Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/15

 The goddess of Mercy, Kuan-Yin 觀音, who gives sons to her worshippers sung tsŭ niang-niang 送子娘娘, also called san p‘o niang-niang 三婆娘媳 or san hsiao 三霄, is believed to be in the house for the first three days after the confinement; at the end of this time the father makes her an offering of wine, incense and paper, behind the bedroom door, where the goddess is supposed to lodge.

At the end of ten days the the [sic] father's mother and other relatives are invited to a feast, and presents of rice, eggs and chickens are brought to the family.

At the end of a month a feast is given, called t‘ang ping (or mi or yüeh) chiu 湯餅 (or 米 or 月) 酒; all those who have given presents are invited. After this the mother may go to the kitchen or the well; before this many will not speak to her, and Buddhist devotees are especially fearful about doing so.

After fulfilling forty days, man ssŭ-shih t‘ien 滿四十天, the mother may visit her friends and show off the baby. In complimenting the parents it is safe to say that the baby is ugly 醜, or to use any other derogatory terms, so that the demons will not want it.

Having fulfilled 120 days the mother may go to the temple and give thanks to the idols.

At the end of the first year 滿周歲 man chou sui, the mother-in-law sends presents to the child. The old custom of this season was to lay before the child objects representing different occupations in life, and his training would afterwards be directed according to the object he grasped. This was called chua nien 抓年, grasping the year.

The above are some of the customs connected with ordinary cases. Women who are barren or son-less employ various methods to obtain such issue.

They beg a prayer-tally, 求籤 ch‘iu ch‘ien from a particular idol, take it home and keep on the family altar. These tallies are notched pieces of bamboo, kept at the idol shrine for divination purposes.

They become vegetarians; this often means that they also distribute much rice to the poor. There are many kinds of vegetarian vows, such as Kuan-yin chai 觀音齋, (kept on the 9th, or by some on the 2nd, 6th and 9th, of each month);