NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 8l 



for a snake to come in front of or into a house, for a spider to spin 

 a web inside of a house, for a person to see a snake swallowing a 

 frog, and many other things. A complete list of taboos would be a 

 very long one. 



It is quite natural that charms should be much esteemed and used 

 by the Lolos. In 1929 I obtained several Lolo charms, seven of them 

 for exorcising demons and five for praying for or producing rain. 

 These charms consisted not of characters or of pictures of gods or 

 of demons, but of strange designs drawn on paper or cloth. Some 

 Lolo charms are made of wood on which are drawn pictures of gods 

 or demons. Charms are sometimes hung up above the front door to 

 prevent the entrance of demons. Others are hung up beside or on 

 the altar, or are hung or pasted up inside the room of a sick person, 

 or pinned on a sick person's pillow, or pinned or sewed on a person's 

 clothes, or burned so that the ashes fall into a bowl of water, the water 

 to be drunk by the patient. 



Incantations are a part of almost every ceremony, and are thought 

 to be very potent. There are two ways for people to fight or carry on 

 a war : One is openly, with fists or with weapons, and the other is 

 by black magic. Incantations are a part of a magical method of at- 

 tacking an enemy and of putting him or her to death. For instance, 

 when two women quarrel and fight, one may tear out some of her 

 enemy's hair or tear off a piece of her garment, and taking it home, 

 repeat incantations over it and bury it, or stab it with a knife. As a 

 result her enemy dies unless she uses countermagic, in which incanta- 

 tions also have a prominent part. In more important ceremonies of 

 countermagic, cattle, dogs, sheep, or chickens may be sacrificed, and 

 sometimes "several tens" of them. Sometimes the Lolos take the bone 

 of a monkey, or of a horse that had scabs on his head, tie straw 

 around or on the bone so that it represents a person, repeat the name 

 of the enemy, and also repeat incantations. Then the bone is sent to 

 the enemy's home or buried in a field near his home, and the enemy 

 dies unless there are ceremonies of countermagic with incantations. 

 Sometimes a musk deer or a pheasant is caught, incantations are re- 

 peated over it, and it is released so that it will run or fly toward the 

 enemy's home, when the enemy will die. 



Very important also are the ceremonies to counteract black magic. 

 They include numerous incantations, for these are sincerely and deeply 

 believed in as efficient means of making use of the mysterious super- 

 natural power generally called mana. It is generally the bi mil, but 

 occasionally the sit t'o, who conducts ceremonies to counteract black 



