Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/372

366 sieve containing rice, which he scatters as he proceeds along the road.

On the third day after marriage a ceremony called “washing the feet” takes place. It consists in the bride washing the feet of her mother-in-law, and is supposed to be a sign that the mother-in-law will be no longer troubled with domestic affairs.

At the season when the Goddess of Mercy is supposed to open her treasury, matrons and maidens repair to her shrine to pray for riches. Some deposit gold and silver paper-money in her treasury as a provision against expenses in the other world, while others deposit real money and pray for increase of riches.

In Lung Shán, on the Kam Tsy Hill, in the Kwangtung Province, there is a temple dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy, with a thousand steps leading up to it. When the goddess opens her treasury, women repair to the temple, dressed in their finest garbs, and adorned with their most precious jewellery. Arrived at the steps, they seat themselves down, while their attendants run up and down looking for her who may be most conspicuous for her array. If anyone is found more handsomely adorned than the others, the servant reports to her mistress, who at once arises and seats herself by the side of the person whose raiment and jewels appear to be the finest, in order that she may contrast her own with them. This is called “a contest of riches”.

In the Kwai Fung Mountains in San-ni, Kwangtung Province, lives a bob-tailed dragon. When it comes forth from its retreat, storms of wind and rain immediately arise and many buildings are destroyed. The story of how this