维多利亚时代的独特跨年传统

2023-04-06基思约翰斯顿李方超

英语世界 2023年1期

文/基思·约翰斯顿译/李方超

“We have been very gay; danced into the New Year, and again last night, and were very merry,” Queen Victoria wrote to her uncle, the King of Belgium, on January 4, 1843.She was six years into her lengthy reign (1837-1901), all of 23 years old, and apparently enjoying every minute of the New Year.For many Victorians, parties, dancing,and festive spirits were staples of New Year’s celebrations, just like today.Yet there were many other odd, quaint, and charming customs that for the most part are no longer with us.Below are 11 such Victorian New Year’s traditions.

“我们向来很开心，起舞迎新年。昨晚也跳舞了，很快乐。”维多利亚女王在1843 年1 月4 日给舅舅比利时国王的信中写道。那是她漫长统治期（1837—1901）的第6 年，而她当时年仅23 岁。显然，她醉心于新年的每时每刻。对许多维多利亚时代的人而言，聚会、跳舞、节庆烈酒是新年庆祝活动的重头戏，与今日并无二致。不过，维多利亚时代有许多其他古怪离奇、令人着迷的习俗，其中大部分并未沿袭至今。下述11 个维多利亚时代跨年传统就是这种情况。

1.Don’t let a woman be the first to enter your house in the new year.

2Known as the “first-foot” or “firstfooting,” this superstition from Scotland and Northern England held that it was bad luck for either a light-haired or (depending on the region) a dark-haired man to be the first to enter a home in the new year.Worse was to have a woman be the first to enter.In one Shropshire valley it was thought to be bad luck for a woman to enter the house at all before noon.

1.新年“头客”，莫请女性。

2这个迷信有“头脚”或“头步”之说，源自苏格兰和英格兰北部，认为新年里发色浅或（依地区而定）发色深的男性第一个进人家门是不吉利的。更不吉利的是女性第一个走进人家。在英格兰什罗普郡的某个山谷，人们认为女性在中午前进家门非常不吉利。

2.Don’t take anything out of your house without bringing something in.

3Another superstition that persisted in some parts of Northern England was the belief that you shouldn’t take anything out of the house without first bringing something in.“Take out, then take in, / Bad luck will begin,” went one rhyme.“Take in, then take out, / Good luck comes about.”

2.未有东西入，莫让东西出。

3另一个流传于英格兰北部几地的迷信认为，如果没有先往屋内带点东西，就不应该把东西从屋里拿出去。“先出后进，开年不幸。”一首儿歌唱道，“先进后出，好运临门。”

3.Be a gentleman caller on New Year’s Day.

4The tradition of visiting friends and relations on New Year’s Day was more fashionable on the European continent than it was in Victorian England, but it was perhaps nowhere more extreme than in New York City, where it was a veritable sport.Young men would race around the city to visit (to call on) as many young women as possible.By the 1890s, the custom had fallen out of fashion in favor of more exclusive New Year’s Eve parties.

3.新年当天，礼貌拜访。

4新年当天走亲访友的传统，在欧洲大陆要比在维多利亚时代的英格兰更为风靡流行，但或许没有哪个地方能比当时的纽约做得更极端。在那里，走亲访友竟成了一项名副其实的运动。年轻男子骑着马游走全城，以看望（短暂拜访）尽可能多的年轻女子。到19世纪90 年代，这项习俗已经衰落，人们转而青睐更具独享性的新年前夜派对。

4.Throw bread at the door on New Year’s Eve.

5By the Victorian era, this practice seems to have survived only “in the more comfortable and wealthy homes of the south and midland counties” of Ireland.People baked a large bread called barmbrack on New Year’s Eve.The man of the house then took three bites before throwing it against the door while those gathered prayed “that cold, want, or hunger might not enter” in the coming year.

4.新年前夜，自家门口扔面包。

5这项传统到了维多利亚时代，似乎仅在爱尔兰“更加安居富有的南部和中部各郡人家”延续了下来。新年前夜，人们烤一大块“葡萄干面包”。家里的男主人随后把这块大面包咬上三口，再扔在门廊上。接着，聚在周围的人一起祷告：来年“寒冷、贫穷或饥饿，一样莫来”。

5.Attend a “Watch Night” service on New Year’s Eve.

6John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, revived the ancient tradition of“Watch Night” services—lengthy contemplative church services that lasted until midnight—in the 1740s to give coal miners something prayerful to do other than drinking in a pub.By the 19th century, these services became a New Year’s Eve tradition: something prayerful to do rather than drinking at a party.

6.Open a Bible at random to tell your future on New Year’s Day.

7Known as “dipping,” this custom involved opening a Bible to a random page and, without looking, pointing to a particular passage.The selected excerpt was thought to predict the good or bad fortune of the person doing the dipping.

7.Force someone to ride the stang on New Year’s Day.

8A medieval custom that survived into the Victorian period, “riding the stang”was an act of mob violence in some parts of England in which, on New Year’s Day, a gang would abduct someone and force them to ride a pole (a “stang”)to the nearest pub and pay a fine to the crowd in order to be set free.It began as a way to shame and punish criminals or community members thought to be immoral, but by the 19th century became just a bit of New Year’s fun.

