NEW YEAR FESTIVITIES

The Lunar New Year is tremendously important to the Chinese in spiritual terms. There is an overpowering aura of jubilation, of good fortune with the potential to fill their spirits with an exuberant ecstasy. All trials and tribulations are temporarily put aside and, for a few fleeting days, people devote themselves with carefree abandon to innocent enjoyment and all the pleasures of the merry-making.

This explains why those who live away from home make a special effort to return to their families when the Lunar New Year draws near. No matter how distant they may be, they all wish to share, in the intimacy of their homes, the overflowing joy of those they love. In the bosom of their family they can forget all despondencies and renew their hopes for a better future. They also pay their respects and, emotionally and tenderly, they express their deep and sincere gratitude to the ancestral spirits who brought them into existence.

A festival of such important dimensions must consequently be celebrated with great splendour and display, requiring lavish spending by both the wealthy and those with less economic means. The former flaunt their wealth in a show of luxury and abundance in their homes and on the closest members of the family while the latter dispense, in an extravangant gesture, with all of the privations to which they have submitted themselves so avidly during the months of self-imposed sacrifices and ridiculous economies.

The entrance of the ascendant star in Aquarius marks the morning of the first day of Lap-Tch'an 立春 (Start of Spring) and is celebrated with endless strings of fire-crackers being set off. The apposition ceremony is next. A rectangle of auspicious scarlet paper, splashed with gold, the hong mun-tch'in 紅門前(Front of the Red Door) is positioned in the centre of the lintel of the front door to the house while another rectangle of scarlet paper is placed on the wall next to the front door exhibiting the following characters T'in-Kun tchi'i-fok 天官賜福(Let the Lord of Heaven Give Us Happiness). Yet another piece of scarlet paper is put at the bottom of the front door to the room with characters invoking the following: mun-hau t'ou tei tchip uang-tch'oi-san 門口土地 接横財神(Let the Local Gods of the Door Welcome the Concealed Lucky Spirits). The apposition ceremony is accompanied by libations and the offering of delicacies to invisible spirits and ends with the lighting of incense sticks and the burning of packets of fire-crackers.

Lap-Tch'an is the time when the masculine and feminine elements melt into each other in a homogeneous union. This supreme, convulsive embrace results in renewed stability for the universe: the forces of nature have been passionately rejuvenated; harmony reigns over the world. Lap-T'chan ends when the Sun enters the sign of the zodiac, Pisces, marking the beginning of U-Sol (Water and Rain), the rainy season. This is a period, for all that it is brief, when all worries are put aside because all debts have been duly honoured on the last day of the year. It is astonishing when we pause to consider that the four hundred odd million people who live in this part of the world all gather together and, for a time at least, forget their petty grumbles and quarrels; that they think only of celebrating the entrance of the Lunar New Year to the deafening clamour of fire-crackers, the thunderous booming of massive gunpowder cartridges and the impressive banging of fire-works which finish off the burning of the endless strings of explosives.

In China, however, the first day of lan which determines the first lunar month, the Moon of Festivals, has not always been considered as New Year's Day. The dates of other important festivities throughout the year, the setting of the seasons and the correct times for planting and harvesting crops depend on the date of the Lunar New Year. However, the choice of a date to celebrate this festival with such social, religious, commercial and agrarian significance in the life of the Chinese has suffered a very variable fate over the years.

As long ago as the distant Shang 商Dynasty (1765 - 1123 B. C.), the first day of Tch'au 丑, the twelfth lunar month, the Moon of Bitterness, also known as the Moon of Offerings, was chosen to celebrate the entrance of the New Year. In the following dynasty, the Chow 周Dynasty (1122 -225 B. C.), the birth of the New Year was celebrated on the first day of Tchi 子, the eleventh month, the White Moon. It was only in the Han漢 Dynasty (207 B. C.-220 A. D.) that the first day of the first lunar month was set as the date for celebrating this important festival.

In order for the celebrations to have their desired effect, preparations must begin well in advance of the actual festival. Already, on the twentieth day of the last Moon, or rather the last month in the Chinese calendar, the palatial mansions of the wealthy and the humble dwellings of the poor alike are swept out and scrubbed. Pity be the girl who skips on the sweeping for the particles of dust shall be sure to blind her in punishment for her careless negligence.

In the homes of the poor everyone is given a task to do. Some of them hurriedly patch up the shoddy furniture while others set the battered door back on its hinges and others still stick together the pieces of paper which serve as windowpanes to their home.

In the homes of the wealthy the servants polish the beams for all their hearts are worth, they patiently put a new coat of gold leaf on the delicate carvings, they revarnish the front door. The housewives go to look out the jute cushions covered in lucky red silk from the chests and place them on the hard, cold chairs and stools. While they are going through the trunks, they also take out the wonderful embroideries with exotic designs and intriguing symbolism which they use as drapes for the doors.

As could be expected, it is impossible for the arrival of the Lunar New Year to go unnoticed. Moreover, servants and householders alike are not too proud to deposit all their belongings in the middle of the street while they get on with the task of scrubbing out the inside of their homes.

A slightly worried or businesslike expression appears on people's faces as the great day approaches: businessmen are out to settle their debts; women fill the streets and shops in the hope of buying up new clothes, fine leather coats, jackets in the height of fashion or gifts to exchange with their friends. They put in orders for the cakes and sweet-meats which must be offered to visitors on the day of good fortune. Sailors, servants, minor shop assistants crowd into the small but well-stocked shops on the Avenida Almeida Ribeiro and Rua Cinco de Outubro. They all have the same objective: to purchase an ordinary but dashing felt hat cheaply produced in a factory in Hongkong or Canton, or a pair of socks, a vest or a pair of shoes.

In the last week of the year nobody fails to have a thorough all-over wash. They get their hair cut well in advance because, as everybody knows, barbers and hairdressers usually double their regular prices as the Lunar New Year draws in. Those women who still adhere to the customs of yesteryear surrender their hair to the capable hands of hairdressers. First of all, the hairdresser combs her hair back with the assistance of all her neighbours. They divide the hair into two equal parts and tie a red rib-bon tightly round each bunch, holding the ends securely between their teeth. Then they roll the hair up into a bun just a little above the nape of the neck. The hair is kept perfectly shining and smooth by using an oil-based setting lotion.

