Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-24
CHINESE CHRISTMAS TREES.
Manner Of Observing the Festival in
the Orient.

From the New York Evening Post.
Men change their religious faiths, but not
their national tastes and habits. An army
of Chinese have forsaken Buddha for the
Cross and adopted the ceremonies and SYM
bolism OF the latter without relinquish nj
ship They open Christmas day with d
mighty salvo Of firecrackers as they DO
their own New Year, and serve on the
yuletide board the roast pig sacred to the
gods Of their race.
On Good Friday they wear white sack
cloth and snowy mourning neck Scarfs as
they do at funerals. On Easter there are
more f1recrackers as well as lilies, bright
flowers, eatableS and fruits.
In the places where American, English
and German missionaries have proseiytized
the Christmas tree has been introduced to
the Orient and has proven welcome visit
far east. In the festivals of the north
wind in the midWinter. of the returning
sun at the winter solstce and of the first
day Of the new year the branches OF ever
green trees and even whole trees have been
employed for centuries as ornaments. A
small fir, spruce or cedar has long been
used as a roof talisman to insure good luck
or fueng-suey to the house beneath.
At the first shaving Of baby boys head
a green branch crossed with threads strung
with scraps Of scarlet paper is a familiar
decoration.
When. therefore. the converted Chinaman
found himself at home. Instead Of strings
of popped corn he employs strings OF
popped rice, some plain and dead white
others glittering with sugar and still others
deftly stained in scarlet and gold.
Rice offers endless opportunities to a
clever cook and replaces the cake and
plaster of Paris OF American Christmas
trees. The rice flour Is made into a gluti-
tened. and then fried in boiling lard. 1t
expands into hollow yellow or brown
sphere, resembling an orange.
Cold boiled rice, white or colored, is cut
into cubes, pyramids, hearts and other
shapes and dipped in boiling sugar. Popped
rice is strung on long straws and then
made into crosses. anchors, wreaths, stars
and lozenges. Another kind Of graceful or
namentation Is made by threading little
circles, squares or hearts of scarlet gold or
ultramarine paper with the finest cotton
or sink thread. These are festooned from
branch to branch, from tree to walls, and
around the walls just below the ceiling. At
a few feet the threads are invisible and the
gayly tinted scraps of paper seem floating
in the air.
Another use Of the thread idea is delight
full in its oddly and grace. light gray
sewing silk is made into giant cobweb
which may be in a corner of the room near
the ceiling or between several branches OF
a tree To it are fastened gaudy spiders
made of fluffy cotton. In place of flies little
crystallized fruits or hardy flowers are at
tached to the threads. Leaves cut from
scarlet, yellow, gray and brown paper are
stitched here and there to the web.
OF pendants attached to the tree the va
riety Is great and striking. The fayorite Is
candied or Fingered fruit-red plums, tiny
oranges, pieces of carambola. mandarin
orange, blood orange, figs. strings of water
melon seeds. white and black; squash seeds.
almonds, peach pits and cherry pits cakes
sweetmeats. Bright effects are obtained by
liberal use Of gold and silver tinsei, d.
minutive mirrors and little flags. The tin
sci is applied directly to the trunk and
branches, sprinkled on the fir needles. Or
wrapped around wooden frameworks.