Festivals

The Chinese have many festivals which are not obtruded on the notice of the foreigner. Seme of the more important ones, however, are observed generally as to affect fweign intercourse. The chief are connected with the seasons and with the worship of ancestors, not with the worship of Confucius, Buddha, or any deitie.s, though of course these also have their turn. New Year (q.v.) is the greatest of the feasts; all debts are paid, or supposed to be paid, before the old year dies, then all bu.sine is at a standstill and all the world devotes itself to pleasure, paying vi?its, dre ing in fine clothes, making presents, feasting and idling. There are also, however, offerings to the gods, to parents and to dead ancestors. The rejoicings last till the 15th day, but these days include other feasts and ceremonies, and must not be thought of as a fortnight of simple idling. On the 15th is the Feast of Lanterns (see La/ifenif-, Feast of). This closes the New Year festivities and opens the shops again. The foreigner sees the prece ions and the mild illuminations, but knows little of the ceremonies, offerings and worship connected with the feast. Omitting smaller feasts the next imiversally kept of the Chinese festivals is Ch'ing Ming IMG:p188_2.png:Chinese characters the fifth of the twenty-four solar periods into which the year is divided; it falls on April 4-5. It is sometimes named the Festival of Tombs, for it is at this time that special thought is given to the dead, to whom formal offerings are made, while their graves are put in good order. It was anciently the day for the re-kindling of fires, which had been, extinguished three days before. (See Him Shih). It is also a time for picnics and excursions into the country, and houses are decorated with foliage. Various things connected with this festival remind the Western student of the Christian Easter. On the fifth day of the fifth moon comes the great summer festival, for which there is no special name, though the foreigner calls it, from what he sees of it, the Dragon Boat Festival. The Dragon is much in evidence at this time. It is the symbol of fructifying rain, so important in such an agricultural country. (See Dragonhoat Festival). The Midsummer fete is not very important; but with the coming of autumn with the seventh moon there is another great festival, consecrated to the dead. On the first day of the moon the gates of purgatory are opened, and the hungry ghosts troop forth to have a month of enjoyment of the good things provided for them by the pious. It is especially on the fifteenth of the moon that liberal offerings of food are set out, paper money is burnt for the enrichment of tJie dead, and ma es are said for the release of the unhappy ghosts. The festival itself is a Buddhist introduction due to AMOGHAy though of course the worship of ancestors and offerings to them did not originate in China with the coming of Buddhism. By foreigners this feast is often called All Souls' day; the Chinese name is Yii Ian p'en, (q.v.), which is the transliteration of a Sanskrit word. The 'hai'vest festival' takes place on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon, and is the great feast of autumn. Except that it is a time of general enjoyment and holiday-making there is nothing to attract the foreigner's notice. It is much the same with the festival of the winter solstice in the eleventh moon, when again there are special offerings to the dead. With the dose of the year, as at the begiiming, there are important ceremonies. The Kitchen god ascends on high to give his report on the household's conduct during the year, and he is well feted before his departure on the 24th of the twelfth moon, a paper chariot is burned to provide his conveyance, etc. Offerings are also made to other domestic gods, more or le house-cleaning takes place; the talismanic papers stuck over the doors, etc., are renewed; debtors are sought for; creditors are avoided; and on the New Year's Eve the whole people spends the night in eating and drinking and firing off crackers, — a watch-night tservice but, with littJe solemnity in it. De Groot has made an elaborate study of these and other feasts as they are actually observed at the present day in Amoy; and in the mere important of the festivals there can be little difference throughout the whole country. His work is not merely descriptive; but the origin of every custom is sought for, and its connection with the ancient superstitions of other races. Many matters connected with the festivals may seem trivial or merely quaint and picturesque, but may acquire great significance when brought into comparison with usages that obtained in Egypt or ancient Greece or Rome. De Guoot: Les Fetea armueUes a Einoui; DoRE: Becherches sur les Superstitions, etc.; Doo LiTTLE: Social TAfe of the Chinese.