The End of ChunJie 春节！

I was wrong the other day about the end of 春节2009 (the year of the bull). Within hours, the bangs and pops began again. They have continued all week. I have noticed other strange activities as well. This week in the city center there were perhaps 100 people surrounding the huge goldfish ponds which are usually busy with people feeding them. This time, though, everyone had a tiny fishing pole and were catching them! Each person had a bucket next to them and many were full of fish! What is the meaning of this? Will they eat them or do they become pets? I will have to ask my teacher. Last night the fireworks reached another peak as the last day of the festival, known as The Lantern Festival was brought to a close. It sounded like all the fireworks left over were fired at once! I still don't know how I got to sleep but I did. It is after 9pm here and they are still firing them off though. Does it continue until no fireworks are left in China? Make it Stop!

During the Lantern Festival, the first night to see a full moon, children go at night to temples with paper lanterns and solve the riddles on the lanterns. The riddles hold messages of good luck, prosperity, family happiness, abundant harvest and love. The festival has several legends attached to it associated with different gods. One holds that the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the humans. He had 16 dragons at his disposal and could decide when to have rain, drought, storms, and other disasters. Splendid ceremonies were ordered to appease this god so he would favor the people. This was especially important during the Han Dynasty. Now the festival does not hold so great an importance but is a time for familes to be together. Rice balls called yuanxiao are eaten and there are lantern parades. We did not see anything but the fireworks here though. It will be nice to have peace and quiet when it finally arrives. But our first experience with the Chinese New Year has been very memorable.

mandy