Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-06-13
00urtester Daily Spp.

The CHINESE IN CALIFORNIA Their
WhimS and SapersthionS.- Chinese have
mortal dread of demons, and to Brighten
and drive them away they let off immense
quanutes OF nre-crackerS in front of their
dwellings. This is also an accompaniment of
their exercises on all great occasions, as holt
days, celebrations, etc. Vast numbers of
these crackers are imported from China for
their use. 1t seems ridiculous for grave men
ana reverend seignOrs to be engaged in the
work, as they often are, of firing these crack
ers, ana Tor so important a purpose as scatter
ing dlsmay among the terrible troops of evil
spirits which intest the region round about
The great holiday of the Chinese is New
Years day, which occurs with them in Febru-
airy. 1t is always celebrated with great ex.
element and many ceremonies. Another not
able day III their calendar is their "Eeast of the
Dead. This has occurred since / have been
here On this occasion they prepare large
quantities of food, which they carry in process
sion to the cemetery, for the refreshment oftbe
spirits OF the departed. One of the San Fran
cisco papers thus notices the celebration of this
feast =
For several days they have been preparing
TOR the occasion, and yesterday at noon pro-
cession of express wagons, filled with highly
decorated chinese, wound their way out to the
old 1erba Buena Cemetery, to celebrate the
burial, Tor former years of their defunct
countrymen. In the wagons were roasted
fowls, goats, and pigs, and any amount of
fruits and sugar cane. The feast is prepared
Tor the dead, who are suffered to appear in
spirit and regale themselves upon the substan-
tias prepared for them, though the edibles
seemed to disappear down the capacious
throats of the living rather than of the dead.
In good old-fashioned New England, the OBJ
servancc OF these heathenish rituals would he
looked upon with righteous horror: but in
California universal federation is considered so
valuable an institution that it is carried to an
extreme"
Ihelr funerals are great curiosity, and a
part Oh the ceremony, always is, the carrying
to the grave of food balls of dough, or cakes
roasted animals, &c.-for the benefit of the de-
parted spirits. One paper published in the
interior OF the state, The Amador Ledger
thus describes funeral recently celebrated
there 1t was that Of "Ah See," who died the
Gay before the ceremonies spoken of:
Durlng he forenoon of Sunday they dis
played IN front of the store of deceased sew
eral dishes OF cooked food, fixed up in very
grotesque style In one dish was pigs foot,
made to initiate a ducks head and neck in
another dish was chicken, dressed in such
manner as to caricature an old man, with a
long, gray goatee, and having fishing rod
under his arm, (wing) The friends of the
deceased hired the Brass Band to head their
procession In the funeral cortege were u
Chinese women with large white hoods on,
and wife and baby of deceased were clothed
III white, 1t is needless to add that a large
number OF fire-crackers were let off on the oc-
ca5Ion, for the purpose offrightening away the
evil spirits
One OF the superstitions of the Chinese is
that the spirits of the deceased will not rest in
peace until their bones have been laid in the
land OF their nativity. In the Lone Mountain
Cemetery, near San Francisco there is a yault
where they deposit the dead bodies of their
friends, enclosed in leaden collins, to be kept
until favorable opportunity offers to send
them to China. Then they are shipped by
hundreds on board vessels bound to the Celes
tial country, where they are piously inferred,
after which the soul is at rest Saws one of
the editors of San Francisco, abiding to this
custom:
'ln the pursuit of this pious and rather
pleasing duty, the Chinese have raked over
the whole State, even to the extreme northern
counties, exploring rayines, the banks of riv-
ers, Old Chinese camps etc, gathering up the
relics, which are regularly sent by special
agents to this city for shipment The super
sutton in the observance of this rite may ex-
cite a smile or sheer with many but beneath it
there is exhibited in the character of John
something which shows that he is not entirely
the stock, stone, or stod creature which his
moon face and awkward movements would in
dicate."