The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-02-12
NEW YEAR
OF CHINESE
How II Will Be
Celebrated
Here.


set off at least twenty thousand dol
lars worth of firecrackers, every China
man will have killed his chicken, and
| as the first explosion of the squibs
| splits the air thousands of Chinese,
wealthy merchants and beggars, VIII
| raise their arms and thoughts to their
Idols and pray for luck. This will start
the Chinese New Year. Not single
! Chinaman whether he occupies the
| proud position of the wealthest citi-
zen or is serving a term for vagrancy
at the Oahu Prison, will neglect the
day of days. If he should fail to do this
he would be black sheep of his race
No matter If a Chinese has neglected
| for whole year to think of the Idols
he will not forget it Sunday night; he
Will burn his tapers before the altar
If he can find one, and send up his most
fervent prayers. Perhaps he is a Chris
tan; even then he will not forget the
holiday duties.
Today in nearly every Chinese store
there are stacks of firecrackers on sale.
! There are also sweetmeats and flowers.
There are posters, depicting the ideals
of the Chinese. All these things will
be sold. On Saturday the Chinaman
will have paid or arranged for the pay
ment of all the debts he has contracted
during the year. And should circum-
stances prevent such payment then he
Will be in keen sorrow and, according
to his Beliefs, a nemesis will dog his
every act throughout the succeeding
twelve months.
THOUSANDS GO UP IN SMOKE.
| People who have resided in Honolulu
| for years have but little idea of the
amount of money the Chinese spend in
the celebration of their new year. If
the average person We're told that
thousands of dollars would be spent
here for firecrackers on Chinese New
Year they would smile and ask whether
the smoke came from Hongkong or
Macao. But it is fact. In spite of
the rather slow business year of the
Chinese they are spending their money
freely for firecrackers. One Chinese
firm has imported over $4,000 worth
this year. All of the importers have
brought in a total amounting to more
than hundred thousand dollars worth.
And a Chinaman does not celebrate his
Fourth of July" by sending his dutiful
son and daughter out to buy two five
cent packages of small crackers and a
stick of punk. No indeed! He goes out
himself to do the buying. 1t is not
sport; 1t is his religion. If he is a
wealthy merchant he buys cases of fire.
crackers at from 1926 to $3.50 a box.
The boxes for which they pay~this sum
of money contain single punches of
firecrackers which are huge affairs. A
$3.50 bunch of firecrackers contains co.
900 firecrackers-all on one string and
to be set off by one lighted match. The
buyer hangs one end of this huge string
on the end of a pole, shoves it out
through a second or third story win
dow and then permits the other end to
dangle on the pavement outside. All
along the principal Chinese business
streets there will be dozens of these
rapid fire guns in operation. If one
should stand for half an hour at the
corner of Hotel and Maunakea streets
at midnight on Sunday he would hear
tens of thousands of firecrackers eX-
ploding The noise would be terrific.
But it has happened here in this wise
for year after year. About four years
ago a Chinese business firm set off a
firecracker string on New Years that
had cost 800. 1t was composed of one
hundred thousand small firecrackers
and the noise of the explosion con-
tinued for forty-five minutes.
That is the way the merchant spends
his money for firecrackers. The poor
Chinaman, perhaps laborer in a rice
field or a waiter in restaurant. spends
on similar sum in comparison to his
earning capacity. This class of man
will probably spend three dollars for his
noise. Perhaps he Is member of one
of the numerous Chinese clubs or So
cieties and in this case his money will
go into the Golfers of the club and a
big celebration will be given by the or
ganization.
Walters in the Alexander Young Ho-
tel dubbed together some time ago and
imported one string of flrecrackers at
an expense of about $50. This montros-
ity will be their welcome to the new
year.
CHARITY OF THE CHINESE
In Honolulu there are a couple of
hundred very poor Chinese. They are
old and infirm and depend for food and
clothing upon members Of their own
race. If n Chinaman Is young and
able bodied there is never any excuse
for poverty. But IL he is old and infirm
this is excuse. Perhaps in his young
days he squandered his earnings on
gambling, drink and opium. If this is
the case and those designations have
broken down his physical system by
the time he has become an old man
he is not looked upon with disgust by
his fellow countrymen. They pity him
and have sorrow for his awkward posi-
tion. Then some one of the clubs will
take care of him. They will permit
him to live in their clubhouse. and see
to II that all of his wants are sup
piled. But there are many Chinese,
poor and i'll, who cannot be housed in
the club houses. To care for these peo-
pie at the first of each year is one of
the hardest problems of the charitable
They usually send to each person bag
80 t.tal