ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the most interesting family ceremonies are the New Year, the birth of a child, birthdays, feast days, and the various festivals. On the twenty third of the last moon, seven days before the New Year, the people prepare dishes of candy, and place it before the Kitchen God, whom they then proceed to worship. In all homes, or if not in the homes, from all bakeries, the people bake or buy small cakes, made of rice, flour, and sugar, which, with fruit and dates, they put on plates, and place before the image of Buddha. The fireworks at New Year's time represent scenes in Chinese history, mythological tales, grape vines, wisteria blossoms, and all kinds of flowers. When the child is old enough to begin to study, the calendar, and the soothsayers if necessary, is consulted, and a lucky day is selected, and after worshipping the ancestral tablets and that of Confucius, it enters upon its interminable task.
