80 A CHAPTER OF FOLKLORE 



of the various nationalities in the empire on the ninth day 

 of the ninth month to shoot at the tiger. Those who hit 

 the tiger a few times were considered as losing and were 

 punished by being compelled to give a feast. When the 

 shooting was ended they selected a high tent on high ground 

 and presented aster wine to the frontier officials and the 

 Chinese officials. Babbits' liver was made into pickled meat 

 and deer's liver was made into sauce. They made hellebore 

 into powder and sprinkled it on the door and thereby made 

 an offering to ward off evil. In the language of the country 

 the dav was called Pi-li-ch'ih-li." 



The Kin Tartars (1115-1234 A.D.) observed the day as 

 we shall see from the following extract: "The Kin Tartars 

 followed the customs of the Liao dynasty. On the ninth 

 day of the ninth month they performed the ceremony of 

 worshipping Heaven outside the capital city. The ceremony 

 was as follows: 'They hollowed out a piece of wood making 

 a platter in the shape of a boat. They painted it red. On 

 it they drew clouds and a crane (the emblem of old age). 

 They made a stand five or six feet high and placed the platter 

 on it. On the platter they presented food. They gathered 

 the members of the clan and worshipped. If the occasion 

 w r as an especial one they built a tower in the court of 

 Ch'ang Wu and made that the place of worshipping 

 Heaven.' 



A book called Tsun Sheng Pa Chien written during the 

 Ming dynasty gives an interesting custom. "On the ninth 

 day of the ninth month at day-light place one layer of cake 

 on the brows of the boys and girls and pray as follows : 

 'May the hundred affairs of the children all be high. This 

 pray three times.' 



The weather of the ninth day is watched because it 

 determines the weather of other days of the year. The 

 Nung Cheng Chuan Shu, written in the early part of the 

 seventeenth century by Seu Kwang K'e, the disciple and 

 associate of the Jesuit missionaries, makes the following 

 prognostication. "If it is clear on the ninth day of the 

 ninth month then the day of the winter solstice, the first 

 day of the year, the fifteenth day of the first month, the 

 ching ming day (festival of the tombs) will all be clear. 

 If it rains on this day, then it will rain on these days." 



As to the flying of kites, it is probably an old diversion 

 in China. According to K'ang Hi's dictionary Han Fei Tsze 

 (3rd century B.C.) in his Yu Ching said that Mo Tzu (4th 

 and 5th century B.C.) made a kite of wood and after three 

 years he made it fly." The kite was used by general 

 Han Sin (died B.C. 196) who aided Liu Pan in conquering 



