Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/170

158 Small paper lamps which have been soaked in oil are then lit and sent off on the river in the dark to light the orphan spirits of the drowned.

Ch'ien sung shêng chia (錢送聖駕) is to disperse the spirits to their abode with an offering.

Food and warning are given to the demons shih shih fang chieh (施食放戒). A row of candles is set up by the wayside (this is called ch‘a lu cho 插路燭) to lighten the demons to the spot. The candles are made of lengths of bamboo four or five feet high, and are sometimes eighty or more in number; they are wound round with paper soaked in oil and pitch. After they are lighted some rice gruel is placed at the foot of each candle; so that the spirits may have both light and food, along with the exhortation to repent and forsake their evil works. T‘ang pa tzu are scattered sweetmeats, which are scrambled for and eaten by everybody; the belief being that they who eat them will be relieved from bad dreams and the danger of becoming crazy.

The idols of the temple where the fast has been held have to be pacified, lest they may have been offended or jealous; and this ends the yearly fast for preventing fire and pestilence.

A fast to the god of fire, Ta (打) ho chiao, is proclaimed when there has been a conflagration in the neighbourhood, or certain omens point to one being imminent. In the case of a conflagration the family in whose house it started may be fined and beaten by the official and people, kept from receiving any monetary help disbursed or may even be driven from the district. In cases of thieving during the conflagration the goods are rarely taken home for seven days till the danger of fire connected with them is quite removed. So great is the fear of fire that when distributing relief, no one will dare to take the relief unless they have really suffered, lest they themselves should be implicated. Those who are thus burned out of house and home are not allowed to enter any person's house for seven days, lest they should bring the fire demon with them; for this and the following things the fire demon has to be appeased.