In eastern village and western village
they celebrate New Year's Eve:
towering torches, a thousand of them,
light the fields all red!
The old people pray with smiles,
the young folk sing songs:
“We wish for a year good for silkworms
and also good for wheat.”
In bright starlight strange shadows are cast,
startling the perched crows;
flames from torches burn off the cold,
giving birth to spring.
Late at night, torches all burned out,
the people return to their homes;
they all say prognostications
show a prosperous year ahead.