A tale to the Spring Festival - the Nian

As I wrote the post about the Spring Festival, I did not know that there was still something coming.
In fact, the Spring Festival lasts 15 days in total. During the first 15 days of the new year, it was believed that an evil spirit will test the humans. Supposedly, the word or name for this demon is nian, the Chines word for 'year'. The fireworks during the Spring Festival are therefore traditionally intended to chase away the evil spirit. As one web site writes:

Its origin is ancient, but many believe the word Nian, which means "year", was the name of a beast that preyed on people on the eve of a new year.

In one legend, the beast, Nian, had the power to swallow up all the people in a village in one big bite. Village people were very scared of Nian.

One day, an old man came to the villagers' rescue, offering to subdue Nian. The old man asked Nian, "I know you can swallow people, but can you swallow other beasts of prey instead of people who are by no means your worthy opponents?"

Nian accepted the old man's challenge and swallowed the beasts that had harassed the villagers and their farm animals for years.

At the end of the legend, the old man disappeared riding off on Nian. In this legend, the old man turned out to be an immortal god.

In the end, Nian is gone and the other beasts of prey are scared into hiding in the forests. The villagers can once again enjoy their peaceful life.

The legend goes on to say before the old man left, he told the villagers to put red paper decorations on their windows and doors at each year's end in order to keep Nian away. It is believed Nian is afraid of the color red.

The tradition of observing the conquest of Nian is carried on from generation to generation. The term "Guo Nian", which means "Survive the Nian" became "Celebrate the Year" and the word "guo" in Chinese means both "pass over" and "observe".

The custom of putting up red paper and lighting firecrackers to scare away Nian continues today.

And indeed, on the 15th day, the skies above Fuzhou were filled again with 'smoke flowers' (fireworks), noise, and smell of gun powder.
The end of the new year's celebrations is marked with the 'festival of the lanterns' during which many people (especially children) go out onto the streets with lanterns. A very picturesque, but also very crowded experience.

Now, the Spring Festival is really over, and the amount of fireworks has reached a normal average again ... making way for the 'normal' construction noises. But that's a fact of life, here in China. It is never really quiet.