Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 5/Fire and Pestilence Fast
Fire and Pestilence Fast (醮會), Chiao hui
The feast of All Souls is held yearly from the first to the fourth moons, and is strongly believed in as a protection against fire and pestilence. It is called Ta ch‘ing chiao (打淸醮), Wên ho (瘟火) chiao, and P‘ing an (平安) chiao.
The fast may last from four to fifteen days. There is no killing of pigs, oxen and chickens or any live stock, chin t‘u (禁屠), and so rigid is the fast sometimes, that it is hardly possible to buy an egg.
Strings are stretched across the streets and yellow paper flags, with fringed edges and holes punched through them are displayed, yang fan (揚幡), to call the spirits to enter the hall of the fast.
A list of contributors to the expenses of the feast is made out, with the names of the priests invited, and the particular deities to be invoked. The altar is sometimes set up in a temple, but sometimes in a booth for the purpose. The idolatries practised and the rites performed are much the same as in sorcery. In each family the kitchen god is specially worshipped.
A boat is made of a bamboo frame covered with paper, for carrying away the demons of fire and plague. At the end of the feast it is carried out and destroyed. The following is the tablet pasted on the door of the temple where the fast bureau is situated; at the close it is carried away (火墀分遞四值功曹傳送土地) to the piazza where the offerings are burned, also to the spirits of the four points of the compass, and to the precinct god.
The tablet Wên ho p‘ai, to the god of fire and pestilence is set up at the door of each house where they have contributed to the funds of the fast. It is presented by the managers of the fast and is carried out along with the other paraphernalia at the close: 當年太歲瘟火二部至德尊神各家本宅廚竈神君. To the spirit of pestilence and fire of the current year. To the kitchen god of each family.
Ch‘ao fan (朝幡). To visit the streamers. Each 10 or 20 families besides having streamers stretched across the street, have a small flag staff set up in their vicinity, some 15 to 2O feet high; during the day a long yellow streamer is suspended from it, and at night a light is displayed there. The officiating Taoist sorcerer visits each of these poles morning and night throughout the fast. On the first visit he burns an official dispatch to the god of fire and pestilence, and afterwards burns paper each morning and evening and kneels and worships the fire spirit of the vicinity. The tablet written and pasted on the pole is as follows: 幡桿使者樹幟大神. To the angel of the pole, the great spirit who unfurls the flag.
It is said that this fast was instituted by a priest at Niang tzŭ ling named Ch‘ên Chung-yen soon after the Chinese subjugated the Chin Ch‘uan (金川) district; at that time, whole armies of Chinese and aboriginal troops were slaughtered, making the disembodied and orphan spirits very many; and this mode of appeasing them was adopted.
Each family who pays a contribution toward the expenses of the fast, also hands in at the same time the names and birthdays of the heads of the family to the officiating priest, who finds out from the Yü chang shêng shên (羽章生神), whether the year will be propitious for them or not, in order that precautions may be taken.
The names of contributors are sent by dispatch to the Pearly Emperor. This dispatch is burned in front of the fast bureau. Similarly, he receives a list of the classics chanted and the incantations done during the fast.
Two tablets are written and given to each family, one for the kitchen god, another for the fire and pestilence god. Candles and incense are also distributed to each family. The kitchen god in each household is worshipped by burning ch‘ien ma cash horse (this is one difference from the ancestral worship where chih ch‘ien, paper money is used); then the fire and pestilence boat begins to parade the streets.
Before the boat reaches the house a tub of water is placed in front of the door, and a lighted lamp is placed inside the tub; then someone blows out the lamp, which implies that the fire is extinguished. When the epidemic boat reaches each house a man with a broom goes and sweeps a little in front of each door, collects what remains of the tablet candles, incense, paper money, etc. and throws them into the boat; this is called sao t‘ang (掃蕩). The boat, after fulfilling its purpose of collecting all the fire and demon influences of the district is then taken to the river side and set fire to, and pushed out on to the water which carries it quickly away.
To san chên chai fu (撒鎭宅符) is to give a charm of protection to each family which has part in the fast. A charm is written on yellow paper, of varying size. These character charms are all made up by sorcerers for the special purpose; they are the seal of the san ch‘ing, of the Pearly Emperor, of Tou k‘ou (斗口), or the Ling kuan charm.
Small paper lamps which have been soaked in oil are then lit and sent off on the river in the dark to light the orphan spirits of the drowned.
Ch'ien sung shêng chia (錢送聖駕) is to disperse the spirits to their abode with an offering.
