The Dickinson press., 1888-09-08
THE WORSHIP OF JOSS.
INTERIOR OF A CHINESE CHURCH
IN NEW YORK CiTv.

linw TIL. joss Houses Are Maintained.
Prayer, Must he Short OF Else Paid for.
Jos, Sticks-A Prayer Translatcd-Thc
L.c,, l:oOk.
There are two houses of worship here i'll
Ne" York. They are called joss houses,
though what gave risct to the word joss iSnot
known. 1t is not IL Chinese word and is pro
lahly IL birth of the pigeon English dialect.
The word meaning God in Chinese is Quong
llce Say Gong. In the two joss houses. us
in every other one all over t!lc world. he is
pictured us the ceutral point of attraction.
hanging, as the picture docs, behind the al
tar. Ii is painted with moro or less maSniii-
cclitw and Represents Il man of ideal beauty,
according to Chimes" $ andard>, in the prime
of life. On either sidc of this picture, in all
DOS houses. hang portrait, Of the great pow
O.; of The universe. one It's the destructive.
represented by Il h.l"ouS soldier armed to tho
t""tli. The other is the ideal productive wo-
man. bearing in her arms Il sack of gold
AID quantities of flour and grain. In the
two joss hor>cs in New Work the central
r!2;urcs are about six feet by four in dilncn-
sion and artisti"ally executed.
mow THEY ARE MAINTAINED.
To the maintenance of these joss houses all
the wealthy Chinese and many of the poorer
subscribe with more or less liberality. Every
o:c will lake IL flyer in fan tan or n lottery
and pocket his gains or losses without
%scIu,,lr, AID no one is bound by Occidental
moi CONS of chastity. They arc very pious and
G~rvp:rr! men. n cortlinG to the tencts of their
cred. Thcy ~ot!iciatc at the simple ccrcmo-
lliv3 which obtain in these two temples with
out lay unless the worshipcr pro.racts his
drY",ions. High Priest All Moy said the
other day: ~ man can say all the prayers
l." l'r,tlSto say i'll Il minute. If lo prolonSs
i;!e matter he is simply what You would call
in English Il Plarisco and II hyp,pritt. For
Injuries OF this kind we make n charge, and
81 if Il man remain before the altar more
than Il minut" he must pay for the privilege.
One minute costs him nothing, the second
costs him twenty-five cents, the third fifty
cents, the fourth 81, the fifth So, and so on in
regular rutio.'
What the worshiper does is interesting.
although it is so brief. Entering the joss
house without ceremony he distributes a
quantity %. joss sticks which he has plr-
chased outside. There are six little bowls of
sand in which he sticks them; four are in
front uf the altar, one is under IL table in the
corner, and tho sixth is ON IL table or stone in
another corner. In each he puts six sticks,
or Il multiple of six, according to the fcrv-
cncv of his religious notions. Six is Il sacred
number among this people. The first bowl
represents devotion; the second tho past of
the worShiper; the third his future; the
fourth the present for him and his relatives
and fri ndS. The one under tho table goes
for luck, and the last for his domestic rcla-
tons. Having placed and ignited these sticks
he l;nccls upon the prayer cloth, which is
spread Def 10 the altar, and there makes
twelve SenuileSions.
a PRAYER TRANSLATED.
.Alltlis is done quickly, as has been stated:
hut the ostentatious will remain reciting
prayers from the books of the Chinese
classics, humping their forcheads OH the
ground and acting tho Pharisce's part. Tho
short prayer that IS said may be freely trans
lated us follows: MAKE mo better; make mo
more courteous; make mo kinder: bless my
parents and my grandparents; bless my
children and my wife; bless my cousins, my
unclcs, my ancestors, my country, my SER
wants and my friends; keep away from all of
them any disease and give them all pros
perity. Amen"
Tho house itself or room deserves dcsrrip-
ton, and yet it would he hard to give enc
that would carry the picture to the readers
eye. Tinsel ornaments abound: ornamental
ton is plofuse, but little or nothing of real
value is to be seen. The room is used not
exactly rs u club house, but as Il pleasant
place of resort. Conversation, smoking,
games at cards and dominocs, sometimes for
stakes, go on without a question, and the
general air of the small crowd that may be
found at any hour of day or night within
the walls is that of iollity and social cnjo,-
lncnt rather than that of what we western
people call religion.
High Priest All Moy said TO a pretty act
rcss who visited his temple while studying
New York: "You think that this is all IT.
rcrerent, and that we should not pray and
laugh aud sing i'll tho house of our God. Do
You not believe i'll letting children enjoy
themselves wherever they are: You would
not send them away from home to play in Il
bar room. We think tho same. We are all
the little children Of our God, and VIC enjoy
ourselves in his house rather than go away"
Perhaps the most curious institution in the
joss house or temple is the luck book, SO
called. There are standing in front of the
altar two vases, in each of which are two or
three hundred bamboo leaves. On cach of
these is inscribed tho number Of II page and
verse in the sacred book that lies on a table
near 10y. The wolsliper, after paying Il
small fec, will either shake the vase himself
or get tho priest to do it until one of these
leaves il shaken up OIL top. This is picked
out and tho verse looked up, as it indicates
tho fortunes of the devotec.-New Norl,
Graphic.