維多利亞時代的獨特跨年傳統

文/基思·約翰斯頓 譯/李方超

“We have been very gay; danced into the New Year, and again last night, and were very merry,” Queen Victoria wrote to her uncle, the King of Belgium, on January 4, 1843.She was six years into her lengthy reign (1837-1901), all of 23 years old, and apparently enjoying every minute of the New Year.For many Victorians, parties, dancing,and festive spirits were staples of New Year’s celebrations, just like today.Yet there were many other odd, quaint, and charming customs that for the most part are no longer with us.Below are 11 such Victorian New Year’s traditions.

“我們向來很開心，起舞迎新年。昨晚也跳舞了，很快樂。”維多利亞女王在1843 年1 月4 日給舅舅比利時國王的信中寫道。那是她漫長統治期（1837—1901）的第6 年，而她當時年僅23 歲。顯然，她醉心于新年的每時每刻。對許多維多利亞時代的人而言，聚會、跳舞、節慶烈酒是新年慶祝活動的重頭戲，與今日并無二致。不過，維多利亞時代有許多其他古怪離奇、令人著迷的習俗，其中大部分并未沿襲至今。下述11 個維多利亞時代跨年傳統就是這種情況。

1.Don’t let a woman be the first to enter your house in the new year.

2Known as the “first-foot” or “firstfooting,” this superstition from Scotland and Northern England held that it was bad luck for either a light-haired or (depending on the region) a dark-haired man to be the first to enter a home in the new year.Worse was to have a woman be the first to enter.In one Shropshire valley it was thought to be bad luck for a woman to enter the house at all before noon.

1.新年“頭客”，莫請女性。

2這個迷信有“頭腳”或“頭步”之說，源自蘇格蘭和英格蘭北部，認為新年里發色淺或（依地區而定）發色深的男性第一個進人家門是不吉利的。更不吉利的是女性第一個走進人家。在英格蘭什羅普郡的某個山谷，人們認為女性在中午前進家門非常不吉利。

2.Don’t take anything out of your house without bringing something in.

3Another superstition that persisted in some parts of Northern England was the belief that you shouldn’t take anything out of the house without first bringing something in.“Take out, then take in, / Bad luck will begin,” went one rhyme.“Take in, then take out, / Good luck comes about.”

2.未有東西入，莫讓東西出。

3另一個流傳于英格蘭北部幾地的迷信認為，如果沒有先往屋內帶點東西，就不應該把東西從屋里拿出去?！跋瘸龊筮M，開年不幸?！币皇變焊璩?，“先進后出，好運臨門?！?/p>

3.Be a gentleman caller on New Year’s Day.

4The tradition of visiting friends and relations on New Year’s Day was more fashionable on the European continent than it was in Victorian England, but it was perhaps nowhere more extreme than in New York City, where it was a veritable sport.Young men would race around the city to visit (to call on) as many young women as possible.By the 1890s, the custom had fallen out of fashion in favor of more exclusive New Year’s Eve parties.

3.新年當天，禮貌拜訪。

4新年當天走親訪友的傳統，在歐洲大陸要比在維多利亞時代的英格蘭更為風靡流行，但或許沒有哪個地方能比當時的紐約做得更極端。在那里，走親訪友竟成了一項名副其實的運動。年輕男子騎著馬游走全城，以看望（短暫拜訪）盡可能多的年輕女子。到19世紀90 年代，這項習俗已經衰落，人們轉而青睞更具獨享性的新年前夜派對。

4.Throw bread at the door on New Year’s Eve.

5By the Victorian era, this practice seems to have survived only “in the more comfortable and wealthy homes of the south and midland counties” of Ireland.People baked a large bread called barmbrack on New Year’s Eve.The man of the house then took three bites before throwing it against the door while those gathered prayed “that cold, want, or hunger might not enter” in the coming year.

4.新年前夜，自家門口扔面包。

5這項傳統到了維多利亞時代，似乎僅在愛爾蘭“更加安居富有的南部和中部各郡人家”延續了下來。新年前夜，人們烤一大塊“葡萄干面包”。家里的男主人隨后把這塊大面包咬上三口，再扔在門廊上。接著，聚在周圍的人一起禱告：來年“寒冷、貧窮或饑餓，一樣莫來”。

5.Attend a “Watch Night” service on New Year’s Eve.

6John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, revived the ancient tradition of“Watch Night” services—lengthy contemplative church services that lasted until midnight—in the 1740s to give coal miners something prayerful to do other than drinking in a pub.By the 19th century, these services became a New Year’s Eve tradition: something prayerful to do rather than drinking at a party.

6.Open a Bible at random to tell your future on New Year’s Day.

7Known as “dipping,” this custom involved opening a Bible to a random page and, without looking, pointing to a particular passage.The selected excerpt was thought to predict the good or bad fortune of the person doing the dipping.

7.Force someone to ride the stang on New Year’s Day.

8A medieval custom that survived into the Victorian period, “riding the stang”was an act of mob violence in some parts of England in which, on New Year’s Day, a gang would abduct someone and force them to ride a pole (a “stang”)to the nearest pub and pay a fine to the crowd in order to be set free.It began as a way to shame and punish criminals or community members thought to be immoral, but by the 19th century became just a bit of New Year’s fun.

