EARLY CHINESE CULTURES— EBERHARD 521 



of the dragon as river-god. A feature of the spring festivals charac- 

 terizing this culture was a ceremony of wading through streams (a 

 rite apparently associated with the dragon concept) ; and myths which 

 speak of a dragon-mother, who gives birth to dragons. Closely allied 

 to this group of myths was one which had a "Moses" motif (a child is 

 cast away upon the waters in a chest and grows up to become a hero). 

 There has also survived a group of myths of brother-and-sister mar- 

 riage, and likewise of a deluge. In the same complex again are others, 

 of marriage with a dog (in some instances, with a frog). The dog 

 seems to have been venerated as the tribal ancestor ; and there was also 

 a frog cult connected with a fecundity cult. Straw images of dogs were 

 buried with the dead, or were used as charms in cases of illness. Magi- 

 cian priests played an important role, and women took a part in cult 

 and ritual practices which would have been quite impossible in the 

 Western Culture. Boys and girls were consecrated to a divinity or 

 to a sacred mountain, either as actual sacrifices or at least with an 

 accompanying prohibition of marriage. Elements of this culture 

 were the worship of serpents, of sacred mountains (the latter destined 

 to develop into important temple festivals), and of certain trees. 

 Cattle were sacrificed on all occasions, their horns being preserved as 

 holy objects. In some instances there were bidlfights which ter- 

 minated in the immolation of the defeated bull. Also customary was 

 the holding of wrestling matches, perhaps derived from the bullfights 

 or at least connected with them; for the contestants wore masks 

 bearing the horns of cattle. Funeral feasts were celebrated, and the 

 bones of the dead were given a second burial after the flesh had 

 decayed from them. First-born children were sometimes killed and 

 eaten by their parents (on this practice see the following paragraph). 

 The hills were thought to be peopled by mountain spirits and one- 

 legged gobblins, in contrast to the ideas about fox spirits prevalent 

 in the Northern Culture. 



Young people, perhaps after having undergone a rite of initiation, 

 were free to select their own mates, instead of having their marriages 

 arranged for them by go-betweens; the token of betrothal was the 

 exchange of girdles by the interested parties. Marriages were con- 

 cluded at the spring and autumn festivals. For some time thereafter 

 the wife continued to live with her parents and there receive visits 

 from her husband; during this period she enjoyed great freedom. 

 After the birth of her first child, however, she went to live with her 

 husband, to whom she was thenceforth expected to remain true; 

 connected with this custom, in all probability, was the one just 

 mentioned, of the slaying of the first-born child. Sometimes, however, 

 the husband went to live mth the family of his wife until he had paid 

 for her by working for her parents. 



Clothing seems to have consisted of narrow widths of cloth, two 

 of which were sewn together with an opening at the seam through 



31508—38 37 



