Master. “Fall prostrate.” This is done by touching the ground with his knees, hands and forehead.
Master. “Read the prayer.” Here the reader approaches the front of the tomb, holding in his hands a piece of white paper, on which is written one of the sacrificial forms of prayer. These forms are generally much the same; differing slightly according to the wish of the composer. The form states the time; the name of the clan which come to worship and offer sacrifice; beseeches the shades to descend and enjoy the sacrifice, to grant protection and prosperity to their descendants, that in all succeeding generations they may wear official caps, may enjoy riches, and honours, and never become extinct, that by the help of the souls in hades, the departed spirits, and the living on earth may be happy, and illustrious throughout myriads of ages. The prayer being finished, the master cries: “Offer up the gold and the precious things.” Here one of the stewards presents gilt papers to the priest, and he bowing towards the grave, lays them down before it.
Master. “Strike up the grand music.” Here gongs, drums, trumpets, &c., are beaten and blown to make a noise as loud as possible.
Master. “Burn the gold and silver, and precious things.” Here all the young men and children burn the gilt papers, fire off crackers, rockets, &c.
Such is the sum of a grand sacrifice at the tombs of ancestors. But to many, the best part of the ceremony is to come, which is the feast of the sacrifice. The roast pigs, rice, fowls, fish, fruits, and liquors, are carried back to the ancestral hall; where according to age and dignity, the whole party sit down to eat, drink and play. The grandees discuss the condition of the hall, and other topics connected with the honour of the clan; the young men carouse, and provoke each other to “drink deep.” Some set out for home with a catty or two of the divine flesh, which had been used in sacrifice; others stay till they wrangle and fight, and night puts an end to the entertainment.
Those who live remote from the tombs, or who have no ancestral hall, eat their sacrifice on the ground at the sepulchres. The poor imitate their superiors, at an humble distance. Although they have no hall, no procession or music, they provide three sorts of victims, a pig, a goose, and a fish; some fruits, and a little distilled liquors—for spirituous liquors are used on all these occasions. After presenting these at the tomb, they kneel, knock head, and orally or mentally pray for the aid of their ancestors’ souls to make the existing and all future generations of descendants, rich and prosperous.
In these rites there is some difference in the wording of the prayer, according as it is presented to remote ancestors or to lately deceased parents or friends; but the general import is the same.
SACRIFICES TO CONFUCIUS.
Further to illustrate the modes “in which the Chinese worship Confucius and the deceased,” we subjoin the following extracts, from the Indo-Chinese Gleaner:—
From the Shing-meaou-che, volume first, page second, it appears that there are, in China, more than one thousand, five hundred and sixty temples dedicated to Confucius. At the spring and autumnal sacrifices offered to him, it is calculated in the above-named work, that there are immolated (on the two occasions) annually, six bullocks, twenty-seven thousand pigs, five thousand eight hundred sheep, two thousand eight hundred deer, and twenty-seven thousand rabbits.
Thus, there are annually sacrificed to Confucius, in China, sixty-two thousand, six hundred and six victims; it is added, there are offered at the same time, twenty-seven thousand, six hundred pieces of silk. What becomes of these does not appear.
CHINESE WOMEN.
It has justly been remarked that a nation’s civilization may be estimated by the rank which females hold in society. If the civilization of China be judged of by this test, she is far from occupying that first place which she so strongly claims. Females have always been regarded with contempt by the Chinese. Their ancient sages seem to have considered them scarcely worthy of their attention. The sum of the duties they require of them is, to submit to the will of their masters. The lady, say they, who is to be betrothed to a husband, ought to follow blindly the wishes of her parents, yielding implicit obedience to their will. From the moment when she is joined in wedlock, she ceases to exist; her whole being is absorbed in that of her lord; she ought to know nothing but his will, and to deny herself in order to please him. Pan-hwny-pan, who is much admired as an historian, composed a book of instructions for her own sex, in which she treats of their proper station in society, the deportment they should exhibit, and the duties they ought to perform. She teaches them that they “hold the lowest rank among mankind, and that employments the least honourable, ought to be, and in fact are, their lot.” She inculcates entire submission to their husbands, and tells them in very plain terms that they ought to become abject slaves, in order to become good wives. We cannot expect that these doctrines, inculcated as they are, by a lady, who ought to advocate the cause of her sex, and by one held in so high repute as is Pan-hwny-pan, will be overlooked by the “lords of creation;” especially as they accord so perfectly with their domineering disposition, in China.
Confucius, the prince of letters, divorced his wife without assigning any cause for so doing; and his followers have invariably adopted similar arbitrary measures in their treatment of females. The price which is paid to the parents of the bride, constitutes her at once a saleable commodity, and causes her to be regarded as differing little from a mere slave. In the choice of a partner for life, she is entirely passive, is carried to the house of the bridegroom, and there disposed of, for life, by her parents.
The birth of a female is a matter of grief in China. The father and mother, who had already hoped in the unborn babe to embrace a son, feel disappointed at the sight of a daughter. Many vows and offerings are made before their idols in order to propitiate their favour, and secure the birth of a son. The mercy of the compassionate Kuan-yin, especially, is implored to obtain this precious gift; but after they have spent large sums of money in this pious work, the inexorable goddess fills the house with mourning at the birth of a daughter. “Anciently,” says Pan-hwny-pan, “the female infant was thrown upon some old rags, by the side of its mother’s bed, and for three days was scarcely spoken or thought of. At the end of that time it was carried to a temple by a father, accompanied by attendants with bricks and tiles in their hands. The bricks and tiles,” says Pan-hwny-pan, in her comment on these facts, “signify the contempt and suffering which are to be her companions and her portion—bricks are of no use except to form enclosures and to be trodden under foot; tiles are useless except when they are exposed to the injuries of the air.” The Sheking, one of the venerated books, says,
“——When a daughter is born,
She sleeps on the ground,
She is clothed with a wrapper:
She plays with a tile:
She is incapable either of evil or good.”
This last assertion is thus explained; “if she does ill she is not a woman—and if she does well she is not a woman; a slavish submission is her duty and her highest praise.” At the present day, as well as anciently, the female infant is not unfrequently an object of disgust to its parents, and of contempt to all the inmates of the family. As she grows up, her feet are so confined and cramped that they can never exceed the size of infancy. This process entirely incapacitates her from walking with ease or safety. Small feet, that badge of bondage which deprives the Chinese females of the power of locomotion, confines them to the inner apartments, except when poverty forces them to earn their livelihood abroad by labour, which is rendered exceedingly difficult and painful if accompanied by walking. Females of the higher class seldom leave the house, except in sedan-chairs. Their lives are but an honourable captivity. They have few or no real enjoyments—are exceedingly ignorant—very few of them being able to read. They live and die little more than ciphers in human society. Pale and emaciated, they spend the greatest part of their lives in embellishing their persons; while females of the poorer classes, whose feet are necessarily permitted to grow to the size which the God of nature designed, perform all the drudgery of husbandry and other kinds of work. These last are