at Yung-chang we
saw many of the customs attending its celebration. It is a time of feasting
and merry making and no native, if he can possibly avoid it, will work on
that day. Chinese families almost always live under one roof but should any
male member be absent at this season the circumstances must be exceptional
to prevent him from returning to his home.

It is customary, too, for brides to revisit their mother's house at New
Year's. On our way to Yung-chang and for several days after leaving the
city, we were continually passing young women mounted on mules or horses
and accompanied by servants returning to their homes. New clothes are a
leading feature of this season and the dresses of the brides and young
matrons were usually of the most unexpected hues for, according to our
conception of color, the Chinese can scarcely be counted conspicuous for
their good taste. Purple and blue, orange and red, pink and lavender clash
distressingly, but are worn with inordinate pride.

These visits are not an unalloyed pleasure to the bride's family. Dr. Smith
says in "Chinese Characteristics":

When she goes to her mother's home, she goes on a strictly business
basis. She takes with her it may be a quantity of sewing for her
husband's family, which the wife's family must help her get through
with. She is accompanied on each of these visits by as many of her
children as possible, both to have her take care of them and to have
them out of the way when she is not at hand to look after them, and
most especially to have them fed at the expense of the family of the
maternal grandmother for as long a time as possible. In regions where
visits of this sort are frequent, and where there are many daughters in
a family, their constant raids on the old home are a source of
perpetual terror to the whole family, and a serious tax on the common
resources. [Footnote: "Chinese Characteristics," by Arthur H. Smith, p.
200.]

Religious rites and ceremonies form a conspicuous part in the New Year's
celebration. At this time the "Kitchen God," according to current
superstition, returns to heaven to render an account of the household's
behavior. The wily Chinese, however, first rubs the lips of the departing
deity with candy in order to "sweeten" his report of any evil which he may
have witnessed during the year.

Usually all the members of the family gather before the ancestral tablets,
or sh