ChunJie 春节

China has begun to celebrate its Spring Festival or Chunjie. It is perhaps the most important of all the celebrations here. Tradition holds that the Nian (Chinese for year) was a mythical beast terrorizing a village. The villagers put out food to appease it, as it devoured crops and even children when it appeared. Once, it was seen shying away from a child wearing red. From then on, the people knew to put up red banners on their doors and red lanterns to scare him away. They used fireworks to frighten him as well. The Nian never returned to the village. Eventually, he was conquered by a monk who used him as his mount. This festival is full of such superstitions and traditions that are followed by over a billion Chinese all over the world. Chunjie is traditionally 15 days long and each day has special significance with a certain food and activity to be carried out. You can do research on it further if you are interested. The fireworks have begun already although the official start date is the 25th this year. I have been told what we have seen is nothing compared to what it will be. I think I know what it sounds like in Iraq as mortars and shells explode overhead. Thankfully, there is no carnage here but the explosions often sound like gunfire and bombs. From our kitchen and bedroom windows we will have a front row seat to the fireworks as they begin to blossom in the night sky. Right now though, we mostly just hear them. Every night. All night.

Many Chinese use this holiday to return to their home villages and many foreigners use it as an excuse to get out of town to escape the noise. We have been told to get as many pictures and as much footage as possible now, before we can no longer stand the sight and sounds. This will be an interesting next two weeks. Many of the people we have met so far are headed out of the city. Somehow, though, there are more people here than ever before. I made the crazy mistake of going to the grocery store on the way home today. What was I thinking? We barely escaped unscathed. All the stores are packed to the hilt. Families with bags and bags of candy and gifts. I saw a woman stooped over dragging a basket full of goodies across the floor because it was too heavy to pick up. Apparently, buggies were scarce. I need to stock up and stay low. Here is a video of our evening as we head to bed. We wish everyone the pleasant, quiet night we will soon be wishing for. Sweet Dreams!

mandy

The amount of noise which anyone can bear undisturbed stands in inverse proportion to his mental capacity.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860) (Things that make you say "hmmmm...")