It is the Lantern Festival for Chinese people today and I hope everyone will enjoy it with the full moon and the magic light!
Memory leads me back to some CNY (Chinese New Year) 's Days I have had in the past....
The first and best recall on this is in 1956, the Monkey's Year. That time was just one more years after our family moved from Nan Jing and settled down in Jinan. For visiting us and also for celebrating that CNY, my grandfather came from hometown with some firecrackers and fireworks as well as a small basket of fried then salted sparrows. I can never forget the delicious taste after I had such kind of sparrows. I was also deeply impressed by playing with the fireworks. It was not to blast when you fired it, but burn with twinkling light and some low noise. It was really puzzling and surprising me, a 5 years girl with her first time knowing and playing with such things. Parents shouted our sisters not to play it at daytime, but we couldn't bear waiting till the night. Then, we went to a narrow alley where it could get dark earlier and then fired all the fireworks one by one. At the end when it was full dark, we realized that we should have fired them later, so that we could enjoy them better. However, it was too late. I got a lot of fun as well as deep regrets with this first experience.
The other thing impressed me best on CNY is in 1960, which was also a Rat's Year. My 5 years brother got a new cotton padded jacket for the New Year. It was his first time to get new clothes for him own, since he was the younger one then and normally put on the remaining clothes from our elder sisters. Without parents' awareness, he took his pocket money and bought some fireworks, which could work only by being struck. But brother was too young to know how to handle such kind of fireworks. He even put them in his new jumper's pocket and played with other young fallows in the big courtyard. Suddenly, the fireworks burnt out when he was running. His new jumper was badly destroyed. Nobody blamed him as he was lucky not to hurt himself. But he himself and we sisters were all shocked by this accident. We then got to know that it was never a safe thing to play with fire or fireworks.
After so called "Cultural Revolution" due to what my father died, the CNY seemed hardest days for mother and me. I needed to help mum to manage how to spend such days easier. When we approched to the CNY's Day of 1970, which was a Dog's Year, we met a big problem on family finance. Then, I suggested mother to sell some old books for getting some living cost. Mum agreed, while she said "Oh, we need to check before taking the books out, to see if there are some photos in." With great surprise, we found in one book a note of "National Debt" mother bought in 1955. It was still valid to exchange. We were delighted and I rushed into a bank and got back 40 Yuan, which was a big amount at that time. We then had a great CNY's Day. And I believe now that it was God who blessed us in that disaster......
Compared with the above CNY's Days, such days for the latest 20 years are seemed so so. Maybe it is because I have grown up, and maybe it is due to too many hard days I have spent, so that my heart gets insensitive. However, I am still looking forwand to CNY, during what time I can get long vacation and have a good rest.
At this moment when I was almost completing this post, I suddenly recalled a song, of which the words is translated by me as follows:
"We are living one year after another, which is harder and harder,
We are moving here and there, though no place is real home to dwell.
But we still keep going ahead all of our lives, along with the river,
Since its running water flows all over the earth forever...... "
PS
I also dedicate this post to Elliott Ng, who left me comments and asked for such experience.
