American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-07-04
CHINESE SUPERSTITIONS.

| tIC sun IS, OF ever Has Deen, HlOTe ylNel
to superstition than the Chinese; the,
are, in fact, intensely superstitious in al
most every conceivable way, and it i
very rare indeed to find even an individ
ual who is wholly free from the faint.
Like many other people, the great mas
| of the Chinese are firm believers in tn,
!. inevitable" and one very disastrou
consequence of this is their reckless care
lessness with regard to fire; they let OF
crackers on the slightest provocation il
their streets, temples or houses, and offer
too, in mat-sheds; they are constant,
burning mock or paper money" in homo
OF deceased relatives, etc, under similar
conditions; and go where you will-int'
temple, shop or private dwelling
you are almost sure to find smolderins
sticks of incense foreigners call then
joss sticks) lying about. Under these cir
cumstances, and considering that nearly
| all their buildings are, to great extent
| constructed of the most inflammablt
materials, it is not very surprising that
in a climate where everything is as dry n
finder during great portion of the year
their superstitious apathy is often the
cause of fearful CONGREGATIONS.
The Chinese stand in much awe of evil
spirits and unprOpitious influences, and
consequently are great believers in the
efficacy of charms, and pay constant at
tentiOn to Omens.
| As a rule, whatever is red is thou ght
| to act as a talisman SO if man, when
| reading the Chinese classics, marks the
| stops with red ink, he is thought to adopt
| the surest means of warding off evil from
| himself For similar reason parents
| commonly put red in some form or other
| on their children, sometimes even braid
| ing red silk into their diminutive queues.
The Yfching, or Book of Changes, one
nf fIn rlys ho r.,
Hsio, or Great Learning, one of the Four
Books, are held in high esteem as charms
| against wicked spirits, especially if put
| under the pillow or placed near the bed
at night; and any one who can repeat
long quotations from them when walking
alone never need fear molestatiOn from
the other world.
A common charm in families is the
money sword" This is usually about
two feet long and is constructed of three
kinds of things, each of which is regard
ed as protection against evil spirits ::
two iron rods which form the basis of the
sword; about hundred copper coins,
either ancient or modern Gf ancient so
much the better), which are ingeniously
fastened on these rods, cOncealing them
from view; the coins are tied on the out
side of the rods by means of red cords
passed through the square holes in
their centers. Swords of this kind are
suspended at the heads of sleeping
couches and beds that the supposed
guardianship of the sOvereigns in whose
reign the coin was issued may keep away
ghosts and evil spirits. They are chiefly
used in houses or rooms where persons
have committed suicide or suffered vio-
lent death, and sick people sometimes re-
sort to them in the hope of Fastening
their recovery. Their efficacy is no
doubt fully equal to that of horseshoe
nailed over a door, or any of those infalli-
BILE devices formerly adopted in this
country against witches and ghosts.
A species of silver paddock, called the
hundred families lock-" is considered a
wonderful talisman for warding off evil
ing him to life. This charm derives its
name from the way in which it is OBJ
tanned, for the father of the boy goes
round to hundred different families and
begs from each a small subscription, and
he either buys the silver paddock or else
has it made from the silver he has col
lected. He also procures small silver
chain or ring which is placed round the
child's neck and fastened by the paddock.
Early in the morning, at the beginning
of the fifth mood, Chinese families often
mail up on each side of the front door
and windows of the house a few leaves
of the sweet flag (acorus gramineus) and
of the artemisia The leaves of the sweet
flag are long and slender, tapering to a
point, and resembling the general shape
of sword" The object is thus to pre-
vent all manner of evil from entering the
house, and to Brighten evil spirits gener-
ally away from its neighborhood.
A charm called the warding off-evil
coin" is in frequent use among children,
being hung from their necks or button
holes; 1t is made of copper or iron, and
may be round, OblOng or heXagonal. |
Both sides generally bear some charac-
tiers with felicitous meaning, such as
happiness, riches, etc, and sometimes |
one side has on it the twelve animals |
which denote the horary characters, or |
the day. |
The Chinese language abOunds in |
words and phrases which are looked |
upon as Omens of good luck.
The Chinese unicorn is in popular use |
as an omen of good This animal is de-
scribed as having only one horn, with a
body all covered with scales. For sew
eral thousands of years it has eluded the |
vision of mortals excepting once, when
il is stated to have been seen by Confu-
Gus in his old age. He regarded it as
ominous of his approaching death; and
they say that COnfucius was the " elf of
the UNICORN" hence, perhaps, the origin
of the saying that an extraordinarily |
bright boy is 1.-THE son of the unicorn"
or the gift of the unicorn"
Bats (Which the Chinese call "fei
shoe" or flying mice) are considered good
omens and frequently appear as cmblems
of luck on various articles; the magpic
is also looked upon as bird of good
omen, and if Chinaman, when busted
about some occupation, chances to hear
its cry he thinks it presage of good
luck, it being a cheerful sound, and,
therefore, SO to speak, note of encour-
agement. The Chinese, however, have a
proverb respecting the maybe, that
- its voice is good but its heart is bad"
the meaning of this being that it is given
to flattery. The coming of dog to a
family is an omen of future prosperity,
but a cat is thought to indicate the APP
proach of poverty, for it is supposed that
it can foresee where it will find plenty of
rats and mice in consequence of a house
falling into decay. Crows generally are
looked upon as very unlucky; but there
is a kind of white necked crow which is
held in great veneration in China.
The Growing of a hen is thought to be
)minous of something unusual being
about to happen to its owners; but in
his case the omen is not necessarily
bad one, as it seems to be considered in
some parts of our own country districts
At the present day. 1t will, perhaps,
hardly be believed-but it is fact never
during the summer of last
year, and only some sixty miles from Lon
Ion, when an unfortunate hen took to
the neighbors in their supersti-
fiOus terror forced its owner to wiring its
neck, being under the impression that |