Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/230

222 descriptions given by foreign residents, in so far as it may appear from its congruity or special interest to be suitable.

Commencing then with birth, it is found that the curiosity natural to all mothers to know beforehand the sex of the child about to be born has its place also in China, where the intense desire for male offspring must render it of even more absorbing interest than in other countries. The selection of cards representing females holding children in their arms, arithmetical calculations of a mysterious nature based upon the age of the woman, the day and hour of her birth, &c., and even the supposed position of the expected infant, are all resorted to for this purpose. In the event of the labour being protracted, the husband, his father and mother, with the parents of the wife, worship the cross-pieces and the corners of the door to obtain for the babe a happy entry into life. Should the woman, however, die in childbed, she descends into hell, where she is placed up to her lips in a pool of blood, afterwards undergoing the further tortures with which the Buddhist place of torment is furnished. On the day of birth, a basin containing lighted candles and incense-sticks is placed beneath the bed in honour of the bed-god. Pummelo leaves and slips of the Lak Pa Wong, a fragrant thorn (?), are suspended over the door to ward off evil influences and spirits. If the children previously born have died, it is said that the demons of the 3rd and 7th morning, or of the 30th day of the month, have killed them, and, on the advent of another child, those in attendance, not stopping to wash it, wrap it in a piece of cloth and run with it to the wet-nurse, this being the only occasion on which the services of that functionary, so common in Western countries, are employed. By her the child is suckled till old enough to be weaned. On the third morning the god of the bed is worshipped and offerings of vinegar and eggs dyed red are made. The worship of this divinity being conducted beneath the bed, renders it an impossible act for the Tàn Ka, or boat population, who accordingly have two gods, one for the head and one for the foot of the bed, whom they worship with great zealousness. It is on this day that the services of a Taoist priest are brought into requisition. Entering the house, he passes into the hall, bedroom, and kitchen, bearing a piece of the plant known as wai ts’ò, and a bowl of clean water with which he sprinkles