Page:Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills.djvu/41

Rh A notice is read that the family has entered on a season of mourning 讀成服文 tu ch'êng fu wên. Then the chief mourners kneel towards the wang liao so, the master of ceremonies burns the notice of mourning, the mourners and friends enter the house, and the initial ceremony is at an end.

The ancestral tablet 神主牌 shên chu p'ai, is a double piece of wood about three feet long, the outer portion fitting on the other like a box-lid; on both surfaces is written 新故某公某母某諱謀老人老孺人之神主 meaning that it is the abode of the newly deceased person, name, etc., being given.

The consecration of the tablet begins by the eldest son kneeling down and taking it on his back; he carries it to the ceremonial table and there leaves it.

Then the scholar tien chu kuan who is to perform the duty is brought in; he washes his hands and approaches the table, where a pencil and red ink are also put ready. He takes the tablet from its casket and lays the two parts on the table with their surfaces exposed. Then the finger of the chief mourner is pricked for blood, with which the officiating scholar mixes his red ink. The pencil, having been dipped in this blood and ink, is breathed on by the scholar. The idea is to get the life, virtue and ability of the son and the officiating scholar into the tablet, as in writing a Heaven and Earth tablet. (See under Family Altar).

Next, a dot of red is put over the date of birth and another over the date of death. Then a red stroke is made through the character 神 shên on the inner tablet 穿內神 ch'uan nei shên, and a red dot is put on the 主 chu. These characters being thus completed they are enclosed by covering with the external part of the tablet 合主 ho chu. The same two characters on the outer tablet are then finished in the same way.

A red circle is put on each side of the tablet to represent the ears; a red dot at the top is for the forehead, and one at the bottom is for the feet; down the middle of the tablet is put another red mark, on both front and back. This whole proceeding is called k'ai kuang 開光 or opening the senses. It is to be remarked that there is an inner part of the tablet,