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CHINESE FESTIVALS, FASTS, AND OBSERVANCES.
spirit reigns. 21st.-Fifteenth day of the sixth moon. 22nd. Solar term, " great heat." 25th.-Fête day of Kwan-yin, goddess of mercy. 29th.-Birthday of the god of horses. 30th.-Birthday of a Tauist god of fire, and of Wang Lin, a deified statesman. Fête day of Kwan Ťi, national god of war. 30th.-Second decade of heat commences. Birthday of the Tauist of thunder, Lui-tsu, and of two Tauist genii, Hwo and Hoh.
AUGUST.-1st.-Birthday of a Tauist deity called I-lang. 5tb.-Birthday of the Tauist star god of Ursa Minor. 6th. First day of the seventh moon. During this moon is held the festival of all souls, when sheds are erected for exhibition of groups of statuettes, dwarf plants, silk festoons, and altars are erected in these sheds where Buddhist or Tauist priests read masses to release the souls of the subscribers' dead relatives from purgatory, and whence priests proceed in procession to family dwellings to consecrate private shrines, read masses for the dead or exorcise to avoid sickness or death. At the close of the ceremonies (called Ta-tsiu) rice is scattered to fed starving ghosts, magic incantations, accompanied by distortions of fingers so as so imitate certain mystic Sanskrit characters, are performed, and paper-clothes burned, all for the benefit of the souls of those who died on land or sea. Throughout these ceremonics music, drumming, and fireworks are interspersed at intervals. 6th.-Fête day of the Tauist philosopher Lao Tszu. 7th.-Solar term, "Autumn sets in." Sun in Leo. 8th.-All the spirits report to Heaven. 9th.-Third decade of heat commences. 12th.-Birthday of Kang Shing (a scholar of the Han dynasty), also of the god and goddess of the bedstead, worshipped under the bed, and of Kwei Sien, Tauist star-god of Ursa Major, worshipped by literati. 13th.-Anniversary of the death of an Empress. 14tb.-Frost fall. 1th.-Anniversary of the death of an Empress. 17th.--Birthday of Ch'ang-ch'un, a Tauist saint, and of Mahasthana, one of three Buddhist "sages of the West." 20th.-The fifteenth day of the seventh moon. Birthday of Chung Yuen (Tauist god of departed spirits), also of Chang Po, a Tauist saint, and of the Buddhist (Lo-puk) Mandgalyayana, who went to Hades to release bis mother from purgatory. 22nd.-Anniversary of the death of an Empress. 23rd.-A day of mourning. Birthday of the three Tauist gods of heaven, earth, and water. 24th.-Birthday of the Tauist god of the planet Jupiter, regent of "the great year cycle" (sixty years), of the sixty gods of this cycle. 26th.-Birthday of Pu-an, a Buddhist saint. 27th.-Birthday of Tsang Fu, Tauist god of wealth, patron of trade, also of the tutelary deity of each walled town, and of Chang Sien, a Tauist saint, finally of Nagardjuna (A.D. 15C), a Buddhist patriarch and philosopher. 30th.-Anniversary of the death of Kia K'ing (A.D. 1821).
SEPTEMBER. 3rd.-Birthday of Ti-ts'ang-wang, Buddhist patron of departed spirits.-5th. First day of the eighth moon. Birthday of Hu Sun, a deified phys.cian, and of Kin-kiah, Tauist god of the golden armour, worshipped by literati. 6th.-- Birth day of She-wang, chief of the agricultural lares. 7th.-Solar term, "white dew." Sun in Virgo. Fête day of the god of the hearth. The star gods of the northern bushel descend. 9th.-Fête day of Lui Shing, Tauist god of thunder. 13th.-Ar- niversary of the death of T'ien Tsung (A.D. 1644). 14th.-All the spirits report to Heaven. Birthday of the god of the Northern Mountain. 15tb.-Anniversary of the death of T'ien Ming (A.D. 1627). 17th.-Birthday of dragon spirit of the West. 19th.-Fifteenth day of the eighth moon. Worship of the moon. Feast of lanterns or mid-autumn festival. 20th.-Birt' day of Tsai T'ien, the monkey god (Hanuman), chiefly worshipped at Fatshan, also of Chu Yep, a Tauist saint. 22nd.-Birthday of Tsiu Sien, a Tauist deity. 23rd.-Solar term, "Autumnal Equinox." Sun enters Libra. 26th.-Autumnal festival of the lares.-27th.-Anniversary of the death of an Empress. 28th.-Birthday of T'ao Ye, inventor of pottery. 29th.-Birthday of the star god of the sun, wrshipped by the sick by prostrations towards the East.
OCTOBER.-1st.-Birthday of Confucius (B.C. 551). 4th.-First day of the ninth The star gods of the southern bushel descend. 5th.-All the spirits report to Heaven. 5th-12th.-The Line star geds of the northern bushel descend. 6th.- Birthday of Wu Yuen, a Tauist saint. 8th.-Solar term, "cold dew." Sun in Libra. 12th.-Birthday of Chun-ti (the Chinese Durga) also of Chun Yang, a Tauist
moon.
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