Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/25

Rh There is a crisis recurring at 3, 6 and 9 years old, san liu chin sui kuan 三六九歲關. The child with this threat on him is not allowed to travel far or visit any house where a corpse or coffin may be till he is ten years old.

The white tiger barrier 白虎關 pai-hu kuan, means that a dog will bite the child, or a demon attack him, or that he will be left an orphan.

There is fear that the child will be made ill by the sight of blood; this is called the blood-dish barrier 血盤關 hsüeh-p‘ên kuan. A butcher is the proper kan tieh to be sought for in this case.

There is danger lest the child should be scalded by the upsetting of a kettle of water or burned by the fire-brazier in the winter. The people are in the habit of putting the fire-basket under their clothes or even taking it to bed with them with the result that many lives are lost and much property destroyed.