ABSTRACT
The most common ritual occasion in which a Chinese is likely to be involved is that of the Spring Festival. It is a season of festivity surrounding the turn of a year of lunar months. The eve is a return home and a completion of the family household. At the very least a member of a Chinese family would feel absence from it. Many would regret their absence poignantly. Most would be home, celebrating the continuing narrative of a complete household, renewed by their homecoming.
