The lotus lanterns for blessings had glowed all night.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, before the sky was fully light, birds chirped in the mountains.
Chen Shi'an rose early and threw the temple gates wide open, welcoming the first mountain breeze and auspicious blessings of the new year.
After breakfast, he washed his hands and burned incense again, conducting the first ritual of the new year.
Just as the hour of the Dragon began and the sky brightened, voices and laughter came from the mountain path.
Uncle Wang's family, Uncle Liu, Auntie Li, and other familiar villagers, all dressed in new clothes, came bustling back to Pure Dust Temple with baskets on carrying poles and loads on their backs. They brought homemade rice cakes, glutinous rice cakes, offerings, incense, candles, and other things to offer incense and wish the Little Taoist a happy New Year.
Dressed in his long Dōfuku robe, Chen Shi'an welcomed and guided them with a smile, then brought out the red envelopes he had prepared to give the children New Year's gifts.
Unlike the New Year's money ordinary families gave their younger generations, Daoist New Year's money, also known as charm money or spirit-warding money, was a traditional custom carrying wishes for blessings and protection from evil.
The simple red envelopes contained not ordinary currency but specially made accessories. The fronts of the coins were often engraved with auspicious Daoist phrases such as "The Heavenly Official bestows blessings" and "Dispel calamity and banish misfortune," while the backs bore Daoist symbols such as the eight trigrams, tortoises and snakes, stars, or the Eight Immortals, signifying the expulsion of evil and the welcoming of good fortune.
People always came early to offer incense. After ten or eleven, the temple returned to its usual tranquility,