Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 5 1887.djvu/251

Rh chief mourners on either side. The master of ceremonies directs them when to stand and when to kneel, the form employed by him stating the name of the deceased, and imploring him to be present and to partake of the bounties provided. The offerings are afterwards divided among the mourners.

A chair is now despatched to bring an influential person to the house, his office being to change the character a prince on the ancestral tablet into a lord. He comes escorted by a band of musicians, and preceded by a large blue state umbrella. Having effected the required change in the tablet, he salutes it with three bows and retires. The degree held by this person should be at least that of Kung Shang.

At the time selected by the geomancer, the coffin-bearers and the funeral procession start for the grave. As it proceeds through the streets, the musicians play dirges at short intervals. The coffin is preceded by several Buddhist priests holding small paper banners, in front of whom goes a man buying the road by scattering pieces of paper, each slip being regarded as current money in Hades, and now employed to propitiate malicious wandering ghosts, and deter them from molesting the wraith of the deceased on its way to the grave. Immediately behind the coffin comes the chief mourner tottering along supported by his servants, and holding the short bamboo previously described to drive away the Cerberi or dogs which guard the bridge leading into Hades. In some cases he also carries a banner with the epitaph of the spirit written on it to show it the way to its long home. Should the deceased have held official rank, his tablets are borne in the procession, while the number of beats to which his position entitles him are given by gong-bearers. A splendid shrine containing a picture of the dead man, with pavilions containing incense, fruits, a roast pig, &c., and a pall of richly embroidered silk, give an air of magnificence to the procession which contrasts strongly with the unshaven head and dishevelled garments of the chief mourner. Bands of music, servants, relatives, and friends follow at the various stages of the cortege, the length of the funeral train being sometimes half-a-mile or even more.