Detailed Introduction
On the afternoon of New Year's Eve the whole lane fills with the sound of paper tearing. Last year's couplets have to come down before the new ones go up. The year starts with that gesture.
[From peach wood to red paper]
Spring couplets began as taofu - two peach-wood boards hung on either side of a door, bearing the names of Shentu and Yulei, the two door gods. Peach wood was believed to repel evil, and the gods kept unclean things out. Red paper with auspicious lines eventually took their place. When Wang Anshi wrote about replacing the old charms with new peaches, this is the swap he meant.
[How to hang them]
This is where most people get it wrong:
- The first line goes on the right, the second on the left, as you face the door from outside rather than standing inside it.
- Telling the lines apart: listen to the last character. The first line ends on a falling tone, the second on a level tone.
- The horizontal header is written right to left, which is why the first line belongs on the right.
- The upside-down fu character is contested. On a main door, tradition says do not invert it; an inverted fu belongs on a rice bin or a cupboard. Inverted on the front door, it reads as good fortune tipping over before it gets inside.
[Where they go]
- Both sides of the main door: the couplet proper.
- Above the lintel: the header.
- Centre of the door panel: a single fu or chun character.
- Rice bin, refrigerator, car: smaller slips reading full, spring, or prosper.
- Kitchen: often a line about the five flavours in harmony.
[When to hang and when to remove]
New Year's Eve is the usual day, though some hang them the evening before. Avoid leaving it until after dark; folk practice holds that couplets hung at night do not hold. Whatever comes down is replaced the same day, so the doorway is never left bare overnight.
Taking them down varies by region. Some places wait for the Lantern Festival, others leave them until they fall apart on their own. Most Taiwanese households simply strip the old ones the following New Year's Eve, which means the couplet hangs for a full year.
[Why anyone still bothers]
Printed couplets took over long ago and hang in rows in every supermarket by December. Yet people still queue in front of calligraphers before the holiday, because what goes on that paper is what the household wants this year. A shop asks for wealth. A family with a child sitting exams asks for a place on the list. Someone who has just moved in asks for a settled home. The two lines by the door are a set of resolutions, written large enough for the neighbours to read.