The Moon Is Not Rounder Elsewhere

By Zeng Kai

I’ve lived in Spain for around four or five years, and truth be told, the Christmas here is very quiet and not how I thought it would be. On December 25,almost every house is shut up,which forms a stark contrast to the New Year’s celebration a week later.

Some people say that westerners are born independent and neither value their family nor give it a high priority in their lives.

Just a few days ago, I came across a middle-aged man at the bus station in front of my house.The man was standing there,looking around in the chill wind.After a while, a young lady came running from the other side of the street, and the old man was hailed with a most enthusiastic shout of “Papá” and a big bear hug from her in front of everyone. And then, the lady took the man by the hand, and both of them got in her car and left happily.

At that moment, it suddenly occurred to me that, ever since I reached manhood, I’ve never addressed my dad that way in public.

When I visited El Escorial, I was impressed by the centuryold elaborate drawing of Spain’s Royal Family Tree hanging on the wall, from which every single lineage of the royal clan could be traced back to hundreds of years ago. However, in China, many hectic urban dwellers seem to have forgotten the names of their ancestors that are older than three generations. In Spain, it is common to see handsome young dads wearing a knapsack stuffed with milk bottles on their back,pulling a pram, and carrying their babies in the front, all while shopping with their wives in the street. But in China, most babies seem to be looked after by their moms, grandparents, or nannies.

It seems that Europeans have a unique way of expressing when it comes to family values.In their minds, festivals for families should never be turned into a public carnival. If coming home is to fulfill your family responsibility, then coming home on Christmas is to fulfill the responsibility in the name of faith. When we communicate with people, everything we do is mundane, but when we communicate with God,everything we do is more like a ritual.

Before this Christmas, our dean had already scheduled to go back to her residence in the north to visit her children, my tutor had already set up a beautiful Christmas tree at home, and the supermarkets were shut early.With fireplaces burning cheerfully in every house, the family members, who are normally busy with their own affairs most of the time, are now sitting around the dining table, praying earnestly and devoutly in praise of Jesus Christ, and passing merciful blessings to everyone around them.

來到西班牙已經四五年，說實話，這里的圣誕節一直很平靜，并不是我想象中的模樣。每到這一天，家家戶戶都關起門來，和一周之后的新年狂歡形成巨大的反差。

有人說，西方人生來獨立，不重視親情，家庭觀念淡薄。

前幾天，我在家門口的公交車站，偶遇一位年過半百的老先生，他立于寒風中，四下觀望。過了一會兒，從街道另一邊跑來一個年輕女子，當著眾人的面，大喊一聲“爸爸”，撲上去就是一個溫暖的擁抱，然后牽著老人的手，幸福地上了車。

那一刻，我突然想起，成年以后，自己好像從未在公共場合喊過“爸爸”。

參觀埃斯科里亞爾修道院的時候，看到墻壁上掛著百年前精心繪制的家族樹，一宗一親都可以追溯到幾百年前的各個支系。在中國，一些忙碌的城里人，已經記不得自己家族三代以上的名字。而在西班牙，經常看到很多年輕帥哥，推著嬰兒車，胸前掛著嬰兒，背包里塞著奶瓶，習以為常地跟在妻子身后逛街，但在國內，好多娃娃好像都是爺爺奶奶、媽媽、保姆帶……

歐洲人的家庭觀念或許有自己獨特的表達方式，應該屬于家庭的節日，就絕不是公眾的狂歡。如果說回家是履行對親人的責任，那么，在圣誕節回家，更是以信仰之名履行這份責任。當我們的交流對象是人的時候，所有的行為都是世俗生活；當我們的交流對象是神的時候，所有的行為更像是儀式。

我們的系主任早就計劃回到她在北部的莊園去探望孩子，導師早就在家里制作好了圣誕樹，商店早就打烊……家家戶戶的壁爐，燒得又紅又旺，家人平時各自忙碌，現在圍坐在餐桌旁，在對基督的贊美中莊嚴虔誠地禱告，再道一聲祝福，傳遞給身邊的人。

