260 Chinese Feast to Disembodied Spirits, [Oct, 



made ; as also to the vessel of her ashes, and to the water, as emblema- 

 tic of the water of immortality. The ritual, which I believe is termed 

 Nanwakhig, was now opened, and a series of prayers read aloud by the 

 chief priest in a recitative style : the termination of each of the pray- 

 ers, or certain periods in them, was marked by his striking on the table 

 with the red slab. The two inferiors assist in the service, marking the 

 cadences in the chants, by instruments resembling castanets. At stated 

 intervals the chief priest changed his robes for others of a different 

 hue,* rang the bronze bells and sprinkled water, while the large gong 

 of the temple ever and anon pealed forth a deep and sonorous note. 

 The service was conducted with great solemnity, and reminded me of that 

 of the Romish church. Its object, I understood, was partly to invoke the 

 four spirits from the north, south, east and west, and to entreat them 

 to assist in assembling the ghosts of mortals, wandering within their 

 shadowy precincts to partake of the banquet prepared for them, and 

 also to invite the ghosts themselves. This done the priest casts the 

 divining Keaou pei\ or Shing keaou. Should they turn up successfully 

 twice out of the three times they are cast, the spirits are supposed 

 to have accepted the invitation, and to have arrived at the temple. 

 They are visible, if we can only believe our Chinese informants, to any 

 person of faith, who will prepare his eyes for the sight by anointing 

 them with the blood of a black sheep. 



The high priest afforded his ghostly guests ample leisure to discuss 

 the good things set before them, by continuing the prayers till nearly 

 midnight. He then took out the sticks of incense, burning in the 

 censers before him; and cast them, one by one, into the open space in 

 front of the platform. The spirits are now presumed to have taken 



* " The imperial high priest, when he worships heaven, wears robes of azure colour, in 

 allusion to the sky. When he worships the earth, his robes are yellow to represent 

 the clay of this earthly clod. When the sun is the object, his dress is red ; and for the 

 moon, he wears a pale white. The kings, nobles, and a centenary of official hiero- 

 phants wear their court dresses. The altar on which to sacrifice to heaven is round to 

 represent heaven ; this is expressly said. The altar on which the sacrifices to the 

 earth are laid, is square ; whether for the same wise reason or not is not affirmed. The 

 " prayer-boards" Chuh-pan, are of various colours, for the s me reason as the empe- 

 ror's robes. In the worship of the heavens, a yellow ground is used with black charac- 

 ters ; for the worship of ancestors, a white ground is required with black characters ; 

 for the sun, a carnation with vermilion characters ; and for the moon, a white ground 

 with black characters." — Art. on State Religion of China—Chinese Repository, vol. iii, page 50. 



•i- The Keaou-pei used, were small reniform bits of bamboo having one side convex, witli 

 an orifice through the centre. 



