flowers all outlined in fire. A fourth
becomes an nigneous bouquet. These changes
occur more rapidly than it takes to tell them.
Long before the frecrackers have been fred off
the entire tree is a mass of blazing, flaming and
exploding lines and figures. Some of these fire.
cracker trees are immense affairs standing forty
feet high, others are small, no larger than q
man. They range in cost from one to twenty
dollars apiece.
Beside the universal f1recracker the balloon
is in great vogue. 1t is the ordinary tissue
paper, hot-air affair so common on the Fourth Of
July. 1t is usually round but occasionally is
made in fantastic or graceful shapes. Among
those are the fish, whale, elephant, pig and
bird. In the clear skies of China, these go up a
long distance and can be seen for many miles
after they have left the earth.
The day is celebrated with all the features of
both our Christmas and New Years. In every
house there is some table set where refresh
ments await each and all who call. Upon the
walls or in the ante-chamber are evergreens,
festoons of bright paper and other festal decor
alton. Visits are made and exchanged, pres
sents bestowed and a general round of pleasure
kept up until about eleven o'clock at night,
In those cities where there are q large number
OF Christian Chinese the street shows reap a.
rich harvest. They include our old friends.
Punch and Judy Marionettes, Panoramas and
theatrical entertainments. Besides these are
amusements essentially Asiatic; dolls theatres
where all the performers are little dolls made Of
painted cardboard silhousette boxes, shadow
boxes, the lion and tiger BOOTH acrobats.
sword players, shield and spear men and lug
giers. Although the eastern Christian like the
western is opposed to games of chance vet now
and then he yields to temptation and takes an
hour off to try his luck. Christmas is one of his
favor1te days for that purpose and he can be
found either on the highway or in his own home
throwing dice, playing dominoes or handling
cards for stakes of which the "chip" is worth
one tenth of cent and the "limit is penny.
A Christmas dinner is good one no matter
how poor the convert may be. The good old
Jesuit padres are very thoughtful in this re.
gard and have their rich followers contribute
handsomely at this season of the year for the
poorer members of their flock. In addition to
this they exhaust their own scanty resources
to make the day happy for every one in their
congregation. Upon every board on Christmas
day there is good tea and Chinese wine. There
is fresh fish, stewed with onion and bamboo
tips and pig cooked with yam or sweet potato.
There is smoked fish and the inevitable chicken
steamed and parboiled until it is snowy white.
sausage and bacon, pigs feet and Japanese sea-
weed, sweet bean cakes and funny little pies.
The converts eat and drink well and to their
credit be it said they never get inebriated.
A pretty feature of the day is the way in
which the little folks are dressed for the occa-
sion. In place of the faded and too often dirty
garments, which they have been wearing in the
autumn and winter they now come out in new
and gorgeous raiment. Both boys and girls
dress very much alike especially in the wear
ing OF tour or i've Jackets, one over the other to
keep the cold out. Thus clad they look like
great globes with little legs attached. One
globe will be covered in scarlet with its legs in
bright green; another will have an ultrama-
rine body and spale pink unmentionabIes; a.
third will combine orange and violet: fourth
indigo and sulphur. A group of fifty little
children will display never less than seventy
bright and glaring colors. If there were only g.
handful of them the effect would be pleasant.
But when it comes to hundreds and in some
cities even to thousands the sight is both pic.
turesque and pleasing.
The Christian Chinaman has one clond rnon
his horizon. He is not liked by his so-called
heather neighbors. While there is federation
practised in China, there is still an inyincible
antagonism between the followers of the old
faiths and of the new. The Christian convert
wishes his Buddhist cousin Merry Christmas
but in return seldom receives more than per.
functory bow. They do not call upon him:
neither do they take any part in the festivities
OF the day. In the communities where the con.