The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-01-09
NEW YEARS DAY IN CHINA
Greatest of Festivals in the Celestial
Empire. a Happy Time for PigtaiIed
Creditors.

OF all Chinese festivals that of New
Years Day is the greatest. Being a
peculiarly contradictory race, the Chi
nese do not reckon time by the sun,
as We do in America, but by the moon,
SO hat the Chinese New Years IIay
come at any time between the middle
OF January and the middle of Feb~u-
airy. When the time approaches, cred
itors are happy, for by the last day of
the Old year all debts must be paid
The Chinaman who cannot pay UP
must hide his head until the festival
is over. Another preparation is a gen
eral washing up. Household belong
ings and personal attire are put
through a e course of soap and
water in order that the new year nay
be begun with cleanliness.
When the night OF New Years eve
approaches, the sound of the ring of
crackers begins and is kept up with
a ~nincessant din until dawn. The first
business in the new ear is the sacri-
fee to heaven and earth. A table is
spread with offerings of food and
drink, candles and incense. and crack
Clo Il z Ol dSdlh just oulSluc lk1C
front door. Then the father of the
family comes forward and kneels down
in front of the table, holding a stick
of incense in his hand and knocking
his head three times on the ground.
Rising to his feet, he places the incense
in the censer On the table. More
crackers are lie; off, aao paper money
is burned.
After this ceremony the household
gods are worshipped in the same way
and then the ancestral tablets, after
which the "living idols" have their
turn. The father and mother sit down
side by side, and all their children
and grandchildren kneel before them
and do them reverence, but offerings
are not made to the living, as they are
to the dead. Then the servants come
forward, dressed in their best, and
kneel down, bowling their heads to the
ground before their master and mis-
tress, receiving presents when they
rise.
Long before all these ceremonies are
finished it is quite light, but in the
early hours Of New Years morning the
streets look as deserted as if no one
| was living in the city. The shops are
all shut, and the busiest streets are
| as quiet as if it was an ideal Sabbath
of rest.
But the quiet does not last long
Occasional crackers are let off, and
strings of beggars soon appear on ev
cry hand. They are far more nuner
Gus than usual and o importunate.
They know they will reap a rich har'
| vest on this happy day, for it is lucky
| TO begin the year with good deeds, and
it is not long before the streets are
filed with a we'll dressed multitude
| starting out to pay New Years calls
Custom requires that all the men in
China shall call on their relations
teachers and friends, and for three
days the visiting goes on. Women are
not expected to pay New Years calls
! or to see the visitors who come tC
! their houses. As these are men Of
| course that would be highly improper
When friends meet in the street FOL
the first time in the new year they
| stand and bow very politely; they put
their hands together and shake them
| saying, "Kung shi, kung shi," which
means, 81 respectfully wish you JOY
| and they often add, MAY o grow
| rish.' for that is the Chinese idea OF
| happiness.
For three days the New Years re
joicing goes on, and then all the poor
er classes begin to work again. Large
| shops and places of business are clos
ed for a month.-Brooklyn Citizen.