The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-01-21
The Triennial Chinese Festival.

6uperStlllOn, tnht every tnHu yeai Nho
spirits of the dead come irooping back TO
the earth to visit the place where they
once had a local habitation. In order to
entertain the spirits well, and thus make
them good.natured, and willing 10 90 back
where they belong, the Chinese hold a
Triennial Festival Of four or five days
length, and preform every kind OF cere.
mony, Of which either ghost or human be-
ing could conceive. 1t was my good for.
tune to arrive in the city while this rare
festival was in progress.
Itwas the first time they had been so
troubled by ghosts in Los Angeles, as to
be obliged to provide entertainment for
them. This festival has been observed
heretofore in San Francisco, but not IN
Los Angeles. They provided an entirely
new Joss House for their ceremonies,
building which has never been used for
any other purpose, and is therefore, unde-
filed. The new joss House was built in
the Chinese quarter, of course. This is
composed Of Chinese stores and opium
dens, and occupies in extent one street and
few little alleys. The temple was divided
into two compartments, with yestibule
on one side for the high priest, and what
appeared TO be dens for opum.smokers.
suppose it was relief TO them, after so
much ghostly company TO take comtor.
table opium smoke.
All the gods were removed from their
regular temples and set up in the new Joss
House; besides numerous new ones were
provided for the Occasion. The name Of
these gods is legion, | do not believe that
commonly pious Chinaman is acquainted
with tenth OF his gods. At the entrance
of the temple was II comfortable sort of
booth, in which His Satanic Majesty was
seated surrounded by internal gods Of
lower order. A dish of incense was burn
ing at The feet Of these malicious deitIes
and evidently everything WAS being done
10 propitiaie them and 10 turn away their
evil designs from men. All this evil crowd
wore pleasant expressions, and Satan
looked particularly jovial; The corners of
his mouth were turned up rs II in extreme
amusement ut the folly of men.
The largest Of the evil gods, was figure
four ieet high, the others were about two
feet high. Some OF them had chains on
their arms 20 indicate that they were
thieving gods. The Chinese assure you
that you can deposiie money with them
now with perfect safety, since they wear
chains. /, might he good plan to adopt
with our bank cashiers. On each side Of
the temple door is splendid joss about
nine let high. These two are the largest
gods in the city, and represent TO the
Chinaman all benefcenoe and omnipo.
tence. They were gorgeously apparelled
in gay silk with iinsel and paper decora.
tions. Like the bad gods they have an eI.
preston Of unceasing hilariiy. When you
enter the temple, you are required to give
up all packages which you may have in
your hands, as II would be desecrtion to
carry anything in the presence of spirits.
You are at first dazed by the profusion
OF ornamentstion. Although the building
is rough and unfinished inside, the walls
are 50 covered by gay banners and gilded
toys that this does NOT appear from a
cursory glance. Tables were covered
with sweaimests and dishes Of incense,
while you could hardly walk without
hitting your head against some Of the
chandeliers or toys which were dangling
from the ceiling. Under the glare Of gas.
light you could call the scene nothing but
one Of barbaric splendor. The building
was packed full Of both Chinese and
Americans, so that II WAS not possible TO
examine things carefully and in detail;
and another drawback was that the
Chinese do not understand English well
enough TO answer questions intelligIbly.
Whatever knowledge we gained Of the
ceremonies and meaning Of the symbols
had TO be from guess work or inference
In the compartment Of the temple which
We first entered there were no ceremonies
performed. Here was the white horse,
Death; he was about the size Of small
pony and was covered with white wool.
He was richly caparsoned and seemed
ready to gallop of with some unlucky
wight.
The walls Of both rooms were covered !
with silk banners, embroidered heavily
with gold thread. The inner compartment
contained the more precious articles. |
Here tables were set out with variously |
colored confeciions for the delectaiion of |
the spirits, enough TO make them have
dyspepsia for u month. Incense was burn. |
ing IN brass ard silver censers, and filled |
the air with heavy perfume. There was
every kind Of curious mechanical toy,
glass cases filed with little bright colored |
figures which danced up and down and |
cut all kinds Of capers. There were great
paper fishes floating IN the air, and gods
great and small grinned from every corner.
All the ceremonies were performed on n |
4 IL.