By the time the 24th day of the last Moon has arrived, every house has made its sacrificial offering to Tchou-Ka Pou-Sat 灶家菩薩or Tchou-Kuan 灶君(The Lord of the Stove) a model of whom, blackened from the smoke, is situated in an alcove right behind the stove itself. This cardboard representation is a fantastical projection of its maker's imagination. Sometimes it is composed of an old man with his companion, an old lady, beside him and who are both seated on their respective thrones. Sometimes it is a middle-aged, pot-bellied man with a horse at his side. Other models have a sly youth who looks like a policeman or a tax inspector holding a writing board on which he is zealously taking a note of everything he sees in each house much to the irritation of those who watch him. Those who cannot afford the few yuan it takes to buy one of these models content themselves with pinning a red paper on the wall behind the stove where they write the characters which make up his name and the respective titles for that particular divinity. As the divinity is the intermediary between mortals and heavenly dwellers, the spy who sees everything and then goes to tell all to the Lord of Heaven, there is nobody who dares not bow his head to him, light candles to him or offer him some little cakes.

Tchou-Kuan was first made a cult by Emperor Mou Tai 武帝 in 133 B. C. and in that early period he was most likely the Fire God or the Brahman god Agni.

In order to capture and flatter this meddling, gossiping god and to stop him from going to Iok Uong, 玉皇 the Jade Emperor, with tittle-tattle about their behaviour and closely-guarded family secrets which he has had the chance to watch over the year, some people tempt him with delicious titbits and tasty sweets which they hope will sweeten his lips. Many other people give him generous helpings of alcoholic spirits and opium in the hope that they will intoxicate him or put him in a good mood and thus make him more benevolent. Those whose consciences are not at rest may try to sweeten his lips with honey or with two pieces of dark brown sugar or to make him drunk by soaking the model in wine.

In the meantime, a provisional altar is erected to which the model, now painted in striking colours, is carried on a diminutive litter and then sits surrounded by candles, incense sticks and incense burners. After bowing their heads three times to him in worship and murmuring some prayers, the flame of a candle is stretched out to him and Tchou-Kuan makes a smokey ascent to the Pearly Throne.

The model of this Kitchen God is usually burnt with some straw and sprinkled with water or tea so that the horse which carries the god to the Pearly Throne may not suffer from hunger or thirst during the exhausting journey which takes seven days there and seven days back. During the spy god's absence, all can breathe a sigh of relief and carry on their lives free from care. There is no doubt that when this divinity is absent, everyone has a less troubled heart.

Just as his departure is celebrated, his return is celebrated in the early hours of the New Year with the uninterrupted explosion of fire-crackers. A new copy of his image is put on the throne in a ceremony which closes with the respectful bowing of heads and he is given a devoted offering of some lighted incense sticks.

This divinity's special day is the third day of the eighth Moon and he is celebrated by the associations and guilds of cooks. These cooks usually refrain from killing the cockroaches which inhabit their kitchens as they believe them to be "Tchou-Kuan's horses". Cooks are also careful to not let any new or full moon go by without offering the image of this divinity lighted incense sticks and the choicest delicacies from their kitchens.

The ceremony to venerate Tchou-Kuan known as tche-Tchou 謝灶 (thanks to Tchou) can only be presided over by men who take extreme care to make sure that no woman sits down irreverently in the kitchen to comb her hair or to throw rubbish in the fire. The burning of several packets of small fire-crackers marks the end of the simple ritual.

The streets get livelier and livelier as the festive day draws near. In the busiest places street fairs are set up. Vendors tack together stalls and fill them with crockery and every other imaginable kind of household utensil. Street sellers in the business of making red visiting cards printed with fantastic characters are particularly prosperous over these days as they have an abundance of customers to satisfy. The grocery stores are bursting with locals who have to stock up because, over these few days, nobody in China works and all the shops are totally shut. There are wandering street vendors who go up and down all the streets selling miniature paper replicas of old-fashioned halberds, little boxes of fire-crackers, china moneyboxes in the shape of pots or little pigs painted red and splashed with silver, doll's tea sets worked from rough clay, all kinds of knick-knacks and attractive goods which children want to have and can acquire for only a few yuan.

The fever for buying and selling reaches its peak just two or three nights before the New Year. Those whom Fortune has graced over the year and who have been prosperous, buy articles for their own pleasure and that of their families. Those who have not been lucky enough to reap profits from their trade or to escape from financial ruin and who have already been condemned through their incompetence or from lack of protection from the gods, sell what little they have left. As it is often the case that this is not enough to put their financial obligations in the black, they fade away into a fraudulently discreet and mysterious absence.

In Macau, the main Chinese grocers are situated on the Rua dos Mercadores. At their doors they display a huge variety of sweetmeats on special boards. On sale are foods like strips of dried coconut, slices of tomato, lotus seeds, small shelled coconuts, slices of ginger, little oranges, pieces of pumpkin, slices of lotus root which are all crystallized. There are also several kinds of fritters the most important of which are the Long-Kong 龍江 tchin-tui 煎堆, doughnuts with a sweet filling and dotted with sesame seeds, the Kau-Kong 九江 tchin-tui 煎堆, the uha 竽蝦, toasted yam, the oily tonguan 糖環 and the great favourite tailong-kou 大龍糕, a kind of dry, solid pudding which is made with glutinous rice flour.

In every home large stocks of pak-tchi, 白糍a glutinous dough, are prepared and then eaten in soups or with treacle after being toasted to a golden brown in the frying pan. Other essential items are pak-kou, 白糕 a rice dough which is cut up into small pieces and mixed with egg, onion and little pieces of barbecued pork, the red peel of san-fong 信封and tangerine peel and yet more tangerines which the Chinese believe bring good fortune for their name sounds the same as the word for happiness kat 吉.

Everybody must stock up on foodstuffs and all other kinds of commodities for the butchers and the grocers will be closed during the New Year's day festivities as the use of any sharp instrument on this day is expressly forbidden. To disregard this is to "cut good luck", a sure invitation to misfortune. It is not unusual to see people rushing home with a duck or a hen over these days. Live fish are carried tightly strung up with a cord secured around the gills. In China it is unusual for animals or fresh meat to be wrapped up or packaged. Only grains and dried foods are put into paper cones and duly folded up. At around this time, people also buy pretty little goldfish swimming in glass bowls to take home and decorate their rooms. Once all the food has been cooked, enough water to last for two days is drawn out of the well. Now the guardian spirits of the wells can rest in peace as they too are entitled to be left undisturbed over the New Year celebrations.

