NOTES AND QUERIES
205
I was District Officer, South at the time and asked for a record to be made of the two ceremonies, which are known locally as Tun Fu (祭祀).* The first of them took place at Pak Wai village on Sunday, 17 January 1960. The second was performed on 23 March 1960. The same officer reported on each ceremony, and his reports are given verbatim. He was Mr. G. C. W. Grout, now retired. The second report was written up 19 months later, from field notes.
Hong Kong, April 1971.
DETAILS OF A TUN FU CEREMONY PERFORMED AT
PAK WAI VILLAGE, SUNDAY, 17TH JANUARY, 1960.
Instruments used.
1. Six 2 ft. lengths of split green bamboo about 2 inches wide.
2. Three cups of wine.
3. Three cups of tea.
4. A rice bowl.
5. A nail about four inches long.
6. Packet containing money.
7. Candles.
8. Incense.
9. A plate of steamed bread.
10. A plate of oranges.
11. An enamelled metal basin containing a whole chicken, a large piece of pork, pig and chicken innards, all steamed.
12. Joss paper.
13. Firecrackers.
14. Gilt leaves, red cloth and red string.
15. Two flower pots filled with sand.
16. Book of incantations.
17. A young live cockerel.
The geomancer started by placing the incense, the cups and the rice bowl and red packet on a table in the order shown in the sketch. The incense was then lit and water placed in the rice bowl. Two pieces of joss paper were then lit, placed in the rice bowl of water, and the nail put into it. He then took up one of the pieces of wet bamboo, passed it over the burning incense and wrote certain inscriptions on it, copying out of the book, and passed it over the incense again, the written side down.
This was repeated for each piece of bamboo. Then the red cloth was cut into strips and tied with red string and gilt leaves
*The first character is doubtful,