CHINESE SUPERSTITIONS. 797 



During the montli succeeding the birth of a child the mother 

 must not cross the threshold of another person's room. Should she do 

 this, she will endanger the welfare of the occupants, and in her next 

 life she will perpetually scrub the floor of the room entered. 



A girl Avho is partaking of the last meal she is to eat in her father's 

 house previous to her marriage, sits at the table with her parents and 

 brothers ; but she must eat no more than half the bowl of rice set be- 

 fore her, else her departure will be followed by continual scarcity in 

 the domicile she is leaving. 



If a bride breaks the heel of her shoe in going from her father's to 

 her husband's house, it is ominous of unhappiness in her new relations. 



A piece of bacon and a parcel of sugar are hung on the back of a 

 bride's sedan-chair as a sop to the demons who might molest her while 

 on her journey. The "Three Baneful Ones" are fond of salt and 

 spices, and the " White Tiger " likes sweets. 



A bride may be brought home w^iile a coffin is in her husband's 

 house, but not within one hundred days after a coffin is carried out. 

 Domestic troubles are sure to come ujjon one who is married within a 

 hundred days after a funeral. 



A bride, while putting on her wedding garments, stands in a round, 

 shallow basket. This conduces to her leading a placid, well-rounded 

 life in her future home. After her departure from her father's door, 

 her mother puts the basket over the mouth of the oven, to stop the 

 mouths of all w'ho would make adverse comment on her daughter, and 

 then sits down before the kitchen range, that her peace and leisure 

 may be duplicated in her daughter's life. 



A bride must not, for four months after her marriage, enter any 

 house in which there has recently been a death or a birth, for if she 

 does so there will surely be a quarrel between her and the groom. If 

 a young mother goes to see a bride, the visitor is looked upon as the 

 cause of any calamity that may follow. 



One who has ordered a coffin must guide its bearers by the shortest 

 road to the house in which the corpse lies. The bearers of an empty 

 coffin may not inquire their way at any house nor of any person. To 

 mistake the road when carrying a coffin, or to take it to any house 

 other than that where it is wanted, brings terrible misfortunes on per- 

 sons thereby disturbed. Any insult may with impunity be offered to 

 coffin-sellers who mistake the destination of their goods. 



One should not catch butterflies, since departed spirits frequently 

 incorporate themselves in these insects, and flit back to see what is 

 being done in their old dwelling. A man is known to have died the 

 day after killing a butterfly. 



When a cow's tooth is found in a field, it is put on a shelf with the 

 gods, and keeps demons from entering the house. 



If, when one is under the open sky, a bird drops excrement upon 

 one, the omen is bad, and must be immediately offset by going to per- 



