74 



SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 



VOL. 123 



Once a year I will offer you a sow.i^ 



How is it that when the demons come behind 



you will not fight them, 

 And after I am dead you do not help pull me 



away ? 

 All die world I have passed over, and I have 



come all over the earth." 

 You say, "You parent demons o£ the gate of the 



sky, how about it?" 

 They will let you go, and you go quickly. 

 You climb up to Ndjii Nyong Leo's old level land 



in the sky. 

 Ndjii Nyong Leo will ask you, "Who led you 



here?" 

 You say, "When I came the priest led me here." 

 "How did you come? The priest is not seen 



coming?" 

 You say, "I wore big (cloth) shoes. 

 When I traveled in the sky I wore hemp shoes. 

 When I traveled on the death road the priest wore 



vine sandals and the priest went back." 

 You leap to the flowery altar and the drum altar. 

 You go back and forth three times to the right and 



three Umes to the left. 

 You proceed very quickly. 

 You arrive at the clifl outside that town. 

 When the long-haired dog comes on that side to 



bite you, you run around on this side. 

 You go around to the left and come to the cliff 



outside the town. 



You must come down on the sky ladder and 

 come out on this world. 



The priest leads you to the burial ground and to 

 the grave pit. 



You go to the high mountain peak where there 

 are many living people.^^ 



The Chinese obtained in low places. The Chinese 

 got many trees and pine trees. ^^ 



The Miao got high mountains with fir and chest- 

 nut trees.^^ 



You go and make your thatched and shingle- 

 roofed houses. 



Put your chicken down below in the fortified 

 place. 



If their cock crows, your cock must not crow. 



You go among the numerous living people. 



Your flesh is rotten fragments, and goes down 

 and is mixed with blood. 



Your blood and the rotten fragments go down and 

 are mixed with dirt. 



What comes down and eats your flesh? 



The ants come down and eat your flesh. 



What comes down and sucks up your blood? 



The ants come down and suck up your blood. 



What is intimate with your people? 



The ants are intimate with your people, and love 

 intimately. 



It is finished. All is entirely finished. 



Used during the Sao Ch'ieh Memorial Ceremony 



Words Sung while Maying Offerings at the 

 Sao Ch'ieh Ceremony -° (648) 



Xai, Xai, Xai. Yesterday you (the deceased) 

 deceived the demons. You came back today 

 instead. ^^ Have you come back to find your 

 bed and bedding.'' I prepared nine cups of 

 w^ine nine times for you to drink. I found a 

 bed and covers for you to sleep on. We will 

 prepare meat and wine and rice for you to 

 eat and drink. If you cannot eat it all, you 

 must give it to your female and male an- 

 cestors for three generations. Xeo lo Xai.^^ 



1^ It must be a sow that has given birth to pigs. 



1^ Probably refers to the spirit land. 



^^ In west China pine trees grow in lower 

 altitudes. 



19 In west China fir and chestnut trees gen- 

 erally grow in the higher altitudes. 



-•^ This ceremony is observed in the home on 

 the twelfth day after the burial. 



21 The day of the burial reckons as the first 

 day, so that the twelfth day is really the eleventh. 

 On the twelfth (the eleventh) the dead person 

 deceives the demons into thinking that he will 

 come back. He actually returns on the rvvelfth 

 day, counted as the thirteenth. 



22 When he has repeated the above, he must 

 make offerings to all relatives who have previously 

 died, within three generations, including his own 

 children, and call them by name in succession 

 as described elsewhere. 



Words Sung while Ma\ing Offerings during 

 the Sao Ch'ieh Ceremony -^ (649) 



You have deceived the demons, coming the 

 thirteenth day instead of the twelfth (so the 

 demons could not come along). You have 

 come back to find a bed to sleep in. I have 

 prepared nine cups of wine nine times for 

 you to drink. I will also give you meat (of a 

 rooster) to eat, and rice. If you cannot eat 

 it all up, do not give it to a demon of sick- 

 ness to eat, or to a demon that causes death. 

 You must give it to your female and male 

 ancestors for three generations. When you 

 have eaten, you must go and get near to their 

 clothing.^* If the Lolos are numerous there, 

 the grandfather will look after them for you. 

 If the Chinese are numerous, he will also look 

 after them for vou.'^ 



23 The rooster is offered alive, then killed, the 

 feathers removed, the meat cooked, and then cut 

 up, then it is brought back and again offered. 

 The thirteenth day is actually the twelfth after 

 the burial. 



2-i The clothing of the spirits of the grand- 

 parents of the deceased, or of the husband of the 

 deceased. 



25 when this point is reached, the ancestors for 

 three generations are called upon and offerings 

 made as elsewhere described. 