Art lovers ferret about in the junk shops hoping to find a really good bargain but where most people are to be found is where the Rua das Estalagens meets the Rua dos Mercadores. This where you can find all the Chinese glass and china tableware, vases, children's toys, fong-pau 封包 small red envelopes for enclosing lai-si gift money 利是 This is also where you can find the machines for printing the indispensable New Year's cards which are exchanged between people in the middle of the street or delivered to acquaintances wishing them a prosperous New Year.

On the second last and last day of the year right up to midnight, the brilliantly illuminated Praça do Leal Senado is teeming with rich businessmen who, in the company of their wives, have gone there to select the most exquisite flowers or pots of beautiful, exotic plants which are displayed in the provisional stalls put together from wooden boards and bamboo. Nobody leaves the square without taking some cuttings of peach blossom, plum blossom or the highly valued tui tchong fa 吊鐘花(little bell-shaped flowers) which they must have to decorate their homes. These flowers are specially cultivated to make sure that they will bloom at around the time of the festival.

During the day, the servants of the amicable Europeans go through the streets pulled along in rickshaws. On their knees they balance massive circular dishes divided into three or five compartments each one of which is filled with a delicacy: sugared oranges, plums and gooseberries, the best of Macau's sweetmeats. Each of these fruits is elegantly wrapped in colourful and fanciful pieces of tissue paper and it has long been the custom that they should be given in return for presents received at Christmastime.

After the very last customer has made his purchases, the shops close their door and the clerks' excited, nimble fingers start to push the abacus beads swiftly along the rods of the counting contraption. If business has been good over the year then the owner smiles with satisfaction and jokes good humouredly with the employees giving them all a generous tip. If the news is not so good then he takes a few coppers to go out and buy a share of opium. Once this has been diluted and drunk it is guaranteed never to let anyone down, never to let any bankrupt businessman "lose face". Occasionally, people suddenly wake up in their homes to the screaming sirens of fire engines which are rushing to attack the fire in a shop which has gone up in flames, quite how, nobody knows. The following day, the rumour will be passed around that a certain businessman who was already forecast as heading for bankruptcy will clear his debts with the help of his insurance policy.

It is a well known fact that the Chinese try to square all their debts from the 15th day of the last lunar month up to the eve of the Lunar New Year. If they fail to do this, it will be difficult for them to obtain credit in the coming year for, as the Chinese proverb says: Fan-hau-in; nin-man-tchin 飯後煙,年晚錢 or rather "when the meal is over, a cigarette; when the year is over, money".

In China, although the country is not exactly poor, there are few who take an equitable share in her immense national wealth. Rather, it seems that everything is distributed unequally. However, the Chinese are fundamentally a commercial people who, because almost all of them are burdened by a certain degree of poverty, are in eternal debt to each other. A large part of the population is made up of farmers and like all members of the rural classes Chinese villagers are forced to take out loans to cover expenses for seeds, fertilizers and other necessary items. The local loan sharks charge them an illegal monthly interest rate of at least 3%. Furthermore, the Chinese, and in particular the peasants who are still extremely conservative, feel the need to keep up a front in certain ceremonies which are devastating in financial terms. Included in this category of happenings are funerals, weddings and anniversaries any one of which requires at least two mau 畝(one mau is equivalent to 675 m²) of good meadowland for there are a great number of cakes, roast pork, wine, incense, fire-crackers, etc., which have to be shared around on these occasions.

Neither villagers nor petty businessmen enjoy excess profits. In fact, they hardly possess enough to keep themselves and their families at subsistence level. A natural result of this is that they live, as a matter of course, from loans. The days running up to the Lunar New Year are consequently filled with tortured anxiety as they try to repay their debts or to take out new credit. As both creditor and debtor need the money, the last Moon of the year is set as the final date for repayment for the whole of the Chinese nation as everybody has somebody to pay back.

In former years, the Chinese debtor was a much happier soul for, were he unable to pay his debts, he could back out quite bare-facedly. He had only to keep out of sight of his creditor, claiming to be debilitated by some serious illness if he was searched out at home. All this was tolerated by general consent and practice.

However, the creditor could claim for repayment right up to the last day of the year, chasing his debtor down the street like a dog sniffing out a trail. Alternatively, he could install himself at the door to his creditor's home prepared to spend the whole day there insulting him and making threats should this be needed, an action which often resulted in the two protagonists having recourse to fisticuffs of the lowest order imaginable. Even after the sun had dawned on the new year, creditors could chase up their debtors so long as they held a lit lantern in their hand to indicate that the last day of the year had still not come to a close. This allowed the debtor to make good his debts without "losing face". In order to do this, when a debtor who had been forced to creep out into the street felt that he was being pursued by his creditor, he tried to make a dash for the nearest temple. Once he was safely ensconced in this holy sanctuary, nobody would dare to cross him and he could breathe freely again, safe in the knowledge that he would only have to pay his debts on the fifth day of the fifth Moon, the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Nevertheless, on New Year's Day, the debtor was allowed to kit himself out in his best suit and he could even be so bold as to visit his creditor or receive a visit from him with no feelings whatsoever of awkwardness but rather with the most complete joviality, each trying to outdo the other in a profusion of compliments and exchanging the friendliest and most courteous of greetings. This all took place with total disregard for the fury which was consuming the creditor or the worry which was gnawing away at the debtor who would, nevertheless, try to control his feelings. Neither of the two would break the rules of pragmatism by making even the slightest allusion to the debt in question and it was to be hoped that it would be settled at the earliest possible opportunity.

One of the matters which is of greatest concern to the Chinese on the eve of the New Year is the replacement of the lucky inscriptions which are to be found on both sides and above the front door of the home and on almost all of the inner doors including that to the kitchen. These inscriptions express hopes for good fortune, success in business, a large family, a continuous family line, a long life, fame and riches and give particular emphasis to the character fok 福(happiness). They are elegantly written in calligraphic style on large diamond-shaped pieces of red paper.

