Daddy, did you like the New Year’s celebration?
“Daddy, did you like the New Year’s celebration when you were a child?” the kid asked.“Yes, of course.”“Why?”“Mmmm…”
Why? I’ve never thought of that. But it didn’t take long before I found out all the reasons.
I liked the celebration of the New Year (Chinese lunar New Year, that is) first because on New Year’s Day, all adults didn’t work. That meant a lot to us children and added much to our joy. Only on that day, we felt our parents belonged to the same world with us. We eat and play; they eat and play, too. We were very glad to see our parents put down all work except some cooking and have time to sit down chatting with visiting relatives or neighbors. All business must end on the day before and it was an unwritten law that none should work on New Year’s Day, or he was sure to be criticized.
Second, my parents wouldn’t scold me on that day. Not even when I broke one of our few belongings. It was also an unwritten law. I didn’t know why there was it. I only got the conclusion from the fact that parents usually didn’t shout at their children that day and when someone did shout, he or she would be stopped immediately. “… you see, it’s the New Years Day!” someone would say. Parents at that time seemed too busy and overburdened to have the patience to argue peacefully with their children. When the kids did anything wrong, they gave them a scolding or beat them. But on the New Year’s Day, thank goodness, we were safe.
The third thing that excited us was that everyone would have a better appearance. Clothes with patches here and there disappeared, at least looked from outside, because everyone would wear new suits. It was almost the only chance that people had new clothes. The new suits usually would be put back into the clothes box after the festival so that they still looked new when people make trips in them during the year. They wouldn’t become usual clothes until the next year and not until the third year, they became work clothes. Not all children were lucky enough to get new clothes. Some of them had to wear what their bothers or sisters outgrew. There were times in my memory that I spent New Years Day in my brother’s suit. Still, I was very proud: I became my brother now!
Then there was the meat. We got meat to eat at dinners when the festival came! There was pork, chicken or duck, and fish! All were what we desire but had little chance to taste during the year. I remember vividly the wonderful taste of the meat then and can’t help wondering what has gone wrong with meat today.
Some friends may wonder why little Charles should have lacked meat to eat, since he lived in the countryside where each family keeps poultry and livestock. It was indeed strange but it happened. My earliest memory tells me that at first, no family was allowed to keep a hen or a duck. No private possessions were allowed at all in fact except things that you were impossible to share in common with others, such as the clothes you were wearing, a bed that each house needed, that couldn’t possibly be publicly owned and a few tables and benches. Then later, domestic fowls and even animals were allowed, but alas, they ate! At a time when people were worried about their own mouths, it was very hard to feed any chickens or ducks. We did manage to keep a few hens however, because we needed their eggs for a special dish when there was any honored visitor or when parents found one of their children didn’t have appetite. The family’s salt, children’s pens and note books depended also on the hens.
It is also mysterious that we didn’t have much fish to eat, since we lived where there were rivers and lakes all around. But it is true that we didn’t. Fish was a luxury for us. Once Mum brought home a fish that she found floating in the water. The fish must have been dead for quite a few days because it was highly decayed and giving a strong smell. It was so loose that I wonder if it could ever be dealt with. However, against my strong protest (I was a already a proud school student then), Mum cooked it. Mum was right. It tasted delicious, though it had become a pulp with only the bone showing it was fish, when it was ready.
Finally, there were the trips and visiting. It’s our tradition to pay visits to our relatives during the Spring Festival – the celebration of the lunar New Year originally. But I think we were much more excited about those travels and visits than children today. We had no car, no bus, not even a bike then. We have no telephones. We were confined in the village most of the year and many relatives couldn’t meet or contact each other until the Spring Festival. All these created suspense and interest which made the festival more exciting and of which people nowadays have been obviously deprived. Many people prefer sight tours to visiting their relatives nowadays.
Of course, besides the above, there are pleasures that we share with today’s children, such as lighting fireworks, watching dragon dances, going to outdoor operas, receiving money from uncles and aunts, and so on.
China has changed a lot since my childhood, and the whole world has changed; yet children of all times have the same ability to be happy. It could be a sign of the end of the world when our children begin to suffer.
Have a sip of your tea, dear friends.
Charles
