72 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



time the ma chileh is released from the spell, when he is normal again. 

 The tuan kiing has ceremonies for expelling all kinds of demons and 

 for healing many kinds of diseases. 



A priest called in Ch'uan Miao a mo performs all funeral and 

 memorial ceremonies. He is not a celibate, but a farmer who knows 

 the ceremonies so well that he can perform them whenever necessary. 

 He is often a father or an older brother in a family. 



Funeral ceremonies generally last two or three days in summer- 

 time and up to seven days in winter. Soon after a person dies, a man 

 dances and plays the Ihi shcng for a while, accompanied by the cere- 

 monial drum. Three times the priest calls upon the deceased to arise, 

 taking him by the hand and trying to assist him. Then he kills a 

 rooster, and the soul of the rooster leads the soul of the deceased to 

 paradise. 



Some time later there is a procession in which one man marches in 

 front twirling a stick. Two men sounding buffalo horns follow him, 

 then two men carrying green bamboo twigs, and finally two carrying 

 guns. This ceremony symbolizes ancient times when these people 

 lived in deep forests where there were many dangerous wild animals, 

 and the blowing of buffalo horns frightened away the animals that 

 came to attack them. Later, a bull or a male water buffalo is offered 

 alive to the deceased, then it is killed and the meat is cooked and 

 eaten by friends and relatives at the funeral feasts. Generally on the 

 next night after the bull is killed, a ceremony of dancing and pushing 

 is participated in by the strongest young men. It takes place inside 

 the house. Often the furniture is smashed, and it has sometimes hap- 

 pened that poorly built houses have been pushed over. 



Twelve days after the funeral a memorial ceremony called in 

 Chinese sao ch'ieh and in Ch'uan Miao a shi or a si is performed. 

 On this day the spirit of the deceased is supposed to return and visit 

 his home. His relatives sprinkle ashes outside the main door of the 

 house and later look at the footprints in the ashes, for it is believed 

 that these indicate whether the soul has been reborn as a human being, 

 a horse, a cow, or some other creature. A rooster is killed and offered 

 to the spirit in the raw state ; then it is cooked, other food is added, 

 and it is eaten by the relatives in a feast. 



Some time later there is a ceremony called in Chinese tso cJiai and 

 in Ch'uan IMiao a rang. It must take place more than one year and 

 generally two or three years after the sao ch'ieh ceremony. Friends 

 and relatives march to the grave beating the drum and gongs and 

 playing the liii sheng to entice the soul of the dead person back to 



