NO. I 



CHUAN MIAO SONGS AND STORIES — GRAHAM 



75 



Words Sung while Mailing Offerings of Rice 

 and Wine at the Sao Ch'ieh Ceremony 

 (650) 



You have deceived the demons by saying 

 that this festival is on the twelfth day when 

 it is on the thirteenth. You came back to find 

 a bed. I am going to prepare nine cups of 

 wine nine times for you to drink. Now your 

 meat is cooked. You are going to eat meat 

 and rice. If 3'ou cannot eat it all, do not give 

 it to the demons that cause sickness or to the 

 demons that cause death. You should give 

 it to your female and male ancestors for three 

 generations and offer it to all, old and young. 

 When you have finished eating, you must go 

 and stay near your (husband's, if the deceased 

 is the wife, his own, if it is the husband) 

 grandmother's clothing and near your (same 

 as above) grandfather's clothing. If the Lolos 



get numerous, your grandmother and your 

 grandfather will look after you. If the Chi- 

 nese get numerous, your grandparents will 

 look after you.-° 



Sending the Sotd of the Dead Bac\ to His 

 Abode after the Sao Ch'ieh Offerings 

 Have Been Made (651) 



You deceived the demons by pretending 

 that the day for returning was the twelfth 

 when it was the thirteenth. We gave you 

 nine cups of wine to drink nine times, and 

 you have drunk it all up. Now you are dead. 

 Human beings think of their homes, and 

 dead people think of their graves. We are 

 sending (releasing) you back to the place 

 you have gotten, to go back to the place 

 where your grave is.'^^ 



Used during the Tso Chai Ceremony 



Words the Liu Sheng Says When the Soul Is 

 Being Welcomed Bac\ at the Tso Chai 

 Ceremony (515) 



"Soul, come quickly. Soul, come quickly. 

 The soul has come. Come into the parlor. 

 You must come in the front door. Do not 

 come in over the roof. On the house is a 

 house demon. Come quickly, come quickly. 

 You must come in through the front door. 

 Do not enter through the windows. Do not 

 come in through the opening under the wall 

 lest you meet an old snake. Come quickly, 

 come quickly. Come by the big road, do not 

 come through the forest. In the forest there 

 is no road. Come quickly, come quickly. 

 Come in through the main door. Do not 

 come in through the small door. The small 

 door is the door of the cowpen. Come 

 quickly, come quickly." 



The sound of the drum says (three beats) 

 "He has come, he has come." Then the 

 liu sheng says, "Soul, you have entered the 

 parlor. Your sons and grandsons will take 

 the winnowing basket for you." The sound 

 of the drum again says, "He has come, he has 

 come." The liu sheng says, "Soul, you must 

 not go upstairs. Upstairs are guests. Soul, 

 come quickly and get on your bed, the bed 

 that your sons and your daughters have ar- 



2^ After this the offerings are made in the way 

 elsewhere described. 



2^ When the leader of the ceremony has reached 

 this place, he throws the bamboo divining sticks 

 down on the ground. If right, the ceremony is 

 finished. If wrong, the ceremony is repeated 

 until things are right. 



ranged for you." The sound of the drum says, 

 "He has come." Then the liu sheng says, 

 "Soul, you sit in the highest place." Then 

 the drum says, "He has come." The liu sheng 

 says, "Sit down well. Your sons will pre- 

 pare wine and food for you to eat." ^^ 



A Song about Welcoming the Soul of the 

 Dead at the Tso Chai Ceremony ~^ (516) 



"Father and mother and souls of the an- 

 cestors, your sons are thinking of you and 

 have nothing to recompense you with, so we 

 today have erected an altar for you. When 

 the sky and the earth were created Ntzi' came 

 down and looked, and the world was like 

 smoke. So he blew with his mouth and blew 

 forth the sky, the sun, the moon, the world, 

 and a man. That man is our ancestor. When 

 he appeared he had nothing to eat, but ate 

 the fruit of trees to nourish his life. 



"One day he ate some fruit that poisoned 

 him to death. His soul then departed, and 

 one day his descendants learned about it. 



"We have our bodies and bear some hard- 

 ships, so we know that you, our parents have 

 suffered many hardships and that we have 

 nothing to commemorate you with. So the 

 filial sons ran and invited the uncles on the 



28 This is repeated twice, that is, chanted three 

 times altogether. 



29 While this song is being sung, the filial sons 

 kneel down, hands on the ground, and bowing 

 so that their foreheads rest on their hands. The 

 singer says "father," if the father alone has died, 

 "mother" if the mother alone has died, and 

 "father and mother" if both have died. 



