40 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8o 



The characters of the written charms are often so fantastically 

 written that an ordinary Chinese scholar cannot decipher them. This 

 creates an air of mystery that increases the belief in their potency. 

 Frequently the name of a god is used, indicating that the power of 

 the god is made available in the charm. The paper on which the charm 

 is written is almost always yellow, because Chinese official proclama- 

 tions are on yellow paper, and the charms are meant to be in the 

 spirit world a kind of official proclamation. This idea and appear- 

 ance are enhanced by the fact that in Szechuan the written charms are 

 practically always stamped with the official temple seals resembling 

 in color and shape official seals of Chinese magistrates. The official 

 proclamation of the magistrate, stamped with his official seal, is 

 extremely important, and not to be lightly disregarded or disobeyed. 

 The yellow paper and the official seals of the temples are meant to 

 convey the same impression to the demons, thus making the charms 

 more efficacious. 



The name of Buddha is often seen on written charms. The word 

 thunder, which is also frequently found, could mean just thunder or 

 the god of thunder, since thunder is thought to be the work of the 

 thunder-god. 



6. THE USE OF BLOOD ON CHARMS 



If feathers are pasted to a charm by means of chicken blood, it will 

 be more efficacious. Blood is considered very potent. First in efficacy 

 comes human blood, which is seldom used. Second is chicken blood, 

 which is generally used. Third comes duck blood, which is more 

 rarely used because chicken blood is easily obtained. 



The writer saw a hunter who had pulled some feathers off one of the 

 birds that he had killed and stuck the feathers to the gun by means of 

 the blood of the bird, believing that this would make the gun shoot 

 more accurately. 



7. OTHER CHARMS 



Sometimes a boy whose mother is dead will take a lock of her hair 

 and wear it around his neck. The lock of hair is supposed to protect 

 him from evil spirits. 



Small images of Buddha are used as trimmings on the hats of boys, 

 and they are believed to protect the boys from harm. 



There is a special kind of a brass or copper coin called happiness 

 and long-life money, which is suspended from the backs of boys' hats 

 as charms or amulets. They often have on them the eight figures 

 called the boh kua, or images of the 12 creatures that determine lucky 



