NOTES AND QUERIES
193
corpse was laid out. Where possible, the death should take place in a room where the ancestral tablets of the deceased's father were; in some areas, if this could not be arranged, the corpse would be carried there later, but not elsewhere. The ritual rules governing these acts were everywhere very detailed, but differed from place to place.
The corpse was then laid out on a mat on the floor in a room prepared in accordance with the customs of that area, facing the door, which was left open; the immediately bereaved relatives were obliged to keep watch night and day beside the deceased, and to welcome well-wishers as they came to pay their respects.
In the morning of the day chosen as propitious for the encoffining — usually the third or fourth after the death — the bereaved family would put on mourning which had been made for them by the village women. In every village, mourning was worn in four or five different grades, depending on the closeness of relationship with the deceased, although the mourning considered proper to each grade differed in detail from area to area. The coffin was then carried through the village by the young men of the village and placed, covered with a blanket or cloth, in a matshed on suitable open land outside, with a table with offerings in front. The bereaved family would continue to keep watch beside the coffin, snatching sleep when and how they could. The villagers would come again to pay respects; anyone who did so would be invited to eat of the funeral food provided by the bereaved family but cooked on communal stoves nearby by the elders of the village. If the death took place outside the village, the coffin could not be brought back into the village: in such cases, the matshed would be built far out in the fields.
During the evening and night of this or the next day, elaborate and lengthy rituals would be mounted by Taoist priests, with all those in mourning attending. These rituals were designed to secure the safe passage of the deceased through the hells of punishment, and his protection from the attacks of ill-disposed ghosts. During these same evenings, rituals to purify the family and the funeral site and to control any nearby malicious spirits in preparation for the actual burial were conducted. When the Taoist rites were completed, usually at about two in the morning, the bereaved family would prepare to sleep on the ground around the coffin.
The following morning, the bereaved family would wait by the coffin to welcome well-wishers as they appeared again to pay their respects, and when everyone was present, a complex series of rituals took