According to popular tradition, these inscriptions are a relatively recent development. When the Manchus succeeded in conquering China, the Chinese attempted to show their disgust at the intruding dynasty by any means possible. At that time some people stuck the figure of a woman with a lemon at her breast and huge, bare feet at the door to their homes. This figure was a direct reference to the lowly origins of empress. The revolutionary sentiments held by the people were so strong that those who refused to bend to the alien yolk also began to put this picaresque charicature at the door to their homes. The usurper Hong-Mou 洪武(1368-1399 A. D.) was outraged at such an insult and, seeing the makings of subversion in this act, ordered those who were loyal to him to paint the character fok 福(happiness) over their doors. The following day, those whose doors did not display the felicitous inscription were beheaded.

These pieces of paper with their elaborate, ornamental borders and auspicious painted phrases like hoi-mun kin-hei 開門見喜(on opening the door, one sees happiness) attached to the various doors of each dwelling are invariably scarlet red. When they are blue or white it is to indicate that the family is in mourning and they are not replaced even in the New Year until at least one hundred days after the day on which the person in question passed away. The inscriptions on yellow or orange paper are used only in temples.

In the olden days, it was customary for shops to hang imitation paper money of the kind which is usually burned during religious ceremonies from their signs to indicate the desire for success and prosperity in business throughout the year. The inscription which can be seen over many shops nowadays is man-si ieng-tong 萬事應當which means "may our business be successful".

In addition to lucky inscriptions, at the Lunar New Year the Chinese usually also stick effigies of the Mun-San 門神(Gods of the Doors) on their doors. These figures represent two brothers who lived, many, many years ago, under a peach tree which was so massive that not even five thousand men with their arms outstretched could encircle its gigantic trunk. As they had been the friends of men, protecting them impartially from attacks by demons by sending tigers to chase after them, it was not long before they started being worshipped by the state employees. They used to place carved peach wood statuettes of them over the doors to their different offices. As time went on, these statuettes were replaced with wooden engravings and finally they came to be represented by pictures painted on paper. They were still easily recognizable from the peach flower which was drawn in the lower half of the picture.

There are those who say that the Gods of the Doors were, during their lives, generals in the army of Emperor Tai-Tchong 太宗(627-650 A. D.). After the emperor's fiasco in leading his troops against Korea, he was chased by succubi. The two generals were close to desperation for the sake of their illustrious master. They thus resolved to set up a guard, one at either side of the entrance to his alcove, ready to fight to the death with any demons who should dare to cross their path and try to disturb the imperial lord. The demons were well acquainted with the immeasurable bravery of the two generals and they dared not cross the threshold. And so time went on until one day when the demons came across a secret door through which they could enter the emperor's inner chamber. However, another famous general, Uai-Tcheng 魏徵, offered to guard this door. The emperor, firm in the belief that it was not fair to let his loyal generals lose their sleep at night in order to keep vigil for him, ordered their images to be painted on the doors. These were painted with such expertise that the demons were fooled by the remarkable similarity and continued to be fearful of crossing into the imperial chambers. Once they learned of the indisputable efficacy of such a simple process for keeping evil spirits away, the rest of the population also began to stick images of these warriors on the doors of their homes.

Now, once the rooms have been protected against the presence of pernicious beings by using inscriptions and images, the Chinese have only to go and pay their respects to those relatives who live under other roofs. This is usually done on the penultimate day of the year. Youngsters must also visit their teachers for, to the Chinese, these are most important people and deserve the greatest respect after parents. These visits are made in order to bring the year to a formal end and those individuals of a charitable tendency take along a servant laden with small change to distribute amongst the needy on their way back home. Chinese social etiquette also used to allow people to enter the homes of those who were wailing and lamenting their misfortunes with an aim to assisting them.

Meanwhile, all the furniture at home is given a final cleaning, something which many Chinese still only do once a year. Embossed cylindrical and rectangular tins of various sizes are carefully searched out from beneath beds. Inside are the best pieces of china delicately wrapped up in cotton wool which will now be brought out and displayed in the most advantageous spot where all the visitors can appreciate them. On the walls hang paintings which carry the signatures and seals of the most famous and ancient celebrities. Elegant vases filled with branches of peach blossom, jardinières with rushes held in position with white pebbles, and fruit bowls holding pomegranates and citrons stand on ornamental pedestals occasional tables.

Cooks make haste to prepare delicious sweetmeats with lucky-sounding names such as sin-kai 仙鷄. (fairy chicken), kam-tchin-kai 金錢鷄 (chicken with golden sapeques), etc. and in case they have forgotten any of the ingredients, condescending grocers still sell them what they need through a little peephole.

When preparation of all the food has come to an end, the wells are covered and the spirits who guard over them are left to rest. Young boys run through the streets shouting out: "I'm selling my stupidity", or"I'm selling my bad habits and hope to have better judgement in the coming year". Those given to superstition place a sieve over the oven and on top of that a basin of water with a mirror lying at the bottom of it. Then they go to stand at the door to the street and any lucky words which they catch from the first people to pass by are interpreted as an indication of great fortune throughout the coming year.

At dusk on New Year's Eve or on New Year's Day, they buy images of Tchoi-San 财神(the God of Wealth) which are sold by street urchins who go up and down the streets calling out their wares.

So that the gods don't stop protecting the members of the family during the New Year, they place five kinds of tea, five glasses of wine, and five pairs of fai-tchi 筷子(chopsticks) in front of their images for in China five is a sacred number. As nobody needs to go out, the master seals the main door to the house with red paper to stop happiness escaping from the home and to block entrance to the seventy two malevolent spirits who are always lying in wait just behind doors which have not been properly protected with amulets and talismans. For people whose existence hovers between a reasonable living and poverty the door is sealed with the intention of keeping out the spirit Pei Fu-Tchai 貔虎仔, a rogue who strips the poor of what little they have and gives it to the wealthy in an attempt to compensate the well-off for the generosity which they have shown throughout the year in helping the poor.

Before the cock can crow in the dawn of the New Year, twigs of cypress and pine, and sesame cuttings are strewn over the patio to stop demons from invading the house. It is thought that the crunching sound which the demons might make on walking over them is sufficient to reveal their presence and thus cause them to flee in terror.

