Firecrackers and Monkeys

Working on a book focused on Ah Toy specifically and the Chinese in general has formed for me a nice symbiosis. Because I married into a family of Chinese descent, I felt naturally drawn to studying a Chinese character. Researching Ah Toy has inevitably led to researching Chinese culture itself, and while I knew I didn't know much about it (which would make Socrates proud), I quickly realized I didn't know anything at all! (Which would make Socrates ecstatic!) While my book isn't meant to be a sociological study of the Chinese community, I had to know something for the story to come across as authentic, so I dove into a couple of highly regarded books.

One is called Things Chinese, written by James Ball in 1893. "Too old!" you might think, but I found it to be quite valuable. Cultures, despite deeply ingrained philosophies and traditions, change over time. The closer to the 1850s I could get, the better, and with sections titled "Acupuncture," "Dragon," and "Demoniacal Possession," what's not to like?

Just your run-of-the-mill demoniacal possession.

Another is Chinese Customs by Henri Doré. Again, the facts to be learned here are fascinating and a kind of fun. For instance, in the southern provinces of China, where Ah Toy came from, it was common (and may still be) to worship the Goddess of Fecundity when trying for a child. Or, if a person fell ill due to a doctor's perscription, it only made sense to pay a priest to write a charm and affix it to the door of the doctor, cursing him and his business.

Don't read too closely; this actual curse charm may harm you.

Not all cultural traits, however, are this dramatic. Most Chinese customs have to do with the everyday: how to honor one's parents, how to honor the ancestors, how to pull off the proper marriage ceremony, how to eat the right temperature foods, and so on. This is where my symbiosis loop closes. My Chinese in-laws inspired me to research a distinctly Chinese American story. In doing so, I've begun to understand my in-laws.

One huge example of that is understanding the biggest event on the Chinese calendar, Chinese New Year. We celebrated it this past Monday, and if you've never heard of it, well, then you've never heard of Christmas. Chinese New Year closes stores, and Chinese stores never close. Throughout China and the United States the activities and rituals surrounding the new year vary widely, but you'll almost always find food, parades, lucky money, expressions of "Sahn lihn faai lok!" ("Happy New Year!") and "Gung hay fat choy!" ("Congratulations on your prosperity!") and, above all, NOISE.

Specifically, firecrackers:

It wasn't hard to find references of the first Chinese in San Francisco celebrating in a very similar way. In 1863, William Brewer was overwhelmed at the firecracker display:

I thought I had seen firecrackers before, but became convinced that I had not. All day Tuesday, February 17, there was a continuous roar of firecrackers. . . . From the roofs of the houses the "crackers" were in progress. . . . exploding with a noise like a musket. Most of the crackers are in bunches about three times as large as those in vogue among boys at home about July 4.

"From the white and thin cued patriarch to the urchin who cachinnates over the explosion of his fire crackers, it is a day of universal rejoicing," reported The Oriental, the first Chinese newspaper in San Francisco, in 1855,

Everybody visits, in his finest garments, and is visited in turn. There are heard on every hand the thunder of gongs, drums, and every other noise that wood, metal, catgut, merry muscles, and boisterous lungs, can compound. The reports of bad gunpowder, snapping, fizzing, cracking, and roaring, from ordnance of all sizes, between a boy's popgun and a warjunk's twenty-four pounder, help the heart of the old empire to give another grand beat, and heave the tide of life for another year. . . . Amid all the debauchery of the ensuing feasts there seems no disposition to quarrels and mutual injury. Each one is merry and obsequious, and expects every one else to put on all the manners he has ever been taught upon so important an occasion.

I didn't fully appreciate the importance of Chinese New Year until I read reports about it from Gold Rush San Francisco. In previous years, I just gritted my teeth and went along with it. This year, when my in-laws wanted to get everyone together to celebrate, I felt like I understood the importance. We didn't celebrate with firecrackers, but we were all together and passed around lai si (lucky money). It was great to get a glimpse of understanding, and I felt like an actual celebrator instead of the bystander I used to be.

So with that in mind, Happy Year of the Monkey and "San-tai gihn-hong!"