Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/191

 keep the laws, and the priest afterwards scatters kuei tan tzŭ, which consists of bread and cakes. These the people scramble for and eat. After the 15th the spirits again return to their own place.

A sacrifice is made to the orphan spirits by the heads of guilds and societies. Sometimes over 100 taels is spent, and if the guild is rich even 1,000 taels may be lavished on these orphan spirits.

Wine, meat, and even whole tables of feasts are offered to the ancestors, who are said to return to the home at this season. This is one of the most binding of all the idolatrous festivals of the year.

The likenesses of departed ancestors are hung in the chief room of the house. Some keep paintings, others have busts. Some keep them always hanging, others only display them at this season.

All the necessities of the spirit world are burned in paper in huge piles in front of the doors about the 13th of the month. This is a very important affair in the eyes of the people. On the 15th cash paper is burned.

, chung ch'iu chieh, The Eighth Moon Feast

This is the third time for collecting debts, equally important with the 5th moon, but of course less so than the time before the New Year.

Yüeh kuang hui is the moon festival. On the evening of the 15th the moon is worshipped. At this particular season the moon is said to give forth different kinds of light and some declare that the heavenly beings can be seen in the moon. It is also said that Wu Kang can be clearly seen at this time hacking away at the Olea fragrans, but the tree still stands. A lunar eclipse at this season is very unlucky.

Little round cakes are made called moon cakes, the centre of which is black, being made of lentils, boiled soft and then baked. Some cakes are white in the centre, being made