Food and warning are given to the demons shih shih fang chieh (施食放戒). A row of candles is set up by the wayside (this is called ch‘a lu cho 插路燭) to lighten the demons to the spot. The candles are made of lengths of bamboo four or five feet high, and are sometimes eighty or more in number; they are wound round with paper soaked in oil and pitch. After they are lighted some rice gruel is placed at the foot of each candle; so that the spirits may have both light and food, along with the exhortation to repent and forsake their evil works. T‘ang pa tzu are scattered sweetmeats, which are scrambled for and eaten by everybody; the belief being that they who eat them will be relieved from bad dreams and the danger of becoming crazy.
The idols of the temple where the fast has been held have to be pacified, lest they may have been offended or jealous; and this ends the yearly fast for preventing fire and pestilence.
A fast to the god of fire, Ta (打) ho chiao, is proclaimed when there has been a conflagration in the neighbourhood, or certain omens point to one being imminent. In the case of a conflagration the family in whose house it started may be fined and beaten by the official and people, kept from receiving any monetary help disbursed or may even be driven from the district. In cases of thieving during the conflagration the goods are rarely taken home for seven days till the danger of fire connected with them is quite removed. So great is the fear of fire that when distributing relief, no one will dare to take the relief unless they have really suffered, lest they themselves should be implicated. Those who are thus burned out of house and home are not allowed to enter any person's house for seven days, lest they should bring the fire demon with them; for this and the following things the fire demon has to be appeased.
If a chicken goes on the roof, it is very unlucky and a sign that fire is likely to come, owing to the red on the rooster's neck, which is like fire. The chicken when caught is beheaded, and the head thrown over the roof of the house; some will not even eat the chicken for fear of fire.
To spill oil or alcohol in the house or on the street is believed to be very unlucky and a certain sign that fire will break out. Any coolie spilling oil on the street is fined or his oil confiscated to pay the expense of pacifying the fire demon.
Rooks chattering in the night is said to be a sign of fire. Sometimes the rooks are driven away, but never killed, as they are reckoned to be very lucky birds.
Rats removing their young from a house, a snake twisting round a bamboo to get to the sun, a shower of meteors or a meteor falling are signs that fire is likely to break out. In order to drive away the fire demon the following black arts are resorted to:—
Shua shui lung, to play the water dragon. The dragon is made of a plaited bamboo framework about one foot in diameter and perhaps 21 feet long. Each family prepares a bucket of water and throws it over the dragon to drown the fire demon.
Ch'ien sung huo hsing, to take away the fire star. This is supposed to be the planet Mars, which is also said to be the star of evil rumours. When this affair is carried out in detail many of the ceremonies of the former fire and pestilence ritual are gone through.
Ta wên chiao, to pacify the pestilence god. In times of cholera the people became very excited and everything possible is done to appease and deceive the demon. They even go to the length of having the New Year in the middle of summer. The fresh door-gods are put on the doors, new scrolls are written and pasted on the door posts, the idols worshipped and incense burned, with the idea of cheating the demon and making it believe that it is midwinter and thus cool weather.
A dragon made of light bamboo covered with green cloth is carried through the streets and into the homes of the people; each family receives it with incense, candles and paper, while the men who parade it are rewarded with money. Many of the incantations and ritual given under the fire and epidemic fast are practised in this also.
Again an epidemic boat is made, with a man shao kung (艄公) at the bows and a woman, shao p‘o, to steer, while in the centre of the boat sits the demon. The beard of the fire demon is red, while that of the pestilence demon is green. The god of the pestilence is said to have been K‘ang t‘ien chün, whose tablet is as follows: 當年行瘟天子至德尊神. To the god of pestilence who governs the current year.
A fast of praying to heaven is held, Lo (羅) t‘ien or Ch‘i (祈) t‘ien ta chiao, in times of distress or at regular intervals from three to fifteen years in different cities. When the fast is proclaimed it is generally a very rigid one, with much ritual, sorcery and chanting, and may last from seven to fifty days. During the recent rebellion, before the establishment of the republic, this fast was proclaimed in many places to ask for protection from the government soldiers.
Huang ch‘ung (蝗蟲) chiao is a fast held in the country to keep the locusts and caterpillars from the crops. If this fast is held in a temple the local precinct god is notified by the burning of incense and putting up of fresh scrolls at his shrine. Five-coloured flags are put up at the corners of the field; this is said to be equivalent to invitation to the rooks to come and devour the pests. The old custom of walking round the fields beating a gong or drum is still to be found; it is said that the caterpillars fall to the ground at the sound. Farmers say that one of the chief benefits of a heavy thunderstorm is to make these pests drop off by the thousand.