Page 91 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

SYMBOLS, EMBLEMS, AND CHARMS. 59

of which, are two candles and three sticks of incense, ail
lighted,
and finally, a small wooden stick or image representing the
sick individual. As soon as he reaches home, some of the rice
in the measure is immediately taken and made into congee,
which is given to the sick man to eat, if possible. The measure,
with its contents, is in the room where the sick one is.
placed
The the candles, and the incense, are allowed to burn as
lamp,
long as they will. They must go out of themselves, and not
be as that would be a
extinguished by design, very inauspicious
omen." P. 504 " If the whose is celebrated
person birthday
:
should be sick, and even if well, should the be
family pleased
so to decide, a ceremony, called ' worshipping the dipper,' or
' the Its
prolonging longevity measure,' is performed. object
is to the of the individual. A certain four-
prolong longevity
sided rice measure, with a flaring top, is arranged on a table in
a room. Various things in common use are put into the
measure, having been first nearly filled Avith rice. In front of
the measure seven candles are arranged on the table and seven
sticks of incense. Four priests of the Taoist sect are usually
employed ; sometimes they walk slowly round the table, stop-
ping occasionally at each side to bow toward it. They repeat
their formulas, jingle their bells, and blow their horns."
"
P. 409 : Another female divinity is also worshipped by many
families on this day (the fifteenth of the eighth month), called
the Seven-star Mother ; some use the expression ' Mother of
the Measure when speaking of this goddess. Many families
'
take occasion, in the afternoon or evening of the fifteenth, to
pay homage to the ' Seven -star Mother,' who seems to dwell
among the seven stars which form the Dipper in the constella-
tion of the Great Bear. Some, who worship this mother, simply
place a table in the front part of their reception room, or in an
open court, and arrange on it various plates of meats, vegetables,
fruits, etc. ; other families have a far more extensive ceremony.
They use three cups of a kind of buffalo's milk cheese, three
cups of tea, and three cups of wine, and light seven candles
and them on the table. also seven bowls
place They provide
of bean and seven bowls of fruit A common four-
soup soup.
quantity put
sided rice measure, having a small of rice in the
bottom, is placed in the centre of the table. In this measure
are stuck ten pairs of chopsticks. The wooden images,