[ { "id": 208971, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 133, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "SYMBOLISM OF THE NEW LIGHT\n\n101\n\nHoly Saturday night was taken. In the following century, under St. Leo IV, whose pontificate lasted from 847 to 855, the custom of procuring new fire every day from a flint was extended also to Holy Saturday.2\n\n20\n\nIn modern times, this ceremony is no longer performed except once a year on Holy Saturday on the eve of Easter. Although the significance of the ritual has been adapted to the Christian doctrine, it remains clear that the structure of the ritual itself points to a different origin. The event takes place outside the Church proper. All the lamps in the sanctuary have been extinguished and as Abbot Guéranger mentions,21 the faithful had previously put out the fires in their own homes as well; they would relight them on their return from the church service with the new light consecrated at the Easter service.\n\nThe structure of this blessing of fire closely resembles the parallel tradition observed in ancient China: it is a renewal of fire as a life-giving force and is related to the victory of the sun after the spring equinox. Fire was kept burning in the homes both for cooking and for light-giving at night, but it was believed to grow old and weak, and needed to be renewed occasionally. In China the custom was probably observed during the day-time, since fire was taken from the sun directly; in the Roman and Christian tradition, it was struck from a flint stone in the evening.\n\nThe Christian liturgy has maintained this tradition but adapted it skilfully to the new faith: whereas the old form remained unchanged, its symbolic meaning was reinterpreted: the new light represents Christ \"Light of the World\"; the spark of light struck from the flint represents our Lord rising from the rock-hewn sepulchre, through the stone which sealed it\".22 In the present-day Roman liturgy, after the new fire has been struck from stone, charcoal is lit from it and this new fire is then blessed by the officiating priest. After the blessing, some of the consecrated coal is put into the thurible and the new fire is censed with it. After the inscription of the large Easter candle has been made by the priest, five grains of incense are inserted in five small openings, symbolizing the five wounds of Jesus inflicted at his crucifixion. Next, one of the assistants lights a small candle from the new fire and with it again lights the Easter candle. The priest consecrates the newly lit candle with this prayer:", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208972, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1980", "page_number": 134, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "102\n\nJULIAN F. PAS\n\nPour forth, we beseech thee, O almighty God, thy abundant blessing on this lighted candle23 and behold, O invisible regenerator, the brightness of this night: that not only the sacrifice that is offered this night may shine by the secret mixture of thy light; but also into whatever place anything of this mysterious sanctification shall be brought, there, by the power of thy majesty, all the malicious artifices of the devil may be defeated. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.24\n\nAfter this prayer the deacon, who has changed from purple to white ritual garments, receives the consecrated Easter candle. A procession is formed and proceeds toward the church, which is now in total darkness. Upon entering the church building, the deacon sings aloud: \"The light of Christ.\" to which all present respond, kneeling: \"Thanks be to God\". Then the officiating priest lights his own candle from the blessed Easter candle. A second time, in the middle of the church, the deacon sings in a higher tone: \"The Light of Christ!\", and all the clergy present light their candles. Finally arriving in front of the altar, a third intonation of \"The light of Christ!\" is followed by the lighting of the candles of all those present. The lights in the church are also switched on. The Easter candle is then placed on a standard in the middle of the choir and after the usual ritual of incensing, the deacon, standing in front of the Easter candle, intones the beautiful hymn “Exsultet”.\n\nThis whole series of ritual acts is rich in symbolism and this has been pointed out by Christian authors. For the people attending, the symbolism provides an immediate experience in which they intuitively grasp the significance and the solemnity of the Easter events. From a critical viewpoint, however, several layers of symbolism can be discovered: the inner structure of the ritual, although overlaid with later essentially Christian meanings, points toward its ancient roots in pre-Christian times: the taking of new fire as a renewal ceremony. The first adaptation, also pre-Christian, was to see in this act a symbolical victory of the powers of light and goodness over the powers of darkness and evil. The second adaptation, made by the Christian church, was to identify light with Jesus Christ, who after having been overcome by the powers of darkness, triumphs again by his resurrection. However, since the Christian tradition has been partially grafted on the rich heritage of Judaism, it is no surprise that we find in the Easter celebration several themes reminiscent of the Jewish Passover. The texts of the Christian", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210689, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 40, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "23\n\nobserved that he was not often late.