Celebrating the Lunar New Year with You | An Appreciation of the Sequential Art Series “One Hundred Scenes of Ancient Customs” (Part 9)

Jumping Over the Kitchen God (Qing Dynasty)
 

Once again, the waning winter’s fleeting scenes urge on, and along the streets, shops and inns alike spring open.
 

The Kitchen God, a charming deity, wins people’s favor—after all, money comes from the bottom of one’s purse.
 

——Qing Dynasty, Zhou Zongtai, “Gusu Zhuzhi Ci: Jumping the Kitchen God”
 

Fire Basin (Song Dynasty)
 

Five days before spring, just after the first watch of the night, torches were set out at every door, blazing as bright as midday.
 

In big households, they burn dry stalks; in small ones, they use leaves to fuel their firewood.
 

Blue smoke fills the city, turning half the sky white; perching birds startle, cry out, and flutter in flight.
 

Grandchildren and great-grandchildren sit in a circle, while dogs and chickens bustle about; neighbors’ laughter drifts from afar, echoing across the distance.
 

The Yellow Palace’s qi has only just begun to respond, yet the year’s yin remains proud and fierce, with chilling winds.
 

The sun will shine brightly, heralding a fine spring; just the right time to sit by the brazier and bask in its warmth.
 

——Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda, “Burning the Brazier”
 

Zhao Tian (Song)
 

On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month in the countryside, long poles are fitted with torches to light up the southern fields.
 

Near, like clouds parting to reveal a host of stars; far, like the wind stirring, drifting fireflies.
 

This spring, with rain and hail, the cocoons and silk are few; in autumn, with thunderclaps, the rice stacks are small.
 

Your home’s fire burns brightest tonight, and surely the new year will bring a bountiful harvest.
 

——Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda, “Ode to the Rice Fields and Silkworms”
 

Exorcising Nuo (Tang Dynasty)
 

Nuo‑driving is a ritual festival held in China at the year’s end or around the beginning of spring, aimed at exorcising evil spirits and welcoming deities. During the Song dynasty, Nuo‑driving was categorized into the “Great Nuo Ceremony” and the “Small Nuo Ceremony.”
 

Driving away evil spirits, beating drums and blowing flutes; the gaunt ghosts paint their faces, their teeth the only thing that gleams white.
 

— Tang Dynasty, Meng Jiao, “Ballad of the Stringed and Singing Arts”
 

Mirror Listening (Tang)
 

“Jingting,” also known as “Tingjing,” “Tingxiangbu,” or “Erbu,” involves holding a mirror on the night of New Year’s Eve or at the beginning of the new year and secretly eavesdropping on the casual remarks of passersby, thereby divining good fortune or misfortune.
 

She tenderly caresses the wedding‑day mirror, while her husband, far away on his journey, listens to her through its glass.
 

— Tang Dynasty, Wang Jian, “Poem of the Mirror-Listening”
 

A Child Selling Dementia (Song Dynasty)
 

Children sell “foolishness” on New Year’s Eve: groups of kids carry lanterns, go from street to alley, calling out low prices to entice old men and women to buy their “foolishness.”
 

As the New Year’s Eve grows late, none can sleep; with weary hearts and sluggish spirits, they greet the coming year.
 

A little child calls out as he walks down the long street, while the clouds seem to beckon the foolish to come and buy.
 

——Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda, “Poem on Selling Stupidity”
 

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