Directory_and_Chronicle_1879 — Page 42

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CHINESE FESTIVALS, FASTS, AND OBSERVANCES.

of T'sui-pan, criminal judge in bell. Fête day of the god of mount Tai. 26th.- Second decade of heat commences. A day of ill luck. 28th.-Birthday of Liu Hai- sien, a Tauist saint. 30th.-Birthday of the Tauist deity Lung-wang, dragon spirit of wells and mountains. 31st.-Fête day of Lu-pau, god of masons and carpenters.

AUGUST.-2nd.-Fifteenth day of the sixth moon. 6th.-Fête day of Kwan-yin, the goddess of mercy (Avalokiteshvara). 8th.-The solar term "autumn sets in.' Sun in Leo. 10th.-Birthday of the Tauist god of horses. 11th.-A day of ill luck. Birthday of a Tauist (spirit) of fire, also of Wang.lin a deified statesman. Fête day (death) of Kwan-ti, national god of war. Birthday of the Tauist god thunder (Lui- tsu) and of two Tauist genii Hwo and Hoh. 15th.-End of the third decade of heat. 16th.-The spirits report to Heaven. Birthday of the Tauist star god of Ursa Minor. 18th.-First day of the seventh moon. During this moon is held the Festival of all souls, when Buddhist or Tauist pries's read masses to release souls from purgatory, scatter rice to feed starving ghosts wandering about, recite magic incantations ac- companied by finger play imitating mystic Sanskrit characters which are supposed to comfort or release souls in purgatory, burn paper clothes for the benefit of the souls of the drowned, and visit family shrines to pray on behalt of the deceased members of the family. Exbilitions of groups of statuettes, dwarf plants, silk festoons, and ancestral tablets, are combined with these ceremonies which are enlivened by music and fire works. 18th.-Anniversary of the death of Lao Tsze, the founder of Tauism. 23rd.-The solar term, " cessation of heat." Sun enters Virgo. 24th.- Birthday of K'ang-shing, a scholar of the Han dynasty. Birthday of the god and goddess of the bedstead, worshipped under the bed. Birthday of Kwei-sin, Tauist stargod of Ursa Major, worshipped by literati. 26th.--Anniversary of the death of an Empress. 27th.--Anniversary of the death of an Empress. 28th.-Frost. 29th. Birthday of Tau-chong-chun, a Tauist saint, and of Mahasthana, a Buddhist sage (one of three) of the West.

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SEPTEMBER. 1st.-The fifteenth day of the seventh moon. Birthday of Chung- yuen, Tauist god of departed spirits. Birthday of Chang-po, a Tauist saint, and of the Buddhist Maudgalvayana (Lo-puk) who went to hell to release his mother. 3rd.-A day of mourning. 4th.-Day of ill luck. The spirits report to Heaven. Birthday of the three Tauist gods of heaven, earth, and water. 5th.-Birthday of the Tauist stargod of the great year (Tai-sui, planet Jupiter), and of the 60 gods of the cycle of 60 years (revolutions of Jupiter). 7th.-Birthday of Pu-an, a Buddhist saint. 8th. The solar term "White dew." Sun in Vigo. Birthday of Tsang-fu, Tauist god of wealth, patron of traders. 10tb.-Fête day of the patron god of each walled town. Birthday of Chang-sien, a Tauist saiut. Birthday of Nagardjuna (A. D. 150), a Buddhist patriarch and p ilosopher. 11th.-Anniversary of the death of Emperor Kia-k'ing, (A.D. 1820). 15th.-Birthday of Ti-ts'ang-wang, a Buddhist saint, invoked on behalf of the dead. 16th.-First day of the eighth moon. Birthday of Hü-sun, a deified Tauist physician, and of Kin-kiah, Tauist god of the golden armour, worshipped by literati. 17th.-The spirits port to heaven. Birthday of She-tuh, chief of the agricultural lares. 18th.-Birthday of the Tauist god of the hearth. The gods of the northern measure descend. 20th.-Birthday of Lui-shing, Tauist god of thunder. 22nd.-Autumn festival of the lares. Heaven grants pardon. 23rd. The solar term, "autumnal equinox." Sun enters Libra. 24th.-Anni- versary of death of Emperor Ta-tsung-wen (A.D. 1644). Birthday of the Tauist god of the northern mountain. 26th.-Anniversary of the death of Emperor Ta tsu-kao, (A.D. 1627). 28th.-Birthday of a dragon spirit of one (West) of the five regions. 29th. The spirits report to Haven. 30th.-The fifteenth day of the eighth moon. Worship of the moon. Feast of lanterns or mid-autumn festival.

OCTOBER.-1st.-Birthday of Tsai-t'ien, the monkey god (Hanuman), worshipped in Fat-sha'n. Birthday of Chu-yen-shwui, a Tauist sain. 7th.-Birthday of Dipam- kara Buddha. 8th.-Anniversary of the death of an Empress. 9th.-The solar term, "cold deer." Sun in Libra. Birthday of Tao-ye, inventor of pottery. 10th.-Birth- day of the god of the sun, worshipped by the sick by prostrations toward the East. 12th.-Birthday of Confucius (B.C. 551). 15 b.-First day of the ninth moon.

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