Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/188

 Hsiung huang suan (雄黃蒜), garlic dipped in a preparation of hartall, is hung at the door. Mashed garlic and hartall wine is sprinkled on the floor and door posts of the house to keep away snakes and ants; it is said that if a snake touches hartall its body will decompose. A few ounces of pork is dipped in this hartall and then hung up over the door.

This practice of hanging artemisia over the doorway seems to have some foundation in history. It is said that in the T'ang dynasty, a rebel, Huang Ts‘ao (黃曹), who ravaged the country, captured a woman fleeing with two children; the woman carried the big child on her back and made the little one walk. The rebel chief asked the reason for this and she explained that the big one belonged to the elder brother of the family and the little one to herself, but the elder brother's child being the more important she carried it on her back. Seeing her piety he gave her a sprig of artemisia and sent her home, telling her to put the sprig over her door, and when the rebels came to the place they would not harm her.

Nearly every one stops work at least half a day, and in the afternoon houses are almost deserted, every one going out to the country to walk off their sickness. All business is suspended and theatricals are held in the country temples.

An old custom was to put millet in a cow's or sheep's horn chüeh shu (角黍), and drop it in the river to find Ch‘ü Yuan. This custom has now changed into eating tsung tzŭ (糭子) or glutinous rice balls, rolled up in bamboo leaves. They are eaten by almost every family and are freely given as presents on this occasion.

It was a custom in Ch‘eng-tu for men to throw plums at women of doubtful character; the plums were afterwards taken home in the hope that male issue might be given. The custom has been stopped for some years in Ch‘êng-tu.

This is a time when teachers' salaries are due, and school fees paid. Teachers give scholars fans and scholars give money to the teachers. Presents are freely exchanged in many walks of life from the magistrate to the humblest citizen. People like to dress well at this feast, and policemen and beggars expect their gratuities. It almost seems as if it