On the afternoon of New Year's Eve, nin sam-sap man 年三十晚(the night of the 30th of the year), there is a meeting in every Chinese shop and home. This meeting is completely informal but all the shop employees or members of the family are obliged to attend the t'un-nin 團年. This is a sumptuous banquet in celebration of the end of the year and it takes place in an atmosphere of great happiness. As a rule, nobody from outside the family can attend the t'un-nin which are held at home. Before the feast begins it is the custom to pay respects to ancestors and in some shops little snacks are offered to the patron saint of the relevant business or profession. This ceremony is not too serious and incense sticks are lit in front of their images along with the noisy explosion of fire-crackers.

Once the t'un-nin is over and the coming year has been welcomed with the burning of p'au-tcheong 炮仗and fireworks, the householders go into the reception room and, seated in chairs, they calmly and expectantly await the greetings of the members of the family who will come up to them one at a time to bow their heads, oldest going first and then in order of decreasing age each one murmuring ieng-tong 應當(I must, for it is my duty). With this simple sentence they declare their obedience and submission to the respected heads of the household.

The evening of New Year's Eve is spent with a vigil, sau-soi 守嵗 (to keep vigil over the night) and, as midnight approaches, the members of the family gather in front of the sacrificial altar to worship the Spirits of Heaven and Earth, the household gods and the ancestral tablets, bowing their heads in recognition of the year which is coming to a close and then, at midnight, of the new year which has been born.

Notwithstanding all this ritual, there are many who perhaps for want of a watch rush headlong into setting off the fire-crackers and welcoming the invisible return of the Fire God with hasty servility a long time before the tolling of the bells twelve times has indicated that the year has actually passed on. Once the bells have tolled, however, there is the most incredible level of noise made by the resounding eruptions of the explosions of millions and millions of fire-crackers and petards which thunder like gun salutes. Well-off people order countless strings of fire-crackers to be ignited, each one ending with catherine wheels. The extent and duration of these strings of fire-crackers is an indication of the degree of wealth of the person who ordered them. Those who are less well-heeled content themselves with throwing home-made packets of small cartridges from the windows of their modest dwellings. These are also red and equally noisy and the total effect of all these detonations and explosions is of a demented orgy of unbridled, deafening noise filling the air with a heavy, sulphurous, asphyxiating smoke. The smoke floats through the atmosphere extremely slowly as the humidity at this time of year is particularly high and does not allow it to disperse.

The fire-crackers are burned to welcome back the Fire God, to make the other gods happy, to induce happiness and contentment amongst mortal beings, to chase away evil spirits and to scare off restless demons.

It is said that the more complacent and tolerant missionaries, well acquainted with the Chinese' lamentable weakness for loud noises, were sometimes obliged to set off a string of fire-crackers in the most solemn part of the mass.

The liturgical rites which accompany the Chinese New Year are initiated at the stroke of midnight. When all the preparations have been made for the religious service which is to be celebrated, when the sacrificial altar has been erected and all the members of the family are suitably dressed in their best apparel, the head of the household, usually a highly respected older member wearing his richest silk robes, starts the ceremony. Slow, pious, his back slightly curved from age, engrossed in the importance of the position he holds in the family hierarchy for it is he who is answerable to the gods and his ancestors for the moral behaviour of all the members of his clan, he moves towards a table in the centre of the main room. On the table are a wooden recipient or an elegantly glazed porcelain bowl containing steaming rice and from five to ten dishes of various vegetables, and glowing tallow candles which have been painted red and securely placed in high candlesticks fashioned from tarnished tin. Branches of citron or blossoms are also strewn over the table and there are pyramids of tangerines and mandarins piled up in the fruit bowls which surround the wooden rice bowl. In the rice there are ten pairs of chopsticks wrapped up in imitation paper coins. From each pair there hangs a calendar for the new year, suspended by means of a red string. There are one or three perfumed incense sticks burning in the censer. Included in the presents which are to be offered up to T'in-San 天神(God of Heaven) and Tei-Tchu 地主(Lord of the Earth) there should be no meat whatsoever, but ten cups of tea and other offertory cups are among the items which must be presented to them. In the North of China rice is replaced with sorghum as an expression of thanks for the nourishment which was provided during the previous year and, it is hoped, will be provided throughout the coming year.

The patriarch, accompanied by the various members of the different branches of his family who make up the complex structure of the Chinese clan, then officiates, as is the custom, as a priest, making the "rice offering" with all due solemnity. He prostrates himself in a gesture of complete humility and, kneeling on a small cushion, worships the gods of Heaven and Earth, bowing his head down to the floor three times. This ceremony is commonly known as k'au-t'au 叩頭(literally "to knock the head", to kowtow) and it starts off with the enthusiastic burning of several strings of fire-crackers. Then the patriarch gets up and puts one or three incense sticks on the table which he should already be holding before he reaches the table. Fully aware of the significance of the occasion, his voice quivering with emotion and devotion, the patriarch addresses pious mystic words to the invisible gods of Heaven and Earth. He communicates his gratitude for the benefits which have been distributed throughout the year both to him and to his numerous offspring and fervently requests that they tend their undivided protection to future business and other undertakings as well as guarantee peace for his home. This ceremony ends with another string of fire-crackers and yet more strings for each member of the family who lives under that roof, in descending order of age.

Nevertheless, there are Chinese families who prefer to celebrate this ritual in the patio under the mysterious light of the stars and the paper lanterns.

The tableware will remain on the table over one or two days and nobody shall touch it because everything in the dishes is destined to be savoured by the gods of Heaven and Earth.

After this initial ritual, the second one follows which consists of offering the gods a tray of porcelain dishes of rice, greens and noodles, vermicelli mixed with vegetables and dried plants, or rather tchai 齋(vegetarian food to be eaten during periods of abstinence), various fruits, three pairs of chopsticks, three cups of tea and the same number of offertory cups. The gods who are presented with this feast are the protective numina and the household gods, namely Tchou-Uong 灶皇 or Tchou-Kuan 灶君(Fire God), the Mun-San 門神(Door Spirits), Mun-Kun 門官(Porter God) and the Mun-San T'ou-Tei 門神土地(Local Door Gods), the gods who protect entrances.

