DOG-LORE AND SUPERSTITION 



of a celestial dog may be due the practice, said to be current 

 in parts of China, of carrying in processions praying for rain 

 in time of drought, a big dog housed in a palanquin and dressed 

 like a man.* 



It is probable that this celestial terror is identical in Chinese 

 mythology with the heavenly dog which has the sinister re- 

 putation of trying to snatch children from their homes. In 

 many temples there is an image of the god Ch'ang Hsien, and 

 near him are his children. He is represented as shooting an 

 arrow at a dog appearing in a cloud. f Doolittle furnishes the 

 following explanation for the worship of this deity by the 

 women of China : " Some women are born on days which are 



t/ 



represented by the chronological or horary character which 

 means ' dog.' These women after marriage and before they 

 give birth to a child, must procure a picture of the genius 

 shooting the ' heavenly dog ' and worship by the burning of 

 incense and candles. The child then may be expected to live. 

 ... In a celebrated temple located outside the East gate of 

 the city of Foochow is an image of a large dog. It is currently 

 reported that if bread, cakes, or biscuits made of wheat 

 flour are placed in the mouth of this image and afterwards 

 eaten by children, they will prevent or cure the colic. "J 



So great was the reputed power of the magic sword and of 

 the How Tien Ch'uan that, upon the best astrological advice, 

 the Chinese Emperors of the recently defunct Ching Dynasty, 

 being personifications of the dragon and also of the sun, 

 forbore in their yearly visits to the Temple of the Sun, out- 

 side the East Gate of Peking, to take the nearest route, 

 Lantern Street, which faces the Erh Lang Temple. This 

 route would have brought the Son of Heaven upon his 



* " Dog." " Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics." 



f Fung Chen Pang, " Anthology of the Deified." 



j " Social Life of the Chinese," by the Rev. Justus Doolittle. 



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