Kitchen God Research Articles

The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan

The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan

Análisis de la traducción de las imágenes culturales en la literatura chinoamericana: "La esposa del Dios del Fuego", de Amy Tan

Mediante el presente trabajo, analizaremos la traslación de las imágenes socioculturales chinas en la traducción de la segunda obra de la conocida autora chinoamericana Amy Tan, The kitchen God´s wife, examinando las técnicas de traducción de las imágenes culturales chinas, tanto de la versión china como de la versión española. Sirviéndonos del estudio de la obra original publicada en inglés y las dos traducciones, china y española, comparamos si en los dos textos traducidos pueden percibirse con claridad las imágenes culturales chinas que pretende transmitir la pluma de la autora. El resultado revela que los traductores emplean diferentes técnicas de traducción, pero es en la versión china donde se transmiten las imágenes culturales chinas con mayor nitidez y fidelidad.

The Development of Kuan Yin: Chinese Goddess of Mercy

Great attention is given in books on Chinese religion to the patriarchal organization of Chinese Society and to the important part played by the head of the household. male members of the family share with him in ceremonies to the ancestors, when such rites need to be observed. Hence all families have a passionate longing to have sons, because three things are unfilial and having no sons is the worst, according to Mencius 1). Male heirs are needed to continue the succession and the family worship. This male emphasis has caused the women members of the family to play a passive part in family worship. Sometimes, the women stand at the back of the room whilst the male members go forward to bow to the tablets. On other occasions, the women will approach the ancestral tablets and bow low at the beginning of the ceremony, then they will retire and leave the men to carry out the main ceremony. The women take no part in the worship, at least officially, as this is not sanctioned by the rites. In families of the lower class, the above rule is less strictly maintained. 2) god of wealth, the kitchen god and the gods of happiness are concerned only with men. women of the family have, however, their own divinities, from whom they request the boon, deemed by Chinese women to be the supreme boon of their existence, namely children, if possible boys. great protectress of women is called in general fashion the Holy Mother, Sheng-mu or the Lady Giver of Children, Sung-tzu niangniang. Her worship differs little from one end of China to the other, though the personages who receive these names differ from place to place.

Harbingers of Happiness. The Door Gods of China

In the religious ceremonies in the homes of China, Paper Gods take the place of the images in temples. Many longed-for benefits are hoped to be secured by means of these colourful hand-blocked pictures. Whether the sacrificial ceremony takes place in the main room, or in the open courtyard, the images of the gods and goddesses, immortals, fairies, or demon-dispelling spirits are usually wound round a block of wood, which stands on the altar, or they are hung over the back of a chair, or on the wall behind the altar. On the latter we find candles, incense, paper-money, firecrackers, food and wine. Enticed by the sweet odours of the food and wine, by the shining candles and by the aroma of the incense, the spirits are believed to descend on the perfumed clouds arising from the altar. At the end of the ceremony they return to their abodes in the spirit world on the smoke of their burning pictures and paper-money, to the accompaniment of a salvo of firecrackers. The Paper Gods are called ma-chang fl,7 Horse Sheets, or chih-ma i.-, Paper fHorses. In olden times real horses were sacrificed during the great offerings. But in the 3rd century B.C., Emperor Shih Huang Ti MA11 ordered this practice to cease. At first wooden effigies of horses were used, to be replaced later by stuffed horses, and finally by paper ones. The coming of a newLunar Year is heralded by offerings to the God of the Hearth, the Kitchen God, whose palace is a small niche above the cooking range. The Kitchen God is honoured by the whole family, and upon his watchfulness depends the health and tranquillity of all members of the household. He witnesses all their good and all their evil deeds. Therefore special precauLtions are taken on the 23rd day of the Twelfth Moon, when he starts on his annual journey to heaven. On the last day of the year the Kitchen God returns to his niche in the form of a new picture. By that time all the extensive preparations for the New Year have been completed. The outer gates have received most elaborate and highly coloured portraits of the best known of all Gate G'ods, Yii-chih Rung R0h44t', and Ch'in Ch'iung e. The mission of these two genii of a military character is to frighten away evil influences by thjeir awe-inspiring mnieni and battle attire. Similar Paper Gods are burnt in New Year celebrations between midnight and sunrise of the first day of the year. Paper packages containing the One Hundred Divinities, of which only the uppermost image is coloured and gilded, include all the Taoist and Buddhist figures. the benefricient spiIits, deified human