The womenfolk, who are more pious and superstitious than men, extend these offerings to other deities such as the God of the Central Room, the Well Spirit and the God and Goddess of the Bedstead who protect alcoves and prevent children from falling out of their beds and who are especially worshipped throughout the year on account of this. They are offered fruit, wine, pickled ginger and eggs which have been painted scarlet, all of which are placed on a little table at the head of the bed. Other honoured deities are the Taoist San Ku 三官(The Three sovereigns of Heaven, Earth and Water) and the Buddhist U-Loi-Fat 如來佛(Tatagata), Sek-Ka-Mou-Ni 釋迦牟尼(Squiamuni) and Kun-lan 觀音(Goddess of Piety).

The same thanks are repeated during this act and the same protection is requested, incense sticks, candles and sandalwood are lit in just the same way, prostrations are done and the offering ends in exactly the same way as the preceeding one with strings of fire-crackers and the burning of imitation paper gold and silver ingots, tchi-ma 纸馬 (model horses), ma-tcheong 馬長 (pictures of horses) and a block with one hundred images of almost all of the Chinese deities.

The tchi-ma is a vague remnant of the ancient custom of carrying out sacrifices with live animals, usually of the equine family. These were gradually replaced with wooden models, imitations made of cloth and finally, during the reign of Emperor MengUong 明皇(713-756A. D.)in the Tang 唐 Dynasty, paper horses which are now represented by gaudy colourful paper depictions of deified heroes either on horseback or with a horse beside them.

The Chinese New Year religious rituals end with a veneration of the ancestral spirits who are represented on ancestral tablets. The head of the family kneels before them in profound deference as the representative of all the descendants. He mutters an improvised prayer of gratitude to his predecessors for all their protection and generosity which extends to include the fact of their very existence.

The fragrant sweetmeats which were offered to the spirits who dwell in the ancestral tablets and of which they could only enjoy the smell and vapours are then eaten by all those who are present in accordance with the archaic code of Chinese traditions.

The ancestral tablets where the posthumous names of the forefathers are written are sometimes marked with red ink or the blood from a cockscomb. If this is not done then the tablets are not regarded as being invested with a spiritual quality. The cult of ancestor worship can only be practised by direct descendants. Those who do not possess an ancestral tablet place a small black bag containing a square piece of paper with the names of their ancestors on the western wall of the living room.

The great families of Inner China, where all the members of each village belong to the same tribe, keep their ancestral tablets in a special building, the Ancestral Pavilion. It is not unusual to find thirty or forty tablets representing the same amount of generations in these pavilions. However, only the tablets relating to the most recent generations are taken out of their niches and displayed on the sacrificial altar and tablets which date from further back than five or six generations are never worshipped.

The liturgy of the triple cult of Heaven and Earth, the household deities and the ancestors is repeated and as the ancestral spirits live with the members of their family for two weeks they are given five kinds of food served with five pairs of chopsticks, five cups of wine and towels dampened with hot water to help them wash their faces. An almanac is also left with them so they can learn which days are festivals and which are unlucky so that they can intervene on behalf of their descendants.

After this triple religious ceremony has ended, the family celebrations begin. In former times, as soon as the twelve strokes of the bell had stopped vibrating, the head of the family was graciously invited to the chair of honour where he would remain rigidly seated with no change in his facial expression, as was prescribed by etiquette, while his numerous offspring paid him their respects by going up to him in pairs in measured steps and, once they had reached him, prostrating themselves and kowtowing three times as a gesture of humility. Then they murmured the sentence ieng-tong 應當(I must, for it is my duty) or tcheng-on 請安 (I wish you peace.)

During this ceremony, the family hierarchy was strictly adhered to with direct descendants having precedence over other relatives, even when they were younger, because they represented the pure family tree and not the simple offshoots from the family line.

After they had paid their respects to the patriarch, the youngest members of the family then paid their respects to the oldest relatives. Uncles were not entitled to sit down during this homage and had to remain standing.

Married couples did not exchange any New Year greeting, but concubines, euphemistically known as siu-seng 小星(minor or secondary stars), had to wish a happy new year to their lover and his legitimate wife.

Nowadays, the kneeling has been replaced with a simple bow with the head bent low which is certainly much less complicated and less servile than the old-fashioned etiquette which described eight "degrees of submission" for prostrations. The simplest and least important of these was kong-sau 拱手 (joining of the hands) which consisted in clasping the hands together and either raising them to eye level or to the forehead. Next was the tcheong-iap 作揖 (greeting), a long bow with the hands clasped. Third was the tak-kau 打救 (a greeting which was executed by bowing while bending one of the knees). Then there was the kuai 跪(kneeling) and the k'au-t'au 叩頭(knocking the head, kowtowing) was the most important of all. This last reverence was performed one, three, six or nine times depending on the level of importance of the person to whom it was directed. The Manchus later required that one knee should be bent while the right hand touched the ground during this bow.

Older people are obliged to return the youngsters' new year greetings with a handsel which can vary depending on the esteem in which the receiver is held. The money is handed over wrapped in a piece of scarlet paper or in a scarlet envelope commonly known as hong-pau 红包(red parcel). This gift is in itself an ancient way of expressing hopes for happiness and, in the days of the New Year festivities, the Chinese walk around with their pockets bursting with the little packets or red envelopes. Most of them hold no more than a twenty avo coin but they are distributed generously amongst the children and servants of friends whom they meet in the street or in neighbouring houses. It is considered to be an act of the utmost bad manners not to give lai-si to the children of other guests who may be visiting any house at the same time even when they are not acquainted with their parents. Single people are also given lai-si because they are viewed as children until they marry.

The rigidity of Chinese etiquette prevents any excess display of emotions between relatives. This, along with the customary lack of expansiveness, means that the New Year celebrations are characterized by a certain coolness.

Between three and five o'clock in the morning, at the hour of the Tiger, the head of the family goes to the front door of his home to break the seals, that is, to tear off the papers which were used to seal up the door the previous night. As the seventy two devils are still lying in wait, ready for this opportunity to invade the house, the householder mutters an auspicious phrase such as "let the New Year bring us many riches". This ceremony is known as the "opening of the door of fortune" and, with the "sealing" and the "breaking of the seals", used to take place in all public buildings throughout the country.