節日，是傳統和習慣，是信仰和寄托，也是假期和商機。西方的圣誕節平靜安詳，東方的圣誕節喧嘩亢奮。值得玩味的是，好多國人連蘋果是“平安之果”還是“欲望之果”都沒有分清楚，連天主教和基督教哪個拜耶穌、哪個拜上帝都還沒弄明白，就已經煞有介事地慶祝起外國人的節日，模仿他們做禱告，學習他們送禮物，不亦樂乎……

我們的春節以及諸多傳統節日的風俗習慣，已經流傳千年，卻似乎沒有成為西方年輕人的精神寄托和模仿對象。是否，真的外來的習俗就那么洋，我們的傳統就那么土呢？

Festivals are not only a tradition, a custom, a belief, and a spiritual support for us, but also a holiday and a business opportunity. Unlike the peaceful and quiet Christmas in the West,the Christmas in the East is rather boisterous and lively. It is worth contemplating why lots of Chinese people put on such airs in celebrating western festivals,imitating westerners to pray and exchange gifts and so on, without even understanding whether an apple represents peace or desire or who Catholics and Christians worship, God or Jesus Christ.

Yet, the customs of our Spring Festival and many other traditional festivals, with a history of thousands of years, are seldom imitated or much appreciated by young people in the West. Could it be said that foreign customs are trendy and ours are out of fashion?

I remember that a few years ago, I went to Havana to interview a film expert who was over 70 for my dissertation. He lived in a cramped and simply furnished house. After rummaging for some time, he took out a colorful iron box stuffed with all sorts of Chinese tea.

I was a little surprised by it,as Havana was a country under sanctions for several decades and in urgent need of food and sometimes even water and toilet paper. “This is Keemun black tea.This is Tie Guanyin (oolong tea).This is Biluochun (green tea).This is Pu’er (black tea)…” The old man introduced them to me as if talking about his family treasures.And then, he, full of pride, began to boil water and make tea for me.

Through the lingering vapor in the room, I saw that the old man squinted his eyes and took a sip of his tea. Then he exhaled a puff of warm air, and said to me happily, “I love the tea from your country. When I drink Pu’er, I can conjure up images of the horsedrawn caravans moving through clouds and mist on the Ancient Tea Horse Road, with horse bells ringing along the way. When I drink Tie Guanyin, I can conjure up images of petite young ladies from the coastland of Fujian,wearing tie-dyed headcloths and big bamboo hats, working in the field…”

Although he never had a chance to visit China, and I don’t know how much effort he spent in collecting those teas or where he got them, everything he said about the hometown of a tea was so vivid that I felt like I was actually there.

Perhaps, distance creates beauty as well as misunderstanding. When we get closer, we’ll find that, the moon is not rounder elsewhere.◆

(FromStay Hungry, Stay Foolish, Guangming Daily Press.Translation: Zhu Yaguang)

我想起好幾年前，為了完成畢業論文，我去哈瓦那采訪一個七十多歲的電影專家。他的房子非常狹窄，屋內設施非常簡陋，主人翻了好半天，拿出一個花花綠綠的鐵罐子，里面是各種中國茶。

我不禁有些吃驚，要知道，這是一個受到制裁幾十年、物資緊缺到有時連純凈水和衛生紙都成問題的國度。老人如數家珍，向我介紹：“這是祁門紅茶，這是鐵觀音，這是碧螺春，這是普洱……”然后，十分驕傲地燒好水、泡好茶來和我分享。

水汽繚繞之間，老人瞇起眼睛，抿了一口茶，呼出一團熱氣，滿臉幸福地說：“我喜歡你們的茶，一喝到普洱，就可以聯想到茶馬古道上踏著鈴聲在云霧間穿梭的馬幫；一喝到鐵觀音，就能想象福建一帶嬌小柔美的女子，扎著花布頭巾，戴著大斗笠，在田間勞作……”

他一輩子未曾有機會到過中國，我也不知道他究竟費了多少工夫，從哪里搜集來這些茶葉，他說的關于茶鄉的這一切，感覺是那么形象，我也仿佛身臨其境。

或許，距離產生美，也產生誤解。當我們走近，便會發現，沒有哪里的月亮更圓。◆