42 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



At the grave, paper or spirit money was burned in the grave pit, 

 which was nearly 2 feet deep. The ashes of the spirit money were left 

 temporarily strewn out in the pit. First the chief mourner bowed or 

 kowtowed to his deceased ancestor in front of the grave. The coffin, 

 painted red because the chief mourner, the oldest son Mr. Lei, was a 

 high official, had been placed in the pit with more than half of it 

 above ground. Then there were ofifered to the deceased a pig's head, 

 some wine (part of which was poured out on the ground), some pork, 

 some sea slugs, and some of the muscles from the fin of a large shark. 

 Again spirit money was burned as an offering. 



Then the geomancer, or professor of fengshui, very carefully 

 chose the exact place to put down the coffin. He used the lo-p'an, 

 which has a compass, and was extremely careful to put the coffin in 

 just the right direction. A red string was pinned exactly in the center 

 of the lid, from end to end. Another red string was held in the air 

 above the lid, and by means of the lo-p'an aligned in exactly the right 

 direction; then the coffin was moved until the lower string was 

 exactly under and parallel to the upper string. This process took 

 about an hour, several men cooperating. It was extremely important, 

 for the coffin and the corpse must lie in exactly the right direction to 

 make the fengshui the best, for that would determine the future 

 prosperity of the Lei family and its descendants. 



Two jars or jugs filled with the ashes of the spirit money were 

 placed at the foot of the coffin. At the head were two jars filled with 

 chiu mi, or rice from which wine is made, one of the best kinds. 

 These jars are called i-shih-htian or food jars. The rice they contained 

 was food for the dead. Before filling in the grave, rice was thrown on 

 and over the coffin and incantations pronounced by the professor of 

 fengshui. The incantations included the fondest wishes of the family 

 — may the descendants increase and multiply, become rich, have many 

 sons, be happy, and become officials. 



The rice that is thrown is called fu-lung-mi, because throwing it is 

 a means of calling the mountain dragon to come to the coffin and the 

 grave so that the fengshui will be good and all will prosper. The rice 

 in the i-shih-kiian is for the dead person to eat. 



Some packages of unburned spirit money were placed in the coffin, 

 some of them including lists of the clothing, jewelry, and other things 

 that were put in the coffin, so that the deceased person would know 

 about it. 



Over a thousand strings of cash were used to pay the laborers who 

 carried and helped in other ways that day. During the parade and 



