Lunar New Year, the Taiwanese Tempo with original photos

deanliu (77)in #life • 8 years ago

Currently, it is still New Year Period now in Taiwan ... see my last post on this:

A tale of two new years and a happy lunar new year of rooster to all of you!

But I have returned to Taipei from the south and can't wait to come up here and say hi! Many cn friends have shared so many interesting experiences already. So I think it would be nice to share something that is a little bit different (but probably quite close to some southern Chinese provinces as Taiwan's tradition comes from these regions) - yeah, the Taiwanese' Lunar New Year Tempo!! Well, at least that was the tempo of ancient Taiwanese and part of it still hold true at modern time. It is so neatly preserved by a Taiwanese folk song that states what people (should) do during the first 15 days of the new year! Let me explain them one by one ... and along my explanation are some photos I took when I went home inside a very beautiful pastry store in Taichung whose cheese cake is very famous nation-wide.

朋友們好啊！我回來了，回到台北了，休假還有兩天，可以開始過自己的新年了，所以上來說兩句，：）。今天跟大家說說台灣農曆新年的過年節奏，從民間歌謠來的，很多可能是舊慣了，但有些還適用的。看看你們的年跟我們的年有木有傻子差別吧！民謠是閩南語的，我會解釋一下。

The song is in Taiwanese (dialect) so not even Mandarin users can fully understand. Ok, here it goes like this: 【初一早，初二早，初三睏甲飽，初四接神，初五隔開，初六舀肥，初七七元，初八完全，初九天公生，初十有食食，十一請囝婿，十二請查某子返來食泔糜配芥菜，十三關老爺生，十四搭燈棚，十五是上元暝。】 You can say that it is like the compact version of the complete idiot's guides to spend the Lunar New Year. Let me explain all 15 days one by one ...

The 1st day (初一早) - Get up early!! First thing of the year is to worship the gods and ancestors and by getting up early shows a good positive attitude towards the coming new year!! 早起拜神明拜祖先，這應該很多地方都這樣的，不過我家是除夕那天就去拜拜了。
The 2nd day (初二早) - Still, get up early!! It is tradition that in this day the married daughter go back with her own family to visit her parents. So it is also a big day for parents to receive their married daughters and son-in-laws!! 初二回娘家，女婿要來拜年，大家都得早起啊！
The 3rd day (初三睏甲飽) - Sleep as late as you please! Everyone has been preparing the new year from days ahead of it and finally you can relax on this day and free yourself from chores or family duties... 從準備過年到過兩三天年，大家都累了，盡量休息睡飽吧，年還長著呢！
The 4th day (初四接神) - Preparing for Gods returning to human world! Yeah, they need a break too and now they are back reporting for duty - taking care of all mortals!! 神明從天上回到人間了，得去幫祂們接風洗塵哪！
The 5th day (初五隔開) - Preparing for returning to normal livelihoods!! It is still New Year time but we need to do necessary works to keep normal life going ... 士農工商都開始準備開工的一天，所以是有點隔開的意味。

The 6th day (初六舀肥) - Time to fertilize the farmland!! After all, it was a agricultural society and growing rice is the most important thing in the word. 該是要施肥的時候了，準備開始種稻了！
The 7th day (初七七元) - The day when human beings were born/created. Not clear what it means nowadays ... 古稱此日為人誕生之日，但典故來源已不可考。
The 8th day (初八完全) - All saved food is exhausted. Interesting how ancient people warn us by stating this in a song that you can only save food for 8 days, haha! 好像是說這一天過年儲存的食物都將耗盡，沒東西吃啦！
The 9th day (初九天公生) - The day when the Jade Emperor（the supreme deity of taoism）was born. 玉皇大帝壽誕，祂老人家該吃的，可不准自己先吃了啊！
The 10th day (初十有食食) - Yes! Since you have finished worshipped Jade Emperor, you may now eat the worshipped food!! Hooray!! 拜完天公，終於換人類吃了！好耶！神吃的是食物靈魂，人吃的是形體嘛！

The 11th day (十一請囝婿) - Treat your son-in-law today. This is not clear now as son-in-law has already visited on day 2. 請女婿吃飯，但跟初二似乎有點衝突，不可考，也有其他說法。
The 12th day (十二請查某子返來食泔糜配芥菜) - Feed your daughter with congee and vegetables, nothing much left again. 東西又吃完了，吃粥配芥菜，為何又是女兒，同樣不可考。總之，又吃完了啦！！
The 13th day (十三關老爺生) - Birthday of Guan Yu - a famous god of war. 關老爺誕辰，又要拜拜啦！
The 14th day (十四搭燈棚) - Building sheds for showing lanterns the next day! 為了明天元宵節要搭棚子了！
The 15th day (十五是上元暝) - Lantern Festival!! the last day of this new year period. 上元節，元宵節，總之，藉由美麗的燈海，告訴大家，明年再見了！