98 A CHAPTER OF FOLKLORE 



This altar is situated in the left hand corner of the chief 

 room of the house. Some shrines are fixtures while others 

 are movable, and often take the form of a hollow stone in 

 which incense is burned. This is mostly used by the 

 wealthy and the superstitious. Every three or five years the 

 ceremony of tranquillising takes place ; for particulars see 

 under sorcery and more particularly under the heading #ff i]f- 



3j !$ To Pacify the Family Altar. — This is done after a 

 family has changed into a new dwelling, or anything unlucky 

 has happened in the house. This is the work of the >*c J& at 

 or married Taoist sorcerer. 



'fSc^C To Worship Heaven. — This is also the work of the 

 married Taoist sorcerer. During this ceremony the family 

 altar is covered over, for the time being with a chart or 

 tablet. A tablet is then placed outside the door under the 

 open sky, where bundles of incense and candles are offered. 

 This ceremony is most commonly performed when the paying 

 back of a vow is required. A son may for example vow to 

 offer to Heaven so many sets of candles and incense if a parent 

 is healed of a sickness or saved from a lawsuit, or has had a 

 safe journey home. One set of candles and incense is 32 

 sticks of each. If a Buddhist priest manages the ceremony 

 (which is very seldom excepting at times of funerals) the set 

 of candles and incense consists of 24 sticks of each. Alas, 

 what would appear to have been an exceptionally pure act of 

 worship at its commencement, has sometimes become de- 

 generated into a pretext for the gratification of the lowest 

 passions. A man may for instance vow to offer so many sets 

 of incense to Heaven if a certain enemy is smitten and dies, 

 or if his direct line of succession is cut off and such like. 

 The tablet used by Taoist priests at this ceremony is as 

 follows : B + n^i^^^-^^^^S-. 



The following is the tablet used by the Buddhist priest 

 for the same ceremony : Zl~h0lt^^l^^S1&^- 

 It should be noted that one stick of incense and one candle 

 is used for each of the spirits worshipped. 



^^ To Worship Earth; % ± To Thanh the Earth. 

 This is the ceremony of pacifying the god of the springs, or 

 the five corner dragon 31 H %% . 



The ceremony is deemed necessary when a house has 

 been newly repaired, and possibly the dragon disturbed, also 

 when a new house has been first occupied, and when a place 

 of residence does not seem to agree with the resident, this is 

 spoken of as ±. M ^ 3e . This is demonstrated by the 

 farmer digging up some unlucky things such as ± I I 

 or eggs of the god of springs; these eggs are described as 



