46 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 80 



On the night of the twenty-third or twenty- fourth day of the 

 eleventh month the Kitchen God ascends to heaven and reports to the 

 Pearly Emperor the conduct of the family during the year. During- 

 the appropriate ceremonies for the Kitchen God, there are burnt for 

 him paper money, a chariot for his conveyance, and a letter requesting 

 him to forget the evil deeds of the family and to graciously make a 

 good report to the Pearly Emperor. 



In the following words Sven Iledin describes a religious festival 

 in Tibet : 



The jugglery we had witnessed was in every respect brilliant, gorgeous, and 

 splendid, and it is easy to imagine the feelings of humility such a performance 

 must inspire in the mind of the simple pilgrim from the desolate mountains 

 or the peaceful valleys. While the original significance of these dramatic 

 masquerades and their mystic plays is the exorcising and expelling of inimical 

 demons, they are in the hands of the clergy a means of retaining the credulous 

 masses in the net of the church, and this is a condition of the existence both 

 of the church and of the priests. Nothing imposes on ignorance so thoroughly 

 as fearful scenes from the demon world, and therefore devils and monsters play 

 a prominent part in the public masquerades of the monasteries. With their help 

 rmd by representatives of the King of Death, Yama, and the restless wandering 

 souls vainly seeking new forms of existence in the sequence of transmigrations, 

 the monks terrify the multitude and render them meek and subservient, and 

 show many a poor sinner what obstacles and what trials await him on the rough 

 road to Nirvana through the valley of the shadow of death.^ 



H. P.. j\I. Consul Ogden. who witnessed at Tatsienlu one of the 

 great Tibetan festivals called by foreigners the Devil Dance, said that 

 the dramatization of the religious history of Lamaism, the inculcation 

 of religious instruction and the arousing of feelings of religious devo- 

 tion and awe in minds that would otherwise find it difficult to receive 

 such instruction, are primary elements in the " Devil Dance." He said 

 that at times the simple Tibetans were so overcome with awe that they 

 would fall upon their faces in worship. 



In Szechuan some of the greatest religious festivals are on the 

 birthdays of leading deities, and center about the temples. I have 

 witnessed several, and they are very awe-inspiring. There are pro- 

 cessions in which there are often more than 20 deities who are carried 

 in gayly-decorated sedan chairs or on platforms covered by beautiful 

 pavilions. The god in whose honor the festival is held of course has 

 the chief place in the procession. Sometimes soldiers carrying guns 

 are asked to join in the parade ; many flags and silk banners are in 

 evidence, and sometimes large lanterns ; actors dressed to represent 

 certain deities ride in beautiful sedan chairs, impersonating the deities ; 



^ Sven Hcdin, Trans-Himalava, 1909-1913, Vol. i, p. 315. 



