Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/245

Rh and, on accession to official rank or literary fame, their worship must be specially celebrated.

The ancestral tablets alluded to are formed of wood, chestnut being the most orthodox—12 inches high in accordance with the 12 months, 4 inches broad for the four seasons, 12 fan ( inch) thick for the 12 hours. The top is arched like heaven, the bottom flat like earth. In a family temple they are ranged on shelves in chronological order, the number gradually increasing downwards. The following are specimens of the inscriptions on a father's and on a mother's tablet respectively:—"The tablet of Mr. Hwáng Yungfah (late Chingteh), the head of the family, who finished his probation with honour during the Imperial Ts’ing dynasty, reaching a sub-magistracy. The name lately held is that by which he was known during his lifetime; that now assumed is an ancestral title, bestowed upon him by some learned friend of the family after his decease."

The mother's tablet reads:—"The tablet of Madam Hwàng, originally of the noble family Chin, who would have received the title of lady, and who in the Imperial Ts’ing dynasty became the consort of her husband." It will be observed that no ancestral title is bestowed upon the wife.

One result of this constant endeavour on the part of the Chinese to propitiate their ancestors would appear to be the checking of enterprise, it being held that any change in the surroundings to which an ancestor has been accustomed while on earth must be displeasing to his spirit now that he has left it.

A superstitious, but sanitary dislike, is entertained to burial within the city walls, the hill-sides beyond that limit being usually selected for the purpose. Cremation, once universal, is now limited to the priests of Buddha.

Ancestral halls are built by individuals, or by several branches of a family of the same surname, large sums being expended in their erection and ornamentation. They are endowed, and the income is devoted to repairs and maintenance of worship. Incense is burnt every morning and evening, and on the 1st and 15th of the moon there are special offerings, with wax tapers and prostrations, in precisely the same manner as in the worship of idols.