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CHINESE FESTIVALS AND OBSERVANCES IN 1917
July VI. Moon.
23
5
Aug.
19
21
11
24
18
VII. Moon,
1
24
7
Sept.
1200 2
1
15
4
18
6
Co
20
VIII. Moon.
1
8
22
10
24
15
29
16
17
18
3
23
8
15
Oct.
24
25
UN N 5 25.9%!
27
IX. Moon.
1
9
11
15
31
16
Nov.
1
17
18
24
28
NON EX
X. Moon,
12
17
3
23
9
29
15
Dec.
8
2253
19
24
XI. Moon.
6
Great Heat.
Fête of the Goddess of Mercy.
Begining of Autumn.
Anniversary of Kwan Ti's ascent to heaven. Fete of Chuh Yung, the spirit
of fire; and of the god of thunder.
+
First day of the seventh moon. During this moon is held the festival of all souls, when Buddhist and Tauist priests read masses to release souls from purgatory, scatter rice to feed starving ghosts, recite magic incantations accompanied by finger play imitating mystic Sanskrit characters which are supposed to comfort souls in purgatory, burn paper clothes for the benefit of the souls of the drowned, and visit family shrines to pray on behalf of the deceased members of the family. Exhibitions of groups of statuettes, dwarf plants, silk festoons, and ancestral tablets are com- bined with these ceremonies, which are enlivened by music and fireworks. Fête day of Lao Tszu, the founder of Tauism.
Heat Abating
Fête of the god of Ursa Major, worshipped by scholars and of the seven goddesses of the Pleiades, worshipped by women.
Fête of Chung Yuen, god of the element earth.
Fête of the three gods of heaven, of earth, and of water, and of the five
attendant sacrificial spirits.
Fête of Chang Fi, A.D. 220. A leader of the wars during the Three Kingdoms. He is said to have been at first a butcher and wine seller. After many heroic exploits, he perished by the hand of an assassin. White Dew. Fête of the god of wealth.
Fête of Hü Sün-ping, a Tauist hermit.
Fête of Ti Ts'ang-wang, the patron of departed spirits.
Fête of Hü Sun, a deified physician, worshipped by doctors, and of Kin Kiah
(god of the golden armour) worshipped by the literati.
Fête of the gods of land and grain.
Descent of the star god of the northern measure, and fête ofthe god of the hearth. Autumnal Equinox.
National fête day. Worship of the moon, and Feast of Lanterns.
Cold Dew.
Fête of the god of the Sun.
Fête of Confucius (born 552 B.C.), the founder of Chinese ethics and politics.
Descent of the Star gods of the northern and southern measures from the
1st to the 9th day inclusive.
Frost Descent. Fête of Kwan Ti, the god of war; kite-flying day. Fête of Tung,
a ruler in Hades.
Fête of Yen Hwui, the favourite disciple of Confucius.
National fête of Shu Hi (A.D. 1130-1200), the most eminent of the later Chi- .
nese philosophers whose commentaries on the Chinese classics have form- ed for centuries the recognized standard of orthodoxy. Fête of the god of the loom.
Fêtes of the god of wealth; of Koh Hung, one of the most celebrated of Tauist
doctors and adepts in alchemy; and of the golden dragon king. Fête of Tsü Shêng, one of the reputed inventors of writing.
Beginning of Winter.
Fête day of Hwa Kwang, the god of fire, and Ma, a deified physician.
Fête of the three brothers San Mao.
Slight Snow.
Fêtes of Ha Yuen, the god of water; of the god of small-pox; and of the
god and goddess of the bedstead.
Heavy Snow,
Fête day of Yuh Hwang, the higher god of the Tauist pantheon. Winter Solstice.