JAPANESE AND JEWISH FESTIVALS, FASTS, AND OBSERVANCES.
Oct. IX. Moon.
16
18
22
23
24
25
Nov.
33
9 Fête of Kwan Ti, the god of war; kite-flying day. Fête of Tung, a ruler in Hades.
11 Fête of Yen Hwui, the favourite disciple of Confucius.
15 National fête of Chu Hi (A.D. 1130-1200), the most eminent of the later Chinese philosophers whose commentaries on the Chinese classics have formed for centuries the recognized standard of orthodoxy.
16 Fête of the god of the loom.
17 Fêtes of the god of wealth; of Koh Hung, one of the most celebrated of
Tanist doctors and adepts in alchemy; and of the golden dragon king. 18 Fête of Tsü Shêng, one of the reputed inventors of writing.
28 Fête day of Hwa Kwang, the god of fire, and Ma, a deified physician. X. Moon,
First day of the tenth moon. Fête of the god of the Eastern Mountain. Fête of the three brothers San Mao.
Fêtes of Ha Yuen, the god of water; of the god of small-pox; and of the god and goddess of the bedstead.
4
7
1
9
3
12
6
Fête of the inferior celestial spirits.
15
9
"Winter sets in."
21
15
Dec.
3
6
9
11
18
31
26
==
27 Fite of Tsz-mi, god of malaria. XI. Moon.
1 First day of the eleventh moon.
4 National fête of Confucius (born 551 B.C.), the founder of Chinese ethics and politics.
6 Fête day of Yuh Hwang, the higher god of the Tanist pantheon, 13 The Emperor Kanghi died A.D. 1723.
Fête of the Genius of the North (one of the five evil genü).
JAPANESE.
NEW YEAR'S DAY.-First of January,
GEN-SHU-BAI.—The festival of opening all public business.
KI-GEN-SETSU---The 11th February; the Commemoration of Jimmu-Yennō, the first emperor of the present dynasty.
TEN CHO-SETAU.-The 3rd of November, the birthday of the reigning Emperor.
JEWISH.
The festivals of the Jews are held weekly, monthly, and yearly. Each seventh and fiftieth year, moreover, is kept with peculiar solemnities.
The weekly festival is the Sabbath, a day consecrated to rest and cheerful devo- tion. It was instituted when God rested, on the seventh day, from the work of crea- tion, and the precept was renewed to the Helnews in the wilderness of Sin (Ex. XVI), ere yet the Derslogue had been given from Sinai. It is kept from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.
The monthly festival is held on the day of the new moon, or the first day of every month, which is proclaimed by somd of truny 1; the law, however, did not oblige the people to rest on these days, though it appoi. d particular sacrifices.
The Feast of the Passover, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles, were the three principal festivals observed under the law, and they were times of real festivity.
The PASSOVER was instituted to commemorate the departure out of Egypt, becausÓ on the night preceding that departure the destroying angel who slew the first-born of the Egyptians passed over the houses of the Hebrews, they being marked with the blood of the lamb, which, for this reason was called the Paschal Lamb. It was celc- brated on the fourteenth day of the first month of the ecclesiastical year. It com mences on the evening of the 30th of March and lasts seven days. A lamb, or a kid, without blemish, is killed, roasted, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.