5.新年前夜，參加“守夜”儀式。

618 世紀40 年代，為了讓煤礦工人參加一些祈禱活動，而不只是在酒吧暢飲，循道宗創始人約翰·衛斯理復興了這個古老的“守夜”儀式傳統。這是一種在教堂進行的、漫長的斂心默禱儀式，一直持續到午夜。到了19 世紀，這些儀式演變為新年前夜的一項傳統：做一些禱告，而非在派對上飲酒。

6.新年當天，任翻《圣經》知未來。

7這個風俗名為“翻經書”，打開《圣經》翻到任意一頁，不看頁面，指出某一段落。人們認為指出的這段可以預知翻書者今年是福是禍。

7.新年當天，強迫別人“騎長桿”。

8“騎長桿”這項中世紀習俗延續到了維多利亞時代，是英格蘭部分地區的聚眾暴亂行為。新年當天，一伙人綁架一個人，強迫此人騎著長桿到最近的酒吧，并向圍觀者繳納罰金，以獲人身自由。起初，這個習俗旨在羞辱并懲罰犯人或人們認為道德敗壞的社區成員，但到了19 世紀，這個習俗就只是一種新年趣味游戲。

8.Eat a disgusting pie on New Year’s Eve.

9Mince meat pies were a traditional Victorian treat for New Year’s Eve, but one Mrs.Bliss provides a recipe for something much more epic.Her “New Year’s Pie” calls a boiled cow’s tongue stuffed inside a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey stuffed inside a goose.The whole thing is then coated in a jelly made from beef’s feet.It puts the Turducken1特大啃，turkey-duck-chicken 的簡稱。這道美食是最具創意的美國本土食物，其做法是將無骨雞填到無骨鴨肚子里，然后再將填了無骨雞的無骨鴨填到無骨火雞的肚子里。to shame!

8.新年前夜，吃難以下咽的餡餅。

9肉末餡餅曾是維多利亞時代傳統的新年前夜美食，但某位布利斯太太調配出了更驚人的食譜配方。她的“新年餡餅”是將水煮牛舌塞進一只雞，再把雞塞進一只鴨，再把鴨塞進一只火雞，再把火雞塞進一只鵝。最后，在外面涂抹一層牛蹄制成的肉凍。這真叫“特大啃”相形見絀！

9.Play a silly “resolutions” party game at your New Year’s Eve party.

10Victorians are often unfairly maligned as humorless bores, but this suggested New Year’s party game proves just how silly they could be.The method of play is simple: Write a resolution for yourself or a fellow player on a piece of paper and fold it up.Each player then draws a resolution and reads it aloud.The more ridiculous the resolution, the more laughter ensues.Some suggestions from an 1896 book of games include, “I must stop smoking in my sleep,” and “I must walk with my right foot on the left side.”

9.新年前夜聚會，搞笑“決心”派對游戲耍起。

10人們經常指責維多利亞時代的人缺乏幽默感，但這種新年派對游戲恰恰證實了他們可以多么搞笑。玩法簡單：你在一張紙上寫下自己或玩伴的新年決心，然后折疊起來。接下來，每位玩家抽出一張紙，大聲念出上面的決心。決心越荒誕，招致的笑聲越大。至于下什么樣的決心，1896 年的一本游戲書給出了建議，如“我決定在睡夢中絕不抽煙”“我決定走路的時候必須把右腳放在左邊”。

10.Think about New Year’s Eve as a kind of funeral.

11The notion that Victorians could be a bit morose, even on New Year’s Eve,is not wholly without merit.Poets and preachers alike exhorted people to consider the passing of one year to another as a kind of death.Consider Alfred Tennyson’s “The Death of the Old Year”(“Close up his eyes; tie up his chin; /Step from the corpse”) or Alexander Balloch Grosart’s “New Year’s Eve” (“The darkness of this year’s death, / Will it enshroud us still?”).Cheery stuff! “It is wholesome that the mournful reflections which the period suggests should be indulged,” recommended Thomas Kibble Hervey, “but not to the neglect of its more cheerful influences.”

11.Send a strange New Year’s card.

12Sending Christmas and New Year’s cards first became a tradition in the Victorian Era.And just like the odd Victorian Christmas iconography of dead birds and gun-toting dogs, New Year’s cards similarly might feature mischievous monkeys, inebriated frogs, and more dead birds.Particularly impish were a series of Kinney Tobacco Company cards that included images of children stamped with the date of the old year being thrown into a cauldron.■

10.把新年前夜看成一種葬禮。

11人們認為維多利亞時代的人可能有點陰郁，連新年前夜也興奮不起來，這個想法并非全無道理。那個時代的詩人和傳道士都告誡眾人，要把新年換舊年看成一種死亡。比如阿爾弗雷德·丁尼生的《舊年逝去》（“合上他的雙眼；鎖緊他的下巴；/離開這具尸體”），或亞歷山大·巴洛赫·格羅薩特的《新年前夜》（“今年死亡的黑暗/仍會將我們籠罩嗎？”）。真有趣！“要沉迷于這個時代所標榜的悲哀回憶中，這大有裨益。”托馬斯·基布爾·赫維忠告道，“但是莫要忽視其更加令人興奮的影響。”

11.送怪異的新年賀卡。

12送圣誕節和新年賀卡最早在維多利亞時代成為傳統。就像維多利亞時代怪異的圣誕圖案上畫著死去的鳥和帶槍的犬，同樣，新年賀卡上可能畫著淘氣的猴子、醉酒的青蛙和更多的死鳥。尤為頑皮的是金尼煙草公司的系列賀卡，其中的圖案包括身上印有舊年份日期的兒童被扔進大鍋。 □