NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM I29 



mussed up her white hair. When the rohbers approached the door of 

 the boat, she took a lantern in her hand, thrust her head outside the 

 door, opened her mouth wide, and held the lantern in front of her 

 face. The frightened robbers shouted "kuei" (demon), ran away as 

 fast as they could, and did not return. Although armed with guns, 

 they were afraid of this foreign demon. 



CEREMONIES TO OBTAIN SONS 



From the dawn of history a major desire of the Chinese has been 

 for numerous descendants, sons being more desired than daughters. 

 One reason that sons are preferred is found in the yin-yang philoso- 

 phy, which has been accepted by all. As stated above, yin is female, 

 and is dark, dull, inferior, the source of evil and undesirable things, 

 while yang is male, bright, intelligent, superior, the source of all good 

 and desirable things. Sons are also economically more valuable to the 

 family than daughters. At marriage the daughter must be given an 

 expensive dowry, which is really a gift by her family to that of the 

 husband. The ancestral ceremonies of worship and commemoration 

 must be continued generation after generation, but only sons can per- 

 form these ceremonies, women having no part in them. A woman's 

 social prestige rises greatly after she has given birth to a son ; there- 

 fore sons are greatly desired and are prayed for, but families almost 

 never pray for daughters. 



One of the most common ways to obtain sons from the gods is as 

 follows: In most temples there are gods or goddesses who are be- 

 lieved to give sons. Among the most common are Sung-tzu-kuan-yin, 

 or the Kuanyin that Gives Sons, and Sung-tzu-niang-niang, or the 

 Woman who Gives Sons. A person or persons wishing sons to be 

 born in the family will worship one of these deities, very likely pre- 

 senting a gift, and request that the deity give a son to his family. He 

 or she also promises that if a son is given, the suppliant will give a 

 son to the deity in return. If a son is born in the family, a wooden 

 or a clay image of a boy is presented to the god and left on his shrine. 

 Another person wishing to obtain a son will "steal" one of these 

 images of a boy and take it home, which he believes will cause a son 

 to be born in that family. If a son is born, the image of the boy is 

 returned to the shrine of the god, to be taken later by a member of 

 another family that desires a son. The more images of boys there are 

 on the shrine of a god, the more famous the god is as a giver of sons, 

 for these images are evidences of such gifts. 



Another very common method is for the suppliant to go to the 



