Pigs on Parade All Year Long, or 農曆新年
By now, everyone knows that the Chinese have a strange custom of only eating one type of animal for an entire year. In 2005 they only ate roosters; last year they only ate dogs; and this year they're only going to eat pigs. It's a peculiar custom, indeed, but for most of my life I hocked it up as just another crazy tradition dating back to the Xia Dynasty that I'll never understand. I knew the myth, of course, and hence, the cause for parades and picnics and a vast reshuffling of the largest population on earth as they visit every last nut and peony on their family tree. But what's with the animals? The myth goes: Once upon an ancient time, a man-eating mountain beast (年) preyed on the tiny Chinese people. He had the ability to silently infiltrate their houses and devour them at night, no matter how tightly they bound the bamboo poles of their huts together. This guy was like five Draculas in one. Long story short, the villagers eventually discovered not only how to beat him, but also that his Kryptonite was two-fold. This blood-thirsty mountaineer could be defeated by two things and two things only: loud noises and the color red. Loud noises and the color red. A horrible monster who could only be defeated by loud noises (the screams of his victims?) and the color red (their gushing blood?). Common sense aside, the villagers began to shoot off fireworks and wear a lot of red, and this little story - lacking even a child's logic - is the root of the New Year's celebrations that continue to this day. But why just one animal for every year? For this answer I went to Dr. Wong Park-Woo at Cal-Tech. He was only able to speak to me in passing, but he told me that Chinese people don't actually only eat one animal per year as you, dear reader, had thought, but instead each year is represented by an animal that stands for different things. The pig, for instance, stands for virility and fertility, and happiness and honesty, and this year's menu is not exclusive to pig , but he who eats the most pig this year will be the most virile and happy, and thus, more able to defend his village from the blood-thirsty yet color-phobic mountain beast. Vindicated.
By now, everyone knows that the Chinese have a strange custom of only eating one type of animal for an entire year. In 2005 they only ate roosters; last year they only ate dogs; and this year they're only going to eat pigs. It's a peculiar custom, indeed, but for most of my life I hocked it up as just another crazy tradition dating back to the Xia Dynasty that I'll never understand. I knew the myth, of course, and hence, the cause for parades and picnics and a vast reshuffling of the largest population on earth as they visit every last nut and peony on their family tree. But what's with the animals? The myth goes: Once upon an ancient time, a man-eating mountain beast (年) preyed on the tiny Chinese people. He had the ability to silently infiltrate their houses and devour them at night, no matter how tightly they bound the bamboo poles of their huts together. This guy was like five Draculas in one. Long story short, the villagers eventually discovered not only how to beat him, but also that his Kryptonite was two-fold. This blood-thirsty mountaineer could be defeated by two things and two things only: loud noises and the color red. Loud noises and the color red. A horrible monster who could only be defeated by loud noises (the screams of his victims?) and the color red (their gushing blood?). Common sense aside, the villagers began to shoot off fireworks and wear a lot of red, and this little story - lacking even a child's logic - is the root of the New Year's celebrations that continue to this day. But why just one animal for every year? For this answer I went to Dr. Wong Park-Woo at Cal-Tech. He was only able to speak to me in passing, but he told me that Chinese people don't actually only eat one animal per year as you, dear reader, had thought, but instead each year is represented by an animal that stands for different things. The pig, for instance, stands for virility and fertility, and happiness and honesty, and this year's menu is not exclusive to pig , but he who eats the most pig this year will be the most virile and happy, and thus, more able to defend his village from the blood-thirsty yet color-phobic mountain beast. Vindicated.
posted by Vindicated at 5:54 PM
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