節

The character 節 is， in a word， an instant party—attach it to the end of just about anything， and you’ve got yourself a holiday. Tack it on to 勞動 (l1od7ng)， or labor， and you’ve got勞動節 (L1od7ngji9)， Labor Day; add it to 婦女 (fn))， woman， and you’ve got婦女節 (Fn)ji9)， Women’s Day. Add it to spring， 春 (ch$n)， and you’ve got the biggest holiday of the year: 春節(Ch$nji9)， or Spring Festival. 節， in other words， has the power to transform the dead of winter into a raging， baijiufueled， firework-popping celebration.

Given its alchemical powers， you might be surprised at 節’s rather prosaic roots—its original meaning， as recorded in bronzeware inscriptions(1300 BC-200 BC)， was “bamboo joint，” the ridges along poles of bamboo. At that time， 節 was written as 節， which combined the radicals at the top of the character for bamboo， 竹 (zh%)， with the pronunciation character 即 (j!).

The appearance of the character started to change during the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-207 BC)， when cursive writing simplified the at the top of 節 to . Later still， people started leaving out the left side of the character 即， simplifying it into the modern 節.

The meaning of 節， on the other hand， took a much more convoluted path. Around the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD)， dictionaries began listing the second definition for 節 “bamboo cord，” thanks to the resemblance between bamboo ridges and knotted up bits of twine. Here’s where the semantic Gods of Association begin to run wild. Because twine was used as a restraint， 節 gave birth to 節制 (ji9zh#)， which means“restrict” or “moderate.” This spun off a host of new words related to restraint or restriction: 節約 (ji9yu8) and 節儉 (ji9ji2n)， for example， both refer to frugality; 節食 (ji9sh!) means to diet; 節欲 (ji9y) is abstinence and節哀 (ji9’`i) refers to overcoming grief. When people pass away， we often say 節哀順變 (ji9’`i shnbi3n)， which is short for 節制哀傷 (ji9zh#`ish`ng) “restrain grief，” and 順應變故 (shny#ng bi3ng) “accept misfortune.”

節 took another interesting turn with the word 符節 (f%ji9)， which in ancient China referred to the bamboo certifications given to royal envoys. Diplomats came to be called 使節 (sh@ji9)， which in turn gave way to an army of terms related to the messengers’supposedly noble characters. Among these are 氣節 (q#ji9， integrity) and 節操 (ji9c`o， moral principles). In ancient Chinese culture節操 was extremely important， a sentiment expressed in the phrase，“餓死事小，失節事大” (- s@ sh# xi2o， sh~ ji9 sh# d3)， which means that starving to death is nothing compared with losing one’s integrity.

A third line of semantic evolution was based on the observation that bamboo joints occur one after the other. As a result， 節節 came to describe something that occurs steadily or in succession. During a war， two defeats followed by a retreat is called 節節敗退 (ji9ji9 b3itu#). When prices continually rise it’s called 節節上升 (ji9ji9 sh3ngsh8ng). The saying 芝麻開花——節節高 (zh~mak`ihu`—ji9ji9g`o， sesame flowers open—and grow steadily tall) means that things are always changing for the better， like a sesame flower blossoming upwards. Because bamboo joints divide the pole into sections， 節 is also used to describe things in life that have stages. Book chapters and sections are called 章節(zh`ngji9); performance order is called 節目 (ji9m); and seasons are called 季節(j#ji9) and 節氣 (ji9q#). It’s this that led to the use of 節 to refer to holidays， which were originally used to mark seasonal changes. In addition to 春節 (Ch$nji9)， there’s also 清明節 (Q~ngm!ngji9）or Tomb Sweeping Day， 端午節 (Du`nw^ji9) or Dragon Boat Festival， 中秋節(Zh4ngqi$ji9) or Mid-Autumn Festival， and so on. Go ahead， try and inventing your own. My first nomination: 巧克力節 (Qi2ok-l#ji9)…