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of water (Kan Lu #), the chief priest passed the dish to the priest on his right-hand side, who then used a small pine leaf to sprinkle water as he walked through the festival area himself. (See routes 1 and 2 in the plan of the Festival Area at the Appendix to this article.) The participating worshippers regarded the former walking ritual as one to show respect to their 'Ancestors', and the latter one as a kind of offering and purification of the area.
13
The 'Reporting' ritual, which took place between entrance A and entrance C, started with the throwing of several Man Tau (Man-Juu in Japanese, a kind of bread) and ten-yen coins to those attending. It created a lot of excitement among those attending as well as the priests. Then the chief priest, who was standing on a table, read a Pang (a name list =, yellow in colour, which was burnt on the last night) of 165 names, and then a Shi-ma (a paper-made figure riding on a paper-made horse), the supposed messenger to Heaven, was burnt with paper money and incense sticks. The 'messenger' was to report to Heaven that this place was now holding a festival for (a) all the soldiers who died during the World Wars, (b) the Ancestors of all surnames, and (c) all wandering spirits. It was hoped that through this generous offering (Gong De), the worshippers could obtain family happiness and good luck.
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16
=
17
#3). At about 3 p.m. on Sept. 2, a bus took fifteen Hokkienese committee members (including 3 females, 1 boy, 2 youths in their 20s) and six priests to the Shumanoura beach, which is in Hyogo Prefecture. There, 21 lotus lanterns (Lien Dan, each with a burning candle inside) were sent out to sea. At the same time, two women put 60 sets of 3 small incense sticks and 2 sets of 3 middle-sized incense sticks into the sand, while the priests chanted facing the sea. After that, the committee members threw vegetarian food around the site. The whole ritual took fifteen minutes. The ritual, according to the Japanese priest, was to send off the ghosts and the ancestors, and some committee members said that it was to send off the orphan ghosts (Wu Zhi Gui 無杞鬼 = Muen butsu in Japanese, meaning ghosts which have no worshippers).
During the night offerings, the chief priest first made some
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234
CHOI CHỈ CHEUNG
of water (Kan Lu #), the chief priest passed the dish to the priest on his right hand side who then used a small pine leaf to sprinkle water as he walked through the festival area himself. (see routes 1 and 2 in the plan of the Festival Area at the Appendix to this article.) The participating worshippers regarded the former walking ritual as one to show respect to their 'Ancestors', and the later one as a kind of offering and purification of the area.
13
The 'Reporting' ritual," which took place between entrance A and entrance C started with the throwing of several Man Tau (Man-Juu in Japanese, a kind of bread) and ten-yen coins to those attending. It created a lot of excitement among those attend- ing as well as the priests. Then the chief priest, who was standing on a table, read a Pang13 (a name list = #, yellow in colour, which was burnt on the last night) of 165 names," and then a Shi-ma (1⁄2, a paper-made figure riding on a paper-made horse), the supposed messenger to Heaven, was burnt with paper money and incense sticks. The 'messenger' was to report to Heaven that this place was now holding a festival for (a) all the soldiers who died during the World Wars, (b) the Ancestors of all surnames, and (c) all wandering spirits. It was hoped that through this generous of fering (Gong De h), the worshipppers could obtain family happiness and good luck,1
=
16
=
17
#3). At the
At about 3 p.m. on Sept. 2, a bus took fifteen Hokkienese com- mittee members (including 3 females, 1 boy, 2 youths in their 20s) and six priests to the Shumanoura ( A ) beach which is in Hyogo Prefecture." There 21 lotus lanterns (Lien Dan each with a burning candle inside, were sent out to sea. same time two women put 60 sets of 3 small incense sticks and 2 sets of 3 middle-sized incense sticks into the sand, while the priests chanted facing the sea. After that the committee members threw vegetarian food around the site. The whole ritual took fifteen min- utes. The ritual, according to the Japanese priest, was to send off the ghosts and the ancestors, and some committee members said that it was to send off the orphan ghosts (Wu Zhi Quai 無杞鬼 Muen butsu in Japanese, meaning ghosts which
=
have no worshippers).
During the night offerings," the chief priest first made some
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