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of the two names of the first generation ancestor of the Chens of Tsuen Wan Sam Tong Uk” as Jiu Shi Wu (95) and also Nian Wu Lang, an ordination name. The descendants who had ordination names include his son Fa You and a great grandson Fa Qiang, among others. The last to have an ordination name include a 10th generation ancestor who was to found a Buddhist monastery.
Hakka Sorcerers and Rituals Related to Ordained Ancestors
Although the practice of ordination ended in probably the middle of the 19th century, related traditions manage to survive in the Hakka "Daoist" ritual specialist and a rite they perform for bridegrooms of some Hakka lineages before their wedding.
Hakka ritual specialists were of four main varieties, the male and female spirit mediums (stenpo and gongtung), Buddhist funeral specialists (known as wosong or nammo), and sang ritual specialists who claimed to be Daoist but are clearly more closely linked to Lù Shan and Mao Shan traditions. The sang specialists' rituals include the unique feature of an assistant who is a man dressed as a woman. They use the fa-prefixed style ordination names in the ritual documents and recitation and singing. This is true at least in the case of Mr. Miao, the only one living in Hong Kong in 1981. His family were in this profession for four generations, all using Fa-X style ritual names.76 Villagers have mentioned others, among them a Li of Shataukok and a Liao of Kat O, both died before the time of my interviews.77 When asked about langming and duming, a Hakka Buddhist funeral specialist told me that he never heard about them.78
The practice of the sang specialist is documented in some detail in Zhonghua Jiu Lisu (“Old Chinese Customs”) (ZHJLS) written by a Hakka Christian of Meixian county in the 1930s. It contains information on the rite of Su Yun (“Redemption of [A Child's] Soul”) and Anlong (“Pacification of the Dragon”). The latter I witnessed at the village of Cheng Lan Shue of the New Territories. The ZHJLS shows that the names of these sessions of the ritual its author knew from the Meixian and Xinning counties, indicating that the Anlong was celebrated once every five or six years for each "old house," and the couplets and flag he copied indicate that the celebration there.
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of the two names of the first generation ancestor of the Chens of Tsuen Wan Sam Tong Uk” as Jiu Shi Wu (95) and also Nian Wu Lang, an ordination name The descendants who had ordination names include his son a Fa You and a great grandson Fa Qiang, among others. The last to have an ordination name include a 10th generation ancestor who was to found a Buddhist monastery
Hakka Sorcerers and Rituals Related to Ordained Ancestors
Although the practice of ordination ended in probably the middle of the 19th century, related traditions manage to survive in the Hakka "Daoist" utual specialist and a rite they perform for bridegrooms of some Hakka lineages before their wedding
Hakka ritual specialists were of four main varieties, the male and female spirit mediums (stenpo and gongtung), Buddhist funeral specialists (known as wosong or nammo), and sang ritual specialists who claimed to be Daoist but are clearly more closely linked to Lù Shan and Mao Shan traditions. The sang specialists' rituals include the unique feature of an assistant who is a man dressed as woman. They use the fa-prefixed style ordination names in the ritual documents and recitation and singing. This is true at least in the case of Mr Miao, the only one living in Hong Kong in 1981. His family were in this profession for four generations, all using Fa-X style ritual names76 Villagers have mentioned others, among them a Li of Shataukok and a Liao of Kat O, both died before the time of my interviews." When asked about langming and duming, a Hakka Buddhist Buddhist funeral specialist told me that he never heard about them.78
The practice of the sang specialist is documented in some detail in Zhonghua Jiu Lisu (“Old Chinese Customs”) (ZHJLS) written by a Hakka Christian of Meixian county in the 1930s." It contains information on the rite ol Su Yun (“Redemption of [A Child's] Soul"} and Anlong (“Pacification of the Dragon"). The latter I witnessed at the village of Cheng Lan Shue of the New Territories The ZHJLS shows that the names of these sessions of the ritual its author knew from the Meixian and Xinning counties, indicating that the Anlong was celebrated once every five or six years for each "old house," and the couplets and flag he copied indicate that the celebration there.
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