92 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I42 



Before the coming of Christianity, all Ch'iang worshiped many 

 gods, but they made no images of them. There are five greater gods, 

 the highest generally being the god of heaven, although sometimes it 

 is the mountain god ; 12 lesser gods ; and a local god for every locality 

 with a name. In addition to all these, there are rocks and trees that 

 are worshiped as gods. In his sacred chants, every priest calls many 

 gods by name. 



It is believed that all diseases and other calamities are caused by 

 demons. When a person becomes ill, he naturally believes that the 

 disease is the work of one or more demons, and he generally calls in 

 a priest who performs ceremonies to exorcise the demons. In some 

 of these ceremonies the priest treads on a red-hot plowshare with his 

 bare foot, and sometimes he touches the red-hot plowshare with his 

 tongue. 



These people believe in a superhuman potency that is available 

 through the priest and his ceremonies, and is possessed by the gods, 

 by the priest, and by the sacred implements. This power enables the 

 priests to do what ordinary individuals are unable to do. 



All priests marry and have families, homes, and farms. They have 

 sacred chants which are regarded as the equivalent of the sacred 

 books of the Buddhist and Taoist priests and of the Tibetan lamas. 

 Since the Ch'iang have no written language, these chants are memo- 

 rized and transmitted by one priest to another, from generation to 

 generation. In some regions the line of Ch'iang priests has died out, 

 and there the Ch'iang often employ Chinese Buddhist or Taoist 

 priests. 



Every village has a sacred grove, the trees of which are holy and 

 must not be cut down. In or near the sacred grove is a shrine capped 

 by a sacred white stone where animals are sacrificed, and also a very 

 small and plain temple or sacred shelter. 



On the top of each house is a shrine for the worship of the 5 great 

 gods and the 12 lesser gods, which is capped by a sacred white stone. 

 Worship at this shrine is generally performed by an older member 

 of the family, but sometimes on important occasions a priest is 

 called to perform the ceremonies. 



In springtime there is a ceremony in which the priest prays to the 

 gods for a prosperous year with good crops. He promises or vows 

 in return to sacrifice goats or a p'icn niii (half cow and half yak) 

 later in the year. Never is a lamb sacrificed, but always a full-grown 

 sheep or goat or more rarely a p'ien niii, and the animal must be 

 without blemish. The sacrificed animal is not burned, but is first 



