二十三糖瓜粘，看看老外眼中的中国小年

Chinese New Year is time to honor the Kitchen God

中国的农历新年是从向灶神致敬的小年开始。

Chinese New Year is a very colorful time in Chinese households.

中国的新年非常热闹。

And a very busy time.

这段时间中国家庭会非常忙碌。

Houses are cleaned, fences mended, debts are paid, and the color red, representing wealth and happiness, features prominently in clothing and celebratory decorations placed throughout the house.

清理房屋，修补篱笆，偿还债务，穿上代表财富和幸福的红色衣服，张灯结彩挂上大红的喜庆装饰。

Gifts of flowers, citrus fruits, candy and of course TEA figure prominently in the holiday.

节日期间，鲜花、柑橘类水果（鲁迅家阿长的福橘有木有）、糖果以及茶叶等礼物都成为了重要的象征。

In the spirit of happiness and wealth, red envelopes containing money are given to children ( or the unmarried ) by parents and elders.

父母和长辈给孩子（或未婚青年）象征着幸福和财富的红包。

Colorful dragon parades bring crowds of Chinese and non-Chinese revelers into Chinese communities from New York to San Francisco.

从纽约到旧金山，五彩缤纷的“龙”阵游行将来自中国内外的各国狂欢者吸引到唐人区。

New Year parades feature lion dancers and large paper dragons that slither through the streets to the sounds of drums, bells and chimes.

新年游行的特色是舞狮和大型纸龙，跟着锣鼓喧天、鞭炮齐鸣的节奏路过每条大街小巷。

A host of fireworks and an ocean of bobbing lanterns ( meant to scare away the evil spirits ) keep the crowd cheering happily and adds to the festive occasion.

炸开的烟花和一排排灯笼（意在吓跑恶鬼）振奋人心，增添了节日气氛。

Special celebratory menus are offered in restauants, most of whom chalk up their busiest days of the year during the 15 days of Chinese New Year.

餐厅提供特别的庆祝菜单，大多数人在农历新年的15天里，把一年里最繁忙的日子都记录下来。

In homes, families plan elaborate multi-coursed banquet meals for loved ones and friends.

家家户户会在家中为所爱的人和朋友精心准备一顿丰盛的宴席。

Foods are selected for their ability to bring good luck, propserity and longevity in the New Year.

在新的一年里，人们会挑选那些寓意好运、繁荣和长寿的食物。

But before the new year festivities can begin, the house must be cleaned and homage must be paid to the Kitchen God or Stove God ( known as Zao Jun or Zao Shen ) a guardian deity who evolved from Zhu Rong, the ancient Fire God, once stoves became commonplace in Chinese kitchens.

但在新年庆祝活动开始之前，房子必须清理干净，必须向灶神或炉神（被称为灶君或灶神）致敬，这是一位从古代火神朱容（译者注：具体火神叫什么，老外可能说错了，有待考证）进化而来的守护神，在中国的厨房里，灶具已经成为家常便饭。

Traditional Chinese families live by a complex religiuos belief system, and in order to fare well in this life, they enlist the help of various deities and guardian figures.

传统的中国家庭生活在一个复杂的宗教信仰体系中，为了在这一生中生活得更好，他们需要各路神仙和守护者的庇护。

The Kitchen God oversees every Chinese kitchen.

灶神掌管着每一个中国家庭的厨房。

His role is to protect the family in a variety of ways – a paper image of him resides near the back of every stove, and a small altar is made for seasonal food offerings, burning incense and candles.

灶神的职责是用各种方式保护每家每户——图片形象一般是住在每个灶台的后面，还有一个小祭坛用来装应季的食物和香火。

Each year, about one week before the start of the New Year celebrations, the image of the Kitchen God is taken down and burned.

每年，在新年庆祝活动开始前一周，灶神的年画就会撤下烧掉。

By doing this, the spirit of the Kitchen God is released from the earth to make his annual ascent to Heaven to report to the Jade Emperor on the conduct of the family during the past year

通过这样做，灶神的灵魂从人间释放，让他每年升天，向玉皇大帝汇报过去一年的司职成果。

Once in Heaven, the words of the Kitchen God influences the amount of prosperity and abundance that each family will have bestowed on them in the new year.

一旦到了天堂，灶神的话语就会影响到每个家庭在新的一年里给他们带来的繁荣和富足能有多少。

In order to ensure that the Kitchen God speaks sweetly of the family, offerings of incense and bowls of ‘sweet treats’ such as ripe melons, honey, glutinous cakes, and sugar candies are presented for his delight before his image is burned and his journey begins.

