Sacrifice for the ever laboring teeth -
more about 尾wěi牙yá
It came to me that I did not elaborate on the meaning of 牙yá in尾wěi牙yá in my last article; why 'teeth' would have something to do with this year end banquet. To tell the truth, being a Chinese for the whole of my life - well, let's be modest, for the period of my working life - I never figured it out why, or even actually cared about it. Guess proper circumstances do lead us to knowledge, however trivial it is.
The 尾wěi in尾wěi牙yá and 头tóu in头tóu牙yá as mentioned previously were characters that referred to the end and the beginning: 尾wěi referred to the end and头tóu the beginning. That leaves the big question mark on 牙yá. 牙yá is teeth in general. It can refer to objects that shape like a teeth, or sounds that sound like the character (duh..). In a much more rare usage, the word also is used in describing someone as being clever or smart. Still, besides implication or association - such as teeth as the tool for chewing and grinding the food in your mouth, which definitely helps in the year end banquet - there actually is no specific logic to the derivation as for how 牙yá could refer to the banquet.
Funny enough, the explanation given by the search was equally vague. 牙yá had been the synonym for brokers/traders/merchants or commercial activities since 唐táng Dynasty. Before唐táng Dynasty, the commercial activities was called 互hù市shì, and people who performed the trade were called 互hù人rén. 互hù means mutual, since commercial activities are mutual beneficiary, so it is pretty much self explanatory. Then came唐táng Dynasty, the grand dynasty that spread it's majesty through culturing foreigners that eventually inspired the Japanese culture transformation, decided that 互hù looked similar to 牙yá, and replaced 互hù in 互hù市shì and 互hù人rén to牙yá市shì and牙yá人rén. Anything related to market trading or commercial activities, all the way to "peripherals" - holiday and the sorts. The 2nd and 16th of each (lunar) month, when the bosses treated staff with meat (before they finally sacked them with the pointing chicken head) after the earth god worshiping, were called 牙yá祭jì (roughly translated as offer sacrifice to teeth, 祭jì means to offer sacrifice or to hold a memorial ceremony). This is how enjoying a feast is also called 打dă牙yá祭jì. Hence 头tóu牙yá祭jì and 尾wěi牙yá祭jì became 头tóu牙yá and 尾wěi牙yá.
So there you have it, one more trivia that will gain you some more points when you run out of Confucius on the dinning table with your boss and colleges. Perhaps that will help turn the chicken head away from you? You never know……
ps. Just so that you are wondering how much alike are the two word互hù and牙yá, here is a side by side graphic for your review, courtesy of the mighty internet. They are in different types of calligraphy, but I am sure you would get the idea. Know which is which??
No comments:
Post a Comment