San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-09-11
YELLOW DEVILS LUCKY DAY.
Followers of the Religion of Tao
Feed and Clothe Departed
Spirits.


Spirits.
: Boston Herald.
Yesterday was religious feast day
according to the Chinaman's almanac
The name applied to it, in the Ian.
guage of Hong Kong, means, when
freely rem 1ered into English, "yel-
low DEVILS lucky day" 1t comes
but once a year, and is always the
occasion of big display for the laun-
drymen, storekeepers and gamesters
of Chinatown. Harrison avenue yes
terday afternoon about l o'clock
looked as if some distinguished Mon
golian was being treated to hand
some funeral. There was a line of
carriages drawn up in the vicinity of
the club house at No. SO, whence lot
Of mysterious bundles were carried
and deposited in wagon at the
tail OF the procession. When the
nine carriages and the wagon were
filled they started for Mount Hope
cemetery. 1t was not q funeral, how
ever, but something in the same gen.
eral line, as Johns amusements 60. |
The religion of Tao, one of the five |
faiths INDUCED in by Cinnamon,
teaches the doctrines OF the return of |
departed spirits to earth. When
Taoist is buried he has inferred with |
him aquantity ofprovisions and cloth
ing to help him along on his journey |
to the next work. His religion sets
forth the theory that the spirit-or
devil, as the Chinese word has it
straightway proceeds to the land be-
yond, the exact locality of which is
not known, but which is supposed to
be about forty-nine days distant for
an easy traveller. During this period
the friends of the deceased are in duty
bound to provide all his necessary
expenses on the road, that the spirit
may reach his destination without
delay or inconvenience. To be lost
on the journey Is an extremely I'M
pleasant experience. 1t happens
quite frequently, however, for which
reason the route to the next world Is
fairly lined and infested with lost
not in the sense that
they do not know whittier to 60, but
because they haven't the wherewith-
al to pay hotel bills and railroad
fares, or the equivalent expenses that
Taolst spirits incur. Thus they get
sanded and become medicant dew
lis, who make themselves nuIsances
by waylaying all travellers unprovid-
ed with means to pursue their jour-
ney speedily and smoothly. 1t is
therefore, that de-
parted spirit should hate to
run the risk of taking his place
among the lost devils or of being way
laid by them. A Taoist with plenty
Of means would rather leave thous-
ands of dollars to be spent by his
surviving friends for his travelling
than to be compelled to SUBJ
NIT to the tormenting beggar devils
for an hour. There are storms OF
rain and snow, too, along the journey,
and the spirit requires plenty of cloth
ing to keep him warm, besides food
and wine to supply him with strength
and energy. He must also expect to
give more or less of his store to men-
dicant devils.
Now, when a spirit arrives in the
next world he is held under surveil-
ance, and is permitted to revisit the
earth only once year. Yesterday
was the occasion of one of these re-
turns Of departed spirits. The pro-
visions and clothing carried out to
Mount Home Cemetery were to fur
nish the devil with good time and
also with means for his journey back
to spirit land. The edibles and fluid
consisted of roast sucking pig, boiled
chicken, eggs and rice, various
fruits and rice wine. The
rest of the travelling outfit was
composed of red, white, blue.
yellow and black paper cut into the
forms of clothing, hats, shoes and
mechanics tools. All these things,
except the roast pig, were srrewed
about the graves of the dead China.
men, the only additional ceremony
being prayer calling on the spirit
brethren to bless their mundane
friends, and especially to bring the
gamblers luck. The pig was too
good to throw away, so the China
men carried it back and made a feast
ON it.