Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/172

160 A dragon made of light bamboo covered with green cloth is carried through the streets and into the homes of the people; each family receives it with incense, candles and paper, while the men who parade it are rewarded with money. Many of the incantations and ritual given under the fire and epidemic fast are practised in this also.

Again an epidemic boat is made, with a man shao kung (艄公) at the bows and a woman, shao p‘o, to steer, while in the centre of the boat sits the demon. The beard of the fire demon is red, while that of the pestilence demon is green. The god of the pestilence is said to have been K‘ang t‘ien chün, whose tablet is as follows: 當年行瘟天子至德尊神. To the god of pestilence who governs the current year.

A fast of praying to heaven is held, Lo (羅) t‘ien or Ch‘i (祈) t‘ien ta chiao, in times of distress or at regular intervals from three to fifteen years in different cities. When the fast is proclaimed it is generally a very rigid one, with much ritual, sorcery and chanting, and may last from seven to fifty days. During the recent rebellion, before the establishment of the republic, this fast was proclaimed in many places to ask for protection from the government soldiers.

Huang ch‘ung (蝗蟲) chiao is a fast held in the country to keep the locusts and caterpillars from the crops. If this fast is held in a temple the local precinct god is notified by the burning of incense and putting up of fresh scrolls at his shrine. Five-coloured flags are put up at the corners of the field; this is said to be equivalent to invitation to the rooks to come and devour the pests. The old custom of walking round the fields beating a gong or drum is still to be found; it is said that the caterpillars fall to the ground at the sound. Farmers say that one of the chief benefits of a heavy thunderstorm is to make these pests drop off by the thousand.

In times of drought or very wet weather the official issues a proclamation forbidding the butcher to kill pigs or oxen, chin tu (禁屠). The idea is that the taking of life is an offence against the gods.