5.新年前夜，参加“守夜”仪式。

618 世纪40 年代，为了让煤矿工人参加一些祈祷活动，而不只是在酒吧畅饮，循道宗创始人约翰·卫斯理复兴了这个古老的“守夜”仪式传统。这是一种在教堂进行的、漫长的敛心默祷仪式，一直持续到午夜。到了19 世纪，这些仪式演变为新年前夜的一项传统：做一些祷告，而非在派对上饮酒。

6.新年当天，任翻《圣经》知未来。

7这个风俗名为“翻经书”，打开《圣经》翻到任意一页，不看页面，指出某一段落。人们认为指出的这段可以预知翻书者今年是福是祸。

7.新年当天，强迫别人“骑长杆”。

8“骑长杆”这项中世纪习俗延续到了维多利亚时代，是英格兰部分地区的聚众暴乱行为。新年当天，一伙人绑架一个人，强迫此人骑着长杆到最近的酒吧，并向围观者缴纳罚金，以获人身自由。起初，这个习俗旨在羞辱并惩罚犯人或人们认为道德败坏的社区成员，但到了19 世纪，这个习俗就只是一种新年趣味游戏。

8.Eat a disgusting pie on New Year’s Eve.

9Mince meat pies were a traditional Victorian treat for New Year’s Eve, but one Mrs.Bliss provides a recipe for something much more epic.Her “New Year’s Pie” calls a boiled cow’s tongue stuffed inside a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey stuffed inside a goose.The whole thing is then coated in a jelly made from beef’s feet.It puts the Turducken1特大啃，turkey-duck-chicken 的简称。这道美食是最具创意的美国本土食物，其做法是将无骨鸡填到无骨鸭肚子里，然后再将填了无骨鸡的无骨鸭填到无骨火鸡的肚子里。to shame!

8.新年前夜，吃难以下咽的馅饼。

9肉末馅饼曾是维多利亚时代传统的新年前夜美食，但某位布利斯太太调配出了更惊人的食谱配方。她的“新年馅饼”是将水煮牛舌塞进一只鸡，再把鸡塞进一只鸭，再把鸭塞进一只火鸡，再把火鸡塞进一只鹅。最后，在外面涂抹一层牛蹄制成的肉冻。这真叫“特大啃”相形见绌！

9.Play a silly “resolutions” party game at your New Year’s Eve party.

10Victorians are often unfairly maligned as humorless bores, but this suggested New Year’s party game proves just how silly they could be.The method of play is simple: Write a resolution for yourself or a fellow player on a piece of paper and fold it up.Each player then draws a resolution and reads it aloud.The more ridiculous the resolution, the more laughter ensues.Some suggestions from an 1896 book of games include, “I must stop smoking in my sleep,” and “I must walk with my right foot on the left side.”

9.新年前夜聚会，搞笑“决心”派对游戏耍起。

10人们经常指责维多利亚时代的人缺乏幽默感，但这种新年派对游戏恰恰证实了他们可以多么搞笑。玩法简单：你在一张纸上写下自己或玩伴的新年决心，然后折叠起来。接下来，每位玩家抽出一张纸，大声念出上面的决心。决心越荒诞，招致的笑声越大。至于下什么样的决心，1896 年的一本游戏书给出了建议，如“我决定在睡梦中绝不抽烟”“我决定走路的时候必须把右脚放在左边”。

10.Think about New Year’s Eve as a kind of funeral.

11The notion that Victorians could be a bit morose, even on New Year’s Eve,is not wholly without merit.Poets and preachers alike exhorted people to consider the passing of one year to another as a kind of death.Consider Alfred Tennyson’s “The Death of the Old Year”(“Close up his eyes; tie up his chin; /Step from the corpse”) or Alexander Balloch Grosart’s “New Year’s Eve” (“The darkness of this year’s death, / Will it enshroud us still?”).Cheery stuff! “It is wholesome that the mournful reflections which the period suggests should be indulged,” recommended Thomas Kibble Hervey, “but not to the neglect of its more cheerful influences.”

11.Send a strange New Year’s card.

12Sending Christmas and New Year’s cards first became a tradition in the Victorian Era.And just like the odd Victorian Christmas iconography of dead birds and gun-toting dogs, New Year’s cards similarly might feature mischievous monkeys, inebriated frogs, and more dead birds.Particularly impish were a series of Kinney Tobacco Company cards that included images of children stamped with the date of the old year being thrown into a cauldron.■

10.把新年前夜看成一种葬礼。

11人们认为维多利亚时代的人可能有点阴郁，连新年前夜也兴奋不起来，这个想法并非全无道理。那个时代的诗人和传道士都告诫众人，要把新年换旧年看成一种死亡。比如阿尔弗雷德·丁尼生的《旧年逝去》（“合上他的双眼；锁紧他的下巴；/离开这具尸体”），或亚历山大·巴洛赫·格罗萨特的《新年前夜》（“今年死亡的黑暗/仍会将我们笼罩吗？”）。真有趣！“要沉迷于这个时代所标榜的悲哀回忆中，这大有裨益。”托马斯·基布尔·赫维忠告道，“但是莫要忽视其更加令人兴奋的影响。”