为了能和灶神搞好关系，每家每户在烧掉灶神年画让他去玉皇大帝那里汇报之前会为灶君上供快乐和甜蜜的食物，如成熟的甜瓜，蜂蜜，糯米糕，糖果等。

Gold and silver ‘ingots’ fashioned from paper are also offered, and little paper-mache sedan chairs are sometimes provided to offer comfort on the journey to Heaven.

此外，还提供了用纸张制作的金银“铸锭”，有时还会提供小的纸轿子，为灶君在通往天堂之路上提供舒适的服务。

To welcome the return of the Kitchen God to the family for the new year, a fresh paper image of him is hung where the old one had been.

为了迎接新年的到来，中国家庭会在老房子的老地方挂上新的灶神年画。

Each family hopes for the same thing from the Kitchen God – abundant food, good harvests and good health.

每个家庭都希望从灶神那里祈愿得到的都是——丰富的食物，大好收成和身体棒棒。

In Heaven good deeds are reported, on earth their safety is ensured.

灶神会在天庭汇报这一年来的好事，庇佑他们的安全。

On our recent trip to San Francisco, Bob and I combed Chinatown looking for a Kitchen God for our kitchen.

在最近的一次旧金山之行中，鲍勃和我在唐人街里仔细搜寻了一个灶君。

To be honest, we did not know exactly what he should look like, or what we would find to purchase.

说实话，我们不知道他应该是什么样子，也不知道我们会买些什么。

perhaps, we wondered, if a Kitchen God was something that one inherited, and not something simply purchased.

也许，我们更希望了解一个代代相传作为文化载体的灶神，而非一个简单的商品。

So we began asking in all of the shops we stopped in.

于是我们开始在所有的商店里询问。

To our surprise, many of the people in the shops did not know where we could purchase a Kitchen God.

令我们吃惊的是，许多商店里的人都不知道我们在哪里可以买到灶神。

But finally, someone directed us to a shop on Pacific Avenue ( turn right off Grant and head for the housewares-looking place down on the left. )

但终于有人把我们带到太平洋大街上的一家商店里（从格兰特右转后左边一个卖家用瓶瓶罐罐的地方）。

This seemed an unlikely place to us, but a helpful clerk steered us to a section of the store where they stocked numerous packets to cover all of life’s needs.

这个地方对我们来说似乎不太可能找到，但一位乐于助人的店员把我们带到了商店的一个区域，在那里他们储备了很多满足生活所有需要的包裹。

We scooped up a few Kitchen Gods to give to friends and for good luck we grabbed a Interior Door God and a House God, too.

我们淘了一些灶神给朋友们，祈求新年也有好运，还顺带买了一个门神和一个房神。

Back home, we carefully opened our Kitchen God packet and were amazed at how many pieces of paper it contained.

回家后，我们小心翼翼地打开灶神礼包，惊讶地发现里面有很多张贴纸。

Most of the sheets were printed with Chinese characters, symbols and figures.

这个小店大部分的床单都印有汉字、符号和数字。

We had large yellow sheets, medium-sized red sheets, long red strips, gold printed squares, streamers, paper-cut banners, candles and stick incense, and a little paper bowl to fill with dry rice grains.

我们有大的黄色床单，中等大小的红床单，长长的红色条，金色的印花方巾，彩带，剪纸的横幅，蜡烛和香薰，还有一个小的纸碗，里面装满了干米粒。

Stand the candles and incense sticks up in this bowl and one has an instant alter.

把蜡烛和香放在这个碗里，一个人有一个即时的改变。

But nowhere was there the image of the Kitchen God that we were expecting to find – manybe one needs a more expensive kit – but we had fun looking at everything and trying to piece it together.

但是，我们所期待的灶神的形象在哪里都找不到——可能需要一个更昂贵的装备——但我们很开心地看了所有的东西，并试着把它拼在一起。

We did find this:

我们确实发现了这一点：

which we think is a simple plaque that says ‘ Kitchen God.

我们认为这是一个简单的铭牌，上面写着“灶神”。

‘ So we hung our plaque, made the alter, and hope that our humble attempt to please the Kitchen God brings us a new year of good luck and prosperity !

“于是我们挂起了牌匾，做出了改变，希望我们虔诚祈祷灶神能给我们带来好运和繁荣的新年！”