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and their brothers several generations earlier than the one with whom the last part of the genealogy starts counting generations from one.
The above shows that celebration of Fengchao is connected with ordination names. It is not meaningful to ask if all those who celebrate the rite had ordination names in their genealogies—in any case, as mentioned before, all Hakka genealogies I examined, except short excerpts, contain ordination names. There is a similar problem in asking if all lineages with ordination names in their genealogies celebrated Fengchao. One may ask, however, the following question: if two lineages trace to the same ancestors who are the only ones who had ordination names, and one of the lineages celebrates Fengchao, would the other celebrate Fengchao too? There are some cases in the New Territories of which we may ask this question: e.g., Ping Yeung and Ting Kok, So Lo Pun and Lai Chi Wo, Shuen Wan and Wu Kau Tang. At this stage of research, I cannot answer the question for any of those pairs.
According to the memorial for the ritual of Fengchao, it is dedicated to ancestors. Chao is also written as Zuchao, zu meaning "ancestor". Elsewhere in the memorial, it is written as shangzu, “early ancestors”. Many of the sessions in the ritual are named in the memorial. They were for maintenance of an “immortal army” which seemed to be under the control of the ancestors. When a priest read the memorial to demonstrate his rendering, he added zugong ("ancestors") before bingma ("army") in the passage, indicating that he does think of the army as belonging to the ancestors. He compared the army to "policemen", and told me that they were to guard the village to prevent entry of outsiders. The rites were to remedy possible loss of soldiers and horses due to lack of provisions; loss of the wuhua qihao flags of the army; and the loss of yingsuo stations [garrisons?]. One major feature is petitioning the Jade Emperor and his subsidiaries for issuance of a Zhaobing Pai order for recruitment of soldiers.
The rite I witnessed was performed inside the ancestral hall, with the exception of a session to “pacify the kitchen god” at the kitchen stove of the bridegroom's house. At the ancestral altar of the hall, the priest hung a picture showing the Three Pure Ones and gods peculiar to the popular tradition, including the Three Ladies. Three temporary spirit
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and their brothers several generations earlier than the one with whom the last part of the genealogy starts counting generations from one
The above shows that celebration of Fengchao is connected with ordination names. It is not meaningful to ask if all those who celebrate the rite had ordination names in their genealogies -in any case, as mentioned before, all Hakka genealogies I examined, excerpt short excerpts, contain ordination names. There is a similai problem in asking if all lineages with ordination names in their genealogies celebrated Fengchao. One may ask, however, the following question: if two lineages trace to the same ancestors who are the only ones who had ordination names, and one of the lineages celebrate Fengchao, would the other celebrate Fengchao too? There are some cases in the New Territories of which we may ask this question: e.g. Ping Yeung and Ting Kok, So Lo Pun and Lai Chi Wo, Shuen Wan and Wu Kau Tang At this stage of research I cannot answer the question for any of those pairs.
According to the memorial for the ritual of Fengchao," it is dedicated to ancestors. Chao is also written as Zuchao, zu meaning "ancestor". Elsewhere in the memorial it is written as shangzu, “early ancestors". Many of the sessions in the ritual are named in the memorial. They were for maintenance of an “immortal army" which seemed to be under the control of the ancestors. When a priest read the memorial to demonstrate his rendering, he added zugong ("ancestors") before bingma ("army") in the passage, indicating that he does think of the army as belonging to the ancestors. He compared the army to "policemen", and told me that they were to guard the village to prevent entry of outsiders. The rites were to remedy possible loss of soldiers and horses due to lack of provisions; loss of the wuhua qihao flags of the army; and the loss of yingsuo stations [garrisons?]. One major feature is petitioning the Jade emperor and his subsidiaries for issuance of a Zhaobing Pai order for recruitment of soldiers.
The rite I witnessed was performed inside the ancestral hall with the exception of a session to “pacify the kitchen god" at the kitchen stove of the bridegroom's house. At the ancestral altar of the hall the priest hung a picture showing the three Pure Ones and gods peculiar to the popular tradition, including the Three Ladies. Three temporary spirit
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