After this, the whole family goes into the dining room for breakfast. This is a day of rigorous abstinence and the Chinese eat only vegetarian dishes made from seaweed, mushrooms, peanuts, ginkgo nuts, fungi and dried soya beans. These dishes are both attractive and delicious, however, as the Chinese have an extraordinary talent for cooking and culinary practices throughout the country are extremely refined.

Also included in the food for this day is a certain kind of clam called fat-tch'oi-tai-hin 發財大顯(great prosperity) which everyone eats in the morning of the new year. In the larger cities it is usual to go out to eat in restaurants or to visit a dance hall later in the day.

When lunch is over, everyone goes into the living room where they fill in the time until visitors start arriving. On New Year's day this room is usually beautifully decorated with sumptuous hangings made from red satin or silk heavily embroidered with symbols and mythological allegories draped over the entrances to the most private rooms. Luxurious furniture of ebony or black lacquer, some of it with an elegant simplicity, some of it elaborately ornamented or even inlaid with mother-of-pearl is brought out for this special occasion. Old water-colours hang on the walls covering them almost completely. Valuable ceramics rest on delicate stands worked in distant dynasties. These ornaments are only taken out of their safe wrappings for the duration of the festivities and they are usually put away right after the holidays are over.

Nowadays, especially in the homes of the nouveaux-riches, there is a preference for European furniture with an unfortunate predominance of all that is least tasteful. It is truly lamentable that everything foreign should be imitated to such a ridiculous extent while the traditional native art is neglected.

The Chinese take great pride in their manners and when any visit arrives both the head of the family and his wife go to the front door to receive their guests, following the rules of tradition. The guest approaches to within one or two metres of the hosts and both greet each other simultaneously, the visitor saying kong-hei, kong-hei 恭喜、恭喜(respectful tidings, respectful tidings) while the hosts say kong-hei fat tchoi 恭喜發財(respectful tidings and may you be wealthy).

The greetings are always done while raising the arms and curving them until the fingertips touch. The hands should remained joined in this way and should be moved three times from nose level to the stomach. People who are unfamiliar with the technique usually raise their hands up to their chests and jerk them around a little like boxers do when they acknowledge their fans. In exceptional cases, for instance when greeting an elderly person, it is the custom to lower the hands down to the knees and to bow deeply. This last gesture is regarded as the most respectful.

Women who still hold to tradition bend over in a deep bow, letting their hands fall almost to their feet and the men begin this greeting by letting their hands fall from the waist.

Once the bows have been exchanged, the visitor is shown into the sitting room where he is offered a chair by the host who repeats the traditional invitation tchengt-cho, tcheng-tcho 請坐、請坐(l invite you to sit down). The guest is given a simple cup of hot tea which he takes with both hands and places on the tcha-kei 茶几(tea table) beside his chair. After this he is offered crystallized fruit divided amongst the compartments of a tchun-hap全盒 (complete box). Many Chinese have now replaced the local sweetmeats with confectionery and chocolates. The conversation is constantly interrupted by the sound of roast nuts being cracked open and their delicious contents consumed. Almonds are particularly prized during the holiday season not only for their colour but also because they augur abundance and prosperity.

Sometimes the guest is invited to dine with the family and he is served cakes, pastries and other savouries along with an alcoholic drink.

Usually the guest does not stay for very long and should he overstay his welcome the host will politely indicate that the time for him to depart has arrived by inviting him to drink the cup of tea which is on the table beside him. The guest will immediately understand this veiled hint and will take his leave, wishing the head of the family a happy and prosperous year and other felicitous wishes.

Those who still hold to tradition open up their wells on the second day of the festival whilst murmuring a prayer to the spirits who keep watch over them. On the third day, Tchoi San 財神(God of Wealth) is worshipped. His image graces every Chinese home and, like the God of the Kitchen, it is renewed every year. Those who do not have enough money to buy a statuette just write the name of the deity on a piece of red paper while others go to worship him in the temple.

After three days, the streets return to normal. The altars are taken down in homes and the ornaments put away. The shops open up after paying their respects to the God of Wealth and offering him libations of wine.

The Chinese take the opportunity of going to wish their relatives and friends a happy new year on this day. They must be especially careful not to slip and fall for this is an extremely unlucky thing both for the person who falls and for the host in whose home it happens. However, even this is not considered to be as unlucky as when the first person met on the street is a woman or a bonze.

Usually, the sentences which are employed to wish people a happy new year are kong-hei fat-choi 恭喜發財 or simply kong-hei 恭喜or also tcheng-on 請安. Because children can thoughtlessly utter a phrase which can only bring misfortune, solicitous mothers stick papers onto the walls bearing the inscriptions "sentences offered by children don't count" or "Heaven and Earth, yin 陰(the feminine principle) and yang 陽(the masculine principle) and all other beings are safe from any unlucky words". If a child insists on uttering unlucky words his mouth is wiped with imitation paper money.

Finally, Taoist bonzes are invited to homes to ensure that malicious spirits keep their distance with they do by performing an exorcism.

Local protocol requires that new year visits must be paid within the first two weeks of the opening of the year. These visits are so important that few people leave them for the second week, preferring to offer their greetings as early as possible. Also, anyone receiving a visit in the second week may take offence as they might interpret the late visit as an intentional lack of respect. The Chinese also regard the third day of the year as an inauspicious day for visiting as superstition indicates that a visit at this time will lead to a misunderstanding or break in the friendship between the visitor and the host in the near future.

Women do not usually go out for the first five days of the year and when they do go out they are accompanied by a maid who carries a kap lo 盒籮(a stack of little lacquer boxes) which contains seasonal cakes and other delicacies to give to their friends.

On the morning of the second day, the old image of Tchoi-San 財神(God of Wealth), found in homes and commercial establishments, is taken out of its alcove and burnt in the patio or in the middle of the street. A new copy, which has been bought on New Year's Eve, is put back in the alcove to the banging of fire-crackers, the burning of incense and some sacrifices which vary according to the means of each person.

The well-off offer this god a pig, a lamb or kid, a fish (the God of Wealth has a particular fondness for carp) and a chicken or, alternatively, a pig, a fish and a chicken. Those whose pockets cannot stretch so far give him a pig and the poor simply offer up the head of a pig or a fish or a chicken. Those below the poverty line are able to give him no more than a little rice and some vegetables.

