Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/193

 some high place, where they make poetry and afterwards feast and drink wine.

The birthday of Hsü Ching yang (許旌陽) of Kiangsi is kept; he was an official in Ssŭch‘uan and is now deified and worshipped in the Kiangsi guilds. Legend has it that he had a bamboo stick on which he rode each evening to his native province to visit his mother; she, disturbed by the frequency and suddenness of his visits, broke his magic stick, and it took him a full month to get back. Meanwhile his public business was in sad arrears and the country in disorder. So he got the precinct god of his yamen to help him.

The birthday of Chiu Huang is celebrated; he is one of the nine stars of the Northern Bushel. These first nine days of this moon are spoken of as the Chiu Huang (九皇). If it should rain on the first of the ninth moon, it is likely to rain the whole nine days. During these nine days most people eat pulse or herbs, and at eating-houses flags are exposed with chiu huang su shih (素食) written on them, "vegetarian food for the feast." At this time no animals are killed and yellow flags are hung up everywhere, much chanting is done, such classics being used as the pei tou ching or the chiu huang ching. The delusion is that those who abstain from eating meat on these days have as much merit as those who are vegetarian for life.

If the family has moved or repaired the house during the year a ceremony of kung t‘ien an shên, "worship heaven and pacify the family altar," is believed to be necessary for the peace of the living and is called Hsiang shih (詳事), while Tao ch‘ang (道場) is for the dead.

To chieh shou is to add life and length of days to another person. This has its origin in the time of the Three Kingdoms when a certain Chao Yüan worshipped the Northern Bushel and said that he was willing that years should be taken from his own life and added to his parents'. Now there is the custom at this season of worshipping the Northern Bushel in order to obtain long life. The constellation is believed to be the chariot of the Pearly Emperor and is situated in the centre of the sky and revolves once a year, the four