Getting Wet

ow many Chinese holidays or festivals can you name? Well, until very recently I couldn't name any. To correct this, I read a book from the Chinese Classic Cultural Stories Series on traditional Chinese festivals. In some ways, this took me back to Frazer's The Golden Bough, one of the first histories of religions and, by extension, history of festivals.

I read up on Chinese festivals to get a better idea of when in the year I should set my story and what, if any, festival or event, I could set the story around. I have a few festivals in mind, but the winner may be the Water-Splashing Festival which usually takes place around April 12th. According to Traditional Chinese Festivals, "young people are divided into two camps, one of young men and the other of young women, throwing floral bags to each other. If a young man cannot catch the bag from a girl, he has to plug a flower on her coiled peacock bun. If a girl fails to catch the bag from a boy, she has to put a flower on his chest. With the lapse of time, a favorable impression and a tacit mutual understanding will develop between them [that the bag] will always land in each other’s hands, as if it had eyes. This is the unique Dai style of expressing love by young people, romantic and unforgettable."

Cool story, eh? And one I think I could have some fun with.