Jenny Lao-Phillips
During this time of year when lots of places are decorated with large peach blossom trees, we often see young people running around the trees for luck. This is not just for enhancing luck in general, but specifically for “Tou Faa Wan” “.ه*ف٩B” (directly translated as “peach blossoms luck”).
Tou Faa Wan is the luck for finding love. And the correlation between peach blossoms and romance was rooted in the story behind the famous poem 人面桃花 “Her face and the peach blossom” written by Cui Hu during the Tang Dynasty. The short poem is roughly translated as:
This day last year by the door
Her face and the peach blossom, reflections of red
Her face is no longer there,
The peach blossoms remains, smiling at the spring breeze
The story behind this beautiful poem was that Cui Hu was hiking far up on the hills on Ching Ming day when he started to feel tired and thirsty. He came across a field full of peach blossoms. Amongst the blossoms stood a house in the middle of nowhere, so he went to knock on the door expecting some refined, retired scholar. To his surprise, a very beautiful girl answered the door. Guess what? They fell in love at first sight. But being an educated, young, gentlemen, Cui Hu knew the inappropriateness of being with a young girl alone in a house. So he asked for some water and then went away.
However, Cui Hu couldn’t keep the face of the girl out of his mind, so on the same day the next year, he went to the house among the peach blossoms again. This time a refined, scholarly, older gentlemen answered the door. The gentlemen was crying when he told Cui Hu that his daughter just passed away from a heart break. Apparently, after meeting Cui Hu the year before, the girl couldn’t forget him and had been waiting day after day for him to return. In one year of waiting, her mysterious prince charming didn’t return and she died of heartbreak. Probably more out of malnutrition from not being able to eat or sleep.
Cui Hu broke down after knowing the truth, and legend has it that he wept so bitterly that a fairy felt sympathy for him and brought the girl back to life. Then, of course, they lived happily ever after. The belief that peach blossoms can bring luck in finding love came from this story. But how?
Just putting the blossoms at home is probably not enough. It is customary for people who would like to enhance their “peach blossom luck” to run three times, clockwise, around a large peach blossom. For those who are single and are in search of love, don’t forget to take three laps around a blossom this weekend, and don’t run the wrong way.
For those who are married, perhaps the peach blossom is not for you, but it is still a nice custom to take a walk amongst the flowers at the flower market, be it merely for appreciating the colorful flowers, or to pick up a plant for bringing more Chinese New Year spirit at home, or just to inhale some luck from all those auspicious flowers. The pussy willow, for instance, the Chinese name of which is 銀柳 (Yin Liu), has the same sound as money and apartment, so you probably know what kind of luck it brings. Most of the Chinese New Year flowers, such as the Kumquat and Narcissus, boost prosperity but there are those that are believed to bring other kinds of luck. Chrysanthemum, Rose Supreme or Gladiolus, Carnation, etc. brings felicity, and therefore are good choices of gifts for the family. Well, happy flower shopping.
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