Sacrificial Rites

Milne was invited by Dr. Cháng to spend the eve of the closing year with his family, hence the opportunity of observing the ceremonies.

“I was invited by Dr. Cháng to spend the early part of the night … the members of which were all dressed out in their best attire. We arrived at 7 o'clock in the evening. The principal room was lighted up very tastefully, and the furniture looked unusually clean and tidy. In the centre of the room there stood a table, which had been enlarged for the occasion, and converted into a ceremonial table. At the top of the table there stood a high chair, on the back on which were thrown three distinct scrolls, with un-couth paintings upon each to represent the sán-tien sán-páu Shángtí, 'the High Ruler of the three heavens and three precious ones.’ This is an honorable designation, adopted by the Táu sect in speaking of the Yuh-hwáng, who is their principal deity. Before this daubed representation, three teacups and three wine cups were set, such offerings being usually arranged in triplets before their idols. Further on, there were twelve wine cups to denote the several months of the year.”

Milne witnessed the reverential act of the elderly family patriarch who kneeled repeatedly, bowing his head again and again for minutes with his eyes cast to the earth, and his lips moving as if engaged in silent prayer.

“When his sons had succeeded him, the papers upon which their deity was painted were carried outside and burnt up with a heap of silvered papers, the combustion of which was denoted by firing three heavy crackers. The wine plate in the fifth series had a bit of each article in No.6, thrown into it, and the mixture was cast upon the roof of the house. The meaning of this last act, which is indeed excessively trifling, is to thank the demigod Shinnung for teaching mankind to cook their food, instead of eating it raw and undressed as they used to do before his time.”

“After this a sacrifice was offered in the cookhouse to the god of the kitchen, on his imagined return from heaven. He looked clean, and had six plates of vegetable stuff lying before him, and was illuminated by two or three candles.”

“Then followed the devoirs to the ancestors of the male branch only. Their portraits were eight in number, including the old gentleman's parents and grandparents, and his three departed wives. For each of the deceased, a rice bowl, a wine cup, and a pair of chopsticks, were laid down. The arrangements of the table were a little altered, but not materially. Smaller candles were substituted for the large gilded tapers. The devotional feelings of the principal worshiper did not diminish, but became rather warmer. After the various prostrations had been made, silvered papers were burnt in the room, and the solemnities were closed by the party sitting down to a hearty feast.”

New Year Visits

Finally, the new year has arrived.

Milne’s diary turns a new page to January 30. According to him, in Ningbo, New Year’s Eve is also called “Shousui,” which means “guarding father and mother so that they may be kept safe”, as men, women, and children gather to protect their parents and wish them safety.

On the first day of the Chinese New Year, everyone first sits together to enjoy a steaming plate of rice cakes mixed with sugar, wine, and water. At daybreak, they sally out to pay their respects in the following order: first, to the family gods; second, the ancestors; third, parents; fourth, Chinghwang, the city patron; fifth, siblings; and sixth, friends and relatives.

According to Milne’s observations, the rule of the day is that children kneel before their parents, servants before their masters, inferiors before their superiors; that parents present their children, masters their servants, with gifts of money, dollars, toys, or food; that friends upon an equal footing should be humble and yielding; and that acquaintances should be more than usually complaisant and polite. The compliments are called “bainian” or “baisui” (New Year visits).

Though Milne had been in Ningbo for less than two months, he found himself “bothered” by numerous visitors during the Spring Festival. “These visits were made not for friendship’s sake, but for lucre; yet to send a poor fellow empty away would be considered harsh and unfortuitous” he recorded.

He also noted finer details: “On the first day it is not usual to trouble you with many calls, as it is expected you have your own family to attend to. In lieu of a personal visits, mercantile companies and public institutions send around their cards by servants, who drop them at, or push them under the door. If one starts early on a cruise of observation, he will find heaps of cards lying in the lobbies. The afternoon and evening are spent quietly at home, and by most in bed, for they are fatigued by the watchings of the previous night, and the surfeiting of the day”.

“It is on the second and third, and following days that the inhabitants stir about, young and old, male and female, rich and poor, all dressed up in the finest, the richest, the newest suits they can find; none ragged, none dirty, none unshaven, unless the poorest of the poor”.

“During the first two or three days there are no shops open, but the stalls of fortunes-tellers and fruitmongers. You are supposed to have laid in a stock of fresh and salt provisions for some days. There were one or two gentlemen who had come over to Ningbo at this time on a visit, but, being ignorant of the custom, it was with difficulty they could scrape a sufficient supply for their daily subsistence”.

From the first day of the first lunar month to its close there is an incessant din of gongs, pattering of drums, scraping of fiddles, firing of crackers, feasting, and play-acting. No business of any consequence is done for ten or twelve days, and before it can be resumed in any shop or warehouse, a lucky day must be fixed upon. On the 20th the public offices are opened, which is called “kaiyin” (opening the seals).

Dragon Dance

Besides Milne, British diplomat Robert Hart also spent the first day of the Chinese New Year in Ningbo on February 17, 1855, and wrote in his diary:

“This is the first day of the Chinese New Year － "Heen Fung woo nëen, tsing yue tsoo yih". Yesterday evening crackers innumerable were exploding in all directions; and about four o'clock this morning I heard several cannon fired ushering in the New Year. All the servants are dressed out in their best today, & "chin-chin-ning" is going on to a great extent.”

On the second day, Hart went out to find himself struck by the splendid attire of the crowds. “Hanging out of many of the doors and windows were birds & human beings made of paper and painted. The female figures and some ducks which I saw were very well done. … I … found the Church by inquiring for the "Tzing-hwang-meaou" …. During most of the time a horrible noise was being kept up outside - gongs & drums & bamboos were being struck, horns sounded, guns fired & crackers "let off" …. I noticed in several places something like a huge dragon being carried about by several men through the houses where the gongs and drums were being sounded.”

These accounts corroborate and further enrich Milne's earlier descriptions, providing a more nuanced understanding of the cultural practices and traditions observed during the Spring Festival in 19th-century Ningbo.