Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-04-08
EcIipses in China.

Rites at Pekin, and atterward by the
various provincial authorities, does not,
so far as we are aware, mention before
hand the coming eclipses of the sun and
moon; but the imperial astronomers,
some time previous to their occurrence,
notify the Board of the very hour when
they may be expected to be visible, and
this information is at once transmitted,
through the high provincial officers, to
all the subordinate officials throughout
the Empire, whose duty it is to "save
the sun and the moon" from being
devoured by some celestial monster; for
the Chinese nation at large has no def
mite notion of the actual cause of
eclipses, as may be inferred from the
terms by which they denote them, viz:
"Jih-shih" and "Yueh- alphabetically
meaning an eating Of the sun and moon
respectively. The agent in the matter
is usually thought to be the omniverous
dragon; but some believe that there is
dog chained up in the sky, who, when
he can get loose, sets off to eat the
moon! These absurdities are bad
enough, but a well-educated Malay
writer, who was an acute and intelligent
observer of men and things, remarks, in
his recently-published autobiography,
that half of the Siamese say that the
sun is being married to the moon, but
the latter dislikes the junction and so
runs away, and the sun after her, and
as he snatches her it becom dark"
The Chinese view an eclipse with Won
der, mingled, to a great extent, with
fear and terror, and most of them take
some steps to aid the sun or moon, as the
case may be, in the hour of need, the prin-
cipal agents employed beng, of course,
gongs and gunpowder, without which no
ceremonial observance of any kind is COM
plete. The officials, at their several va
mems Official residences, go through a
regular set ceremonial on these occasions
They call in the aid of Taoist priests,
and an incense vase and pair of large
| candlesticks, containing red candles for
luck are placed on the table in the hua-
ting, or audience hall, but sometimes in
the court in front of it. When the
eclipse is beginning the red candles are
| lighted, and the official enters, dressed in
| his robes of state. He takes some lighted
| incense sticks in both hands, and bows
| low in front of the table, waving the
sncense about according to custom be-
| fore placing it in the vase. He next
| proceeds to perform the ceremony of
kowtow" Qiterally knock-head), kneel-
| ing down thrice, and knocking his head
| nine times on the ground. He then gets
| up. and huge gongs and drums are beaten
to brighten the monster away; and finally
| the priests march around the table in sol
emn procession, repeating prescribed
formulas in sing-song tone, until the
termination of the eclipse.
The officials are, of course, always sup
posed to be successful in their endeav-
| ors to rescue the sun and moon from
| their perilous position, and the ignorant
masses in China fully believe the happy
result is brought about by the ceremo-
MES just described. They have seen the
orb more or less obscured, or, as they
have it, swallowed up by some monstrous
| beast, and after a time returning to it's
| former condition, and they are quite
satisfied that the deliverance has been
| effected by their own exertions and those
of the officials. We have also heard that
on these momentOus occasions some of
| the people beat in their own houses a
| species of winnowing instrument made
| of bamboo splints, in the hope that the
din they raise may aid in averting the
dire calamity from the sun or MOON and
| on the occurrence of an eclipse of the
latter sailors on board native junks al
ways beat gongs with very great hearth
ness and goodwill, and the noise they
thus make is sufficient to drive anyone
| but Chinaman distracted. We do not
for a moment affect to suppose that Chi
nese officials generally actually believe
in these absurd customs and hummer
les, though they are obliged to observe
them in obedience to the behests of their
| imperial master and in Difference to the
superstitious feelings of the populace {;
| for fully two centuries ago the Roman
! NdbuO1lC VIM WtIt t1tu Ill nlSQ
favor at the court of Pekin, taught them
the main principles of astronomy, how
to foretell eclipses, ETC.; and many we'll
educated Chinese are acquainted, through
the medium of translations, with some
of our best works On this and cognate
subjects.
In times gone by the errors and igno-
rance of the Chinese in regard to eclipses
| have sometimes been made the pretext
for offering insane adulation to the En-
peror. 1t is on record that in the twelfth
moon of the seventh year of Chen Tsung,
of the Sung dynasty (about A. d. $685.
an eclipse of the sun, which the astron-
omers had predicted, did not take place,
and that the ministers congratulated His
| Majesty, as if for his sake SO unlucky an
omen had been dispensed with.
| If the Chinese view an eclipse with
fear, still more are they alarmed at the
advent of comet According to their
shape and appearance" Sir John Davis
tells US in the Chinese, comets are called