\n\nIt would not be appropriate to the scale of this essay to give an account of his practice, cases or clients. For anyone who is interested the details are to be found in the local newspapers. I propose only to mention a few selected matters. His first reported case was in April 1877 when he appeared for a man charged with possessing and uttering counterfeit coins and made a successful submission of no case to go to the jury. In the following July he called E.J. Eitel, referred to above, to give evidence of local custom in a case relating to the false imprisonment of a woman. His first notable case was in January 1878 when he defended one of two ship's engineers charged with manslaughter following the explosion of a boiler on a ship in Victoria Harbour which caused the deaths of over seventy people. Later in 1878 he defended F.S. Huffham, the Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, on charges of fraud and misappropriation of fees. His clients included banks, shipping companies, and many other businesses, the Opium Farmer, the Emperor of China and other Chinese authorities and a host of individuals including the Baroness DoCercal and a member of the Korean Royal Family. He appeared in cases in which the Hong Kong Club and the Jockey Club were parties and many of the libel cases which were a feature of life in Hong Kong. His practice took him not only into the courts of Hong Kong but also before the Legislative Council and to Macao, Canton and Shanghai. In a case of his in 1884 two of the jurors gave evidence, which must be unusual. Also in that year he was in a case concerning a contract to supply Chinese emigrants to Jamaica. In 1886 he appeared for forty-two Chinese Police Constables charged with corruption. In 1893 he was involved in the first case in Hong Kong relating to Ancient Lights. In 1897 he acted for the Jewish Community which sued in respect of land alleged to be held in trust for it. Following the acquittal of Fraser Smith referred to above he joined others in offering to pay the plaintiff's costs, an uncommon gesture for a lawyer (the verdict of the jury was not guilty but the verdict of the colony was guilty). His persistence as an advocate lasted to the end. In June 1901 the trial Judge in his summing up referred to \"his very able speech for the defence which occupied two hours and in which every point in the evidence was thoroughly gone into\".", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215580, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2001", "page_number": 357, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "307\n\nand Monuments Office and the Government Marine Department and to everyone mentioned in the text. Without their help this paper would not have been written. Special thanks are also due to Yip Kin-sang Superintendent of Aids to Navigation of the Marine Department. Thanks are also due to many other helpful people including Master Mariners Roger Parry and Alan Lack, Dr James Hayes, Simon Lord, Paul Brown, Phillip Bruce, Louis Thomas and S J Chan. This paper would not be complete without photographs and those published here are indeed rather special. For these, a very sincere thank you to Charles Slater.\n\nNOTES\n\nPart One\n\n1. T. Roger Banister (1932). The Coastwise Lights of China, Shanghai: Inspectorate General of Customs, Statistical Department.\n\n2. Lee Krystek - http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/pharos.htm\n\n3. Trinity House - http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/\n\n4. A day in history - http://www.sis.gov.eg/calendar/html/cl171196.htm\n\n5. It was named after James Horsburgh (1762-1836), an eminent hydrographer for the East India Company, author of the book Sailing Directions, which became the most widely used nautical directory of Eastern waters during the first half of the 19th century. He was also a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The lighthouse has a cone-shape tower painted with black and white horizontal bands. http://www.lighthouseclothing.com/database/searchdatabase.cfm.\n\n6. It was rebuilt in 1875 in the form of a white conical cast-iron tower with black trim. The 30-foot high tower with lantern constructed of oyster shells had a light visible for 20.5 nautical miles.\n\n7. T.R. Banister concedes that the claim is good only in its literal sense. '...if we except such primitive lights as the old open beacon at north-east promontory, or the ancient native light on Fisher Island in the Pescadores. The Tungsha Lightship, in the Yangtze Estuary, was established in 1855, and the Taitan Light was apparently first shown by the Chinese priests in 1863. But neither of these were exactly light [houses].'", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]