When the offerings have been blessed and the wine in the libation vessel set alight, the head of the family or, if he is not present, any other male relative worships the image by prostrating himself three times in front of it. This can also be done by a woman if there is no man available.

Once all the incense has been burned, the offerings are taken into the kitchen where they are made into a meal for the family.

The exact origins of the God of Wealth have been lost in the mists of time. He may have been the Spirit of the North or perhaps he was one of the Regional Gods of Wealth. Traditionally he is identified as a magician called Tchu-Kong-Meng who led the life of a hermit in the sacred mountain Ngo Mei 娥媚 He usually went around on a black tiger and for this reason he is now depicted with the wild beast beside him. One day, the magician's enemy made a straw effigy of him and shot an arrow made from the wood of the peach tree right into his heart. The magician died, but the people wove a web of legends around his reputation, endowing him with virtues and powers which he certainly never possessed during his lifetime. In the end, his image became an object of worship and he was enthroned upon an altar as the God of Wealth.

The wells are uncovered on the second day of the year following some prayers. The first bucket of water which is drawn is hailed with fire-crackers and incense and sacrifices are offered to the spirits responsible for keeping watch over the wells.

The third day is usually spent at home and, in the days to follow, people pay visits to the temples to renew their vows and to make their wishes to the God of Wealth. The altars are built above massive bronze charcoal burners or ovens which are always lit. Visitors to the temple throw countless imitation gold and silver ingots into the ovens. Thick sticks of incense and sandalwood burn from the ceilings and, along with the fake monetary offerings, it all combines to produce a dense cloud of smoke which is absolutely suffocating. Chinese temples are built round a series of little patios and squares which are exposed to fresh air with precisely the objective of allowing the free circulation of air through the chapels. Even then, the smoke is enough to make the worshippers' eyes water. Visitors are handed tallow candles as they enter the temple and they light them and leave them to burn in huge bronze censers on the altars.

At times like these, everyone is eager to find out what their horoscope will be for the year. In order to do this, they go up to a table behind which a bonze is seated with a bamboo tube containing many rods each one marked with characters. He shakes the tube until some of the rods fall out. The rods are then interpreted, with the assistance of a musty, ancient tome of codes to decipher the meaning of the characters and the fortune of the person in question is thus revealed. If the news is not particularly agreeable to the receiver, he can request that his fortune be revealed once again by presenting the bonze with another offering.

During these days, there are fairs in the villages and round, paper lanterns are hung in the Ancestral Pavilions. The lanterns carry scarlet letters for each child born over the previous year and they remain hanging inside the pavilions over the festivities. This ceremony is known as tim-tang 添丁(the addition of individuals) because when friends offer each other congratulations they usually repeat the phrase kong kei tim-tang fatt-choi 恭喜添丁發財which means "l wish you happiness, that you have children and that you enjoy great wealth".

On the fifth day, the altars, statuettes and all the paraphernalia pertaining to the cult are put away. Anything which can be used to decorate the house is carefully saved, the auspicious inscriptions are destroyed and the whole house is swept clean.

On the morning of the sixth day, shopkeepers who can no longer afford to remain on holiday get up very early to worship a collection of all the deities who are represented on a piece of gilded red paper. This paper must be bought on New Year's Eve and throughout the first five days of the new year it is worshipped. On the sixth day it is taken out into the patio or the street to be burnt along with several packets of firecrackers. While this is happening, prayers are offered up to the God of Wealth who the shopkeepers beg to grace their establishments.

Once this ceremony has been completed, they collect the posters displaying huge characters with the sentence Kong-ho san-hei 恭賀新禧(respectful congratulations and renewed happiness) or Kong-tchok tchan-lei 恭賀春釐(respectful congratulations and Spring prosperity). Enthusiastic processions of people honouring the God of Wealth parade through the streets to the sound of clashing cymbals, strident shawns and the banging of kettledrums. Firecrackers fill the air and behind the procession athletes from some cultural group perform the "lion dance" or support huge silk banners adorned with Chinese characters.

Formerly, these five holidays for shops were strictly observed but nowadays there are shops which open up earlier, some of them even on New Year's Day.

The seventh day of the new year is also a great celebration as it is supposedly the birthday of all human beings. It is called Ian-Iat 人日(Man's Day). The first six days of the year represent the days when the chicken, the pig, the dog, the sheep, the cow and the horse were created. On the eighth, ninth and tenth days, wheat, heaven and earth were created. This is why the new year is regarded as the legitimate anniversary of all individuals irrespective of their actual date of birth.

On the afternoon of the eighth day, there is usually a ceremony to ensure the dispersal of calamities. This is intended to make the gods chase away any calamities destined for those who are faithful to them. Several wicks about six centimetres long are fashioned out of green, white or red paper and at one end they are torn to make sure that they will balance properly on the ground. The wicks are then soaked in oil and they are placed on the ground fifty centimetres apart in a line from the bed up to the front door. A number of these wicks equal to the age of the head of the family are placed in a dish on a table in the centre of the patio. Some people wait until the afternoon of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month to perform this ceremony.

Between eight o'clock at night and one in the morning, three or five bowls of rice and dough balls are put on a table facing north in the patio. The table is set to face an image of the God of the Stars and a piece of paper with the signs of the zodiac and other mystic symbols connected to the constellations. Incense is burned and the head of the family prostrates himself three times before eating the rice and the dough balls with the rest of his relatives.

Formerly, on the evening of the thirteenth day of the year, commercial establishments used to hang a profusion of colourful lanterns from their shop fronts. Now, only bakers and shops which sell teas observe this custom and the lanterns are intended only to attract the attention of people as they pass through the streets between the thirteenth and seventeenth days in the hope that they will be drawn into the shops to buy a little present for their friends.

The head of the household sets one of the days of the New Year holidays as the date for starting the normal activities of the year, hoi-nin 開年(to open the year). This is generally the last day of the holidays. The ancestral tablets which have been worshipped every day of the festival with offerings of incense and five kinds of food are put away and the paper lanterns are burned. All other traces of the festivities are removed and the last firecrackers are burned after a huge feast which marks the recommencement of everyday life.

*Researcher and historian on the History of Macau; writer and sinologist.