% A CHAPTER OF FOLKLORE 



on entering the house. When worshipping this the wor- 

 shipper bows toward the outside as he is supposed to be 

 worshipping Heaven. The most common form of this idol 

 is a painting about one foot high and the same in width. 



The Taoist trinity in its particularised form is written : — 

 1.— ± 7C - £ m m K f m ft rt ft ; 2. — # % ~ & ifc 9P :% 



IT ft j£ * ft ; 3.— >' 7C H & «? /E 7jt '£ ?1 Ift * *• 



1. — The chief person is the giver of happiness, god and 

 governor of the Royal Star. 2. — The second person is the 

 forgiver of sins, pure and invisible, a governor of Earth. 

 3. — The third person is the reliever of distress, god and 

 governor of Hades. 



The Taoist trinity, as written by scholars and put out- 

 side their doors is $j M ft ~Jj M ^ Ji Sfe ft M . It is the 

 omnipotent one. 



The first two characters of the first form, comes from 

 Taoism, the second two from Buddhism, and have been put 

 together by Confucianism. 



St Sip "The Kitchen God.— ^L ^ 1 ^ s] ^ 1 ^ f t 

 /S M ifc K . The universal god of the kitchen, who pre- 

 serves the lives of the family from starvation, and poisoning. 

 This god is said to be a husband and wife, and when the 

 husband ascends to Heaven which he does on the 24th* of 

 each month to make a monthly report, the wife acts as his 

 deputy in his absence. He goes up to heaven on the 24th 

 of the last moon to make a yearly report of family doings to 

 the heavenly Emperor; before he goes away, incense is 

 offered on his altar, and sugar candy H ffjf is given him to 

 gain his favour and get a good report when he ascends. The 

 kitchen god is said to have originally been Su ren she fj& A J£> 

 the Chinese Prometheus, who taught the Chinese hew to get 

 fire. This belief dates back almost to the mythological 

 period, before the time of Suen iien £F HL At that time 

 fire was produced by driving a drill into certain kinds of wood 

 at fixed seasons, and when the drill was withdrawn fire 

 belched from the aperture. The kinds of wood used at the 

 various seasons were as follows : — 



In Spring from the elm and willow trees # T& W\ flip 2, ik- 

 In Summer from the date and apricot trees M ®t M i£? ^ %>• 

 In late Summer from quercus or silk worm oak HC ^ 3& ^ W 

 ^ ik. In Autumn from the gardenia and rosewood trees 

 #fc tX ftt tl £ J A . In Winter from the oak and horn-beam 

 trees #• & f£ U £ ik . 



The kitchen god has been styled the lord of the house. 

 He has two assistants, one the stick gatherer gg ^j§ 3g tF, the 



^In many parts the day is the 23rd — Ed. 



