Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/176

164 garlands of flowers and branches over and around him. The day costs him some hundreds of strings of cash and is one of the gala days of the year.

The ox is made by special instructions from the official, and great interest is taken in all the details of colour both of the ox and the driver. If the ox is yellow, the people say that the year will be a fruitful one, and a bumper harvest is expected. If it is red, fire and calamity will be rife; if white, mourning will be very plentiful; if green, plague will ravage the country; if black, sickness and disease will be plentiful. The spring will be early or late according as the tail is uplifted or downhanging. If the ox is lying down it is also an indication of a late spring. If the garments of the driver are stripped off and trousers tucked up then an early spring is expected, but if its shoes are on and down at the heels the spring will be late. If the clothing is properly on with girdle and garters complete, then the spring will be an ordinary one.

The ancient custom of making a mud ball in the shape of a drum during the winter and breaking it at the opening of spring chi t‘u ku (擊土鼓) is probably the origin of the spring ox.

Li ch‘un or ta ch‘un is to begin spring. This is the day following the meeting of spring, and the crowd is much smaller. On this day the farmers will not sweep their floors for fear of sweeping away Mother Earth who has to bring forth her fruits, neither will they disturb her by sowing or digging. The spring ox and driver having been taken the day previous to the yamen court, the official, dressed again in the robes of the priest of spring, makes an offering to them, after which he strikes the first blow at the ox which is speedily demolished by the crowd and carried off to the homes and the fields of the people. The calf inside it is taken and carried to some family which has no sons. The driver is burned and the whole cleared out of sight and the ceremony is now over. Among the rustics all this is very important, and some even believe that if there was no spring ox there could hardly be any harvest.