146 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



lect. The creditors sometimes continue their efiforts to collect until 

 after midnight, and in extreme cases after dawn the next day, when 

 they sometimes carry lighted lanterns in the pretense that it is still 

 dark. 



On the day before New Year all shops are closed. Strips of red 

 paper are pasted over the cash box and most of the goods to indicate 

 that now nothing can be bought or sold. In earlier times most shops 

 remained closed until the 15th day of the first moon, or later, but 

 since the beginning of the Chinese Republic some shops have opened 

 before the 15th. 



Between midnight and daylight on the first day of the New Year, 

 the kitchen god is welcomed back home. Firecrackers are set oflP, 

 candles and incense are lighted, and spirit money is burned, and his 

 image is pasted or hung up in the kitchen and worshiped. From this 

 time until the 23d of the 12th moon, when he is ceremonially sent up 

 to Heaven, he is always present and keeps a careful watch over the 

 moral conduct, the industry, and the economy of the family. 



On New Year's day and several days afterward, many boys roam 

 around the streets in groups, joyfully beating drums and gongs and 

 blowing horns. Men, women, and children go to the temples and 

 worship the gods, kowtowing and burning candles, incense, and spirit 

 money. They also visit their friends in their homes, leaving red-paper 

 calling cards, drinking tea, and eating the sweetmeats that are pro- 

 vided by their hosts. The guests bow respectfully wuth folded hands, 

 and wish their hosts a happy and prosperous New Year, and the hosts 

 reciprocate by doing the same. Generally the guests carry away with 

 them some of the cookies, nuts, and candy. 



On New Year's day or a day or two later people visit the graves 

 of their ancestors, set off some firecrackers, light candles and incense, 

 and offer some food and wine to their ancestors. They put cash paper 

 all over the mounds of the graves, each piece held in place by a clod of 

 dirt, as an offering to their ancestors and as evidence that the family 

 has been filial and has not neglected the ancestors. The food is eaten 

 and most of the wine drunk near the tombs. 



A very old custom is that on New Year's day the oldest parents sit 

 beside each other in chairs in the main room, and their descendants, 

 beginning with the oldest and most direct, come and kowtow to the 

 old people saying ying-tang, which means "I ought to." This custom 

 symbolizes the respect and obedience of the youngest generations to 

 the oldest. 



During the first five days of the new year, the tablets of the ances- 



