436
Illustrations of Men and Things in China
Avg.
7. One hundred and six days after the winter solstice coines the time to sweep the tombs; fifty days after the commencement of spring (Feb. 6) is the time to worship the gods of the land.
8. The fourth month is called 'wheat autumn;' the fifth of the fifth month is called 'sweet flag term.'
"On this day (5th of the 5th month) precisely at noon, people cut up leaves of sweet flag and steep them in wine, and drink off the decoction to ward off the sickness and malaria of summer." It is not drunk now, but sprinkled upon the person.
9. On the fifth of the fifth month, the racing of boats commemo- rates the drowning of Wu Yuen; the ascent of hills on the ninth of the ninth moon is in imitation of Hiuenking, who thus escaped
calamity.
“Kiu Yuen 屈原
was a minister of king Hwái of the state of Tsú, and being banished by his master south of the Great river, he drowned himself upon this day. The people of T'sú mourned for him, and instituted races of dragon boats on that day in search of him, and also sacrificed to him with bamboo tubes filled with rice," which was scattered upon the water. This was the origin of the festival of dragon boats, (so called from their length and the figure head of a dragon,) which is observed with great spirit by the peo- ple even to the present time; not for one day only, but for five or six.
"Fí Changfang once told his friend Hiuenking, that on the ninth day of the ninth month, a sudden calamity would come upon his house; wherefore he had better sew some bags and fill them with eatables, and remove to the hills to escape the evil. Hiuenking followed his advice, and in the evening on his return home, found his cattle and stock all dead. Chángfang exclaim- ed, These instead of you!" This practice is still continued, and people improve the opportunity of an otherwise idle jaunt to visit the graves of their friends, so that the remembrance of the first occasion is almost lost in the observance of the other. At this same time, people sometimes carry a kite, which is flown with a lighted stick of incense tied to the string; when the string is burnt through and the kite floats away, they called it liú tshi or loosing calamities; the kite is made the scape goat of their apprehended misfortunes. But most men laugh at this custom, and fly no kites, because they do not see its efficacy, or any particular connection between a kite and a misfortune.
10. On the day when the gods of the land and grain are wor- shiped with poultry and pork, everywhere is drunk the 'curing deaf- ness' wine; on the 7th day of the 7th month, when the constellations of the Weaver (Lyra) and Cow (Cygnus) cross the Milky Way, wo- men everywhere pray for skill on the needle.
During the Tang dynasty, the ladies of the palace, on the 7th day of the 7th moon, used always looking toward the moon to thread the nine-eyed