Directory_and_Chronicle_1915 — Page 25

24

CHINESE FESTIVALS AND OBSERVANCES IN 1915

1 V. Moon

Fête of the Goddess of Mercy.

July 8

26

Slight Heat.

VI. Moon.

24

15

Great Heat.

30

19

Aug. 4

24

9

29

VII. Moon.

11

1

17

7

25

****

24

14

15

28

18

30

20

Sept. 1

3

C

22235

24

29

VIII. Moon.

1

10

2

11

3

23

15

24

16

Oct. 3

25

5

27

IX. Moon.

9

1

17

9

19

11

23

15

Anniversary of Kwan Ti's ascent to heaven. Fête of Chuh Yung, the spirit

of fire; and of the god of thunder.

Beginuing of Autumn.

First day of the seventh moon. During this moon is held the festival of all souls, when Buddhist and Tauist priests read masses to release souls from purgatory, scatter rice to feed starving ghosts, recite magic incantations accompanied by finger play imitating mystic Sanskrit characters which are supposed to comfort souls in purgatory, burn paper clothes for the benefit of the souls of the drowned, and visit family shrines to pray on behalf of the deceased members of the family. Exhibitions of groups of statuettes, dwarf plants, silk festoons, and ancestral tablets are com- bined with these ceremonies, which are enlivened by music and fireworks. Fete day of Lao Tszu, the founder of Tauism.

Fête of the god of Ursa Major, worshipped by scholars, and of the seven

goddesses of the Pleiades, worshipped by women.

Heat Abating,

Fete of Chung Yuen, god of the element earth.

Fête of the three gods of heaven, of earth, and of water, and of the five

attendant sacrificial spirits.

Fête of Chang Fi, A.D. 220. A leader of the wars during the Three Kingdoms. He is said to have been at first a butcher and wine seller. After many heroic exploits, he perished by the hand of an assassin. Fête of the god of wealth.

Fête of Hü Sün-ping, a Tanist eremite.

Fête of Ti Ts'ang-wang, the patron of departed spirits.

White Dew. Fête of Hü Sun, a deified physician, worshipped by doctors, and of Kin Kiah (god of the golden armour) worshipped by the literati. Fête of the gods of land and grain.

Descent of the star god of the northern measure, and fête of the god of the hearth. National fête day. Worship of the moon, and Feast of Lanterns. Autumnal Equinox.

Fête of the god of the Sun.

Fête of Confucius (born 552 B.C.), the founder of Chinese ethics and politics.

Cold Dew. Descent of the Star gods of the northern and southern

measures from the 1st to the 9th day inclusive. Fête of Kwan Ti, the god of war; kite-flying day. Fête of Tung, a ruler in Hades.

Fête of Yen Hwui, the favourite disciple of Confucius.

National fete of Shu Hi (A.D. 1130-1200), the most eminent of the later Chi- nese philosophers whose commentaries on the Chinese classics have form- ed for centuries the recognized standard of orthodoxy. Frost's Descent. Fête of the god of the loom.

F'êtes of the god of wealth; of Koh Hung, one of the most celebrated of Tauist

doctors and adepts in alchemy; and of the golden dragon king. Fête of Tsu Shêng, one of the reputed inventors of writing. Fête day of Hwa Kwang, the god of fire, and Ma, a deified physician.

Beginning of Winter.

25

24

16

25

17

26 Nov. 5

18

28

X. Moon.

8

2

9

3

Fête of the three brothers San Mao.

21

15

23

17

XI. Moon.

Dec. 8

2

Heavy Snow.

12

6

23

17

1916 XII. Moon. Jan. 6

21

Fete day of Yuh Hwang, the higher god of the Tauist pantheon. Winter Solstice.

Slight Cold,

Fêtes of Ha Yuen, the god of water; of the god of small-pox; and of the

god and goddess of the bedstead.

Slight Snow.