Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-13

bids her family fearful farewell. AT last
she gets into her chair and is borne away
rom her old home Her brothers follow
| III sedan chairs to the house of the bride
| groom. The bridegroom, in gorgeous dress.
comes out to meet her. He bows, he opens
the door of her chair. One of her maids
comes up and carries her on her back into
the house. There the bridegroom lifts her
| veil and sees for the first time the face of
| his bride.
No Priest Omciates.
| No priest conducts the ceremony which
| unites them. Together they kncel before
| the altar of their unknown god and before
| the shrine of their ancestors and burn in
| cense and candles Humbly they make sal
| utation to the brdegroom's parents and re-
ceiye their blessing. 1t is as if the father
carefully. l have found you a wife. Now
you are a man. Be good and be happy"
| There is no exchange of words on the part
of the young people They would not be so
bold.
After the ceremony, the feasting begins
The parents of the bride entertain one day.
| those of the bridegroom two three-men
ana women being Toasted in separate apart
| ments. II there Is not room for all in the
| mouse, the bridegroom and his friends be-
| take themselves to restaurant or hotel
On the morning of the third day, the bride
Is carried home to her parents in her bridal
| chair. She returns to her husband that
| same evening, but after a month she may
Visit her parents often desire and
| convenience dictate. On the third day the
| brides parents entertain the bridegroom at
a grand banquet
Engagements once contracted are seldom
broken A broken engagement is apt to be
| interpreted as a reflection on the character
OF the girl, and the latter is hence very 10th
| to have 1t broken. Marriage is a perma-
| nent institution in China. Even the prom
| Use OF marriage is held sacred that many
girl whose fiance has died before the mar
| rage day has vowed never to marry. Her
wish Is usually respected, especially If the
| family of her betrothed is rich In that case
she says, Il will become a widow" and
| goes to the family of her deceased bride
groom and lives with them as a daughter.
II they are not wealthy, they may not care
TO be burdened with her support: but she
says then. Il will serve you,' and then de-
votes her life to them in memory of the
man who might have been her husband. A
widow who has children very seldom, If
ever remarries, but continues to live in the
FAMILY of her late husband, rearing his
chlidren TO perpetuate the family name. If
her mother-in-law, and may feel at liberty
to go and marry again.
The day when a Chinese woman brings
into the world her first-born son is the
browning day of her life. Because a son is
legally and morally bound to support his
parents In old age, whereas a daughter be-
comes, on her marriage day, a member of
another family. male children are more de-
sired by the Chinese than female chill
dren In Canton. the parents announce a
sons birth by sending to their friends a
pottie OF ginger wine. The custom has its
origin in the fact that ginger is much used
by a woman in her lying-in period In ac-
acknowledgement of the announcement the
friends send the child costly presents ex-
pressive of their wishes for longevity and
happiness.
Death is met in China with a great wall
OF protest. The dead mans house is filled
with the sound of noisy weeping almost be-
fore the body is cold. 1t is a piteous sight
PROSTATE on the ground, beating their
breasts and caring their hair. They will
neither sit on chairs nor lie on touches.
Ihey discard their silken robes and don
white garments made of the coarsest hemp
Ihey fast and pray and keep watch over
the dead body. Until the burial takes place
priests recfte prayers at regular intervals
and the children of the deceased weep over
the corpse at stated times. 1t is not Gus
tomary for friends to send flowers but
beautiful satin scrolls instead, on which the
virtues of the dead man are set forth On
a certain day these scrolls are hung up
hundreds of them perhaps, and incense
burned.
Chinese Funerals.
The funeral frequently does not occur I'M
til two or three weeks after death, but the
body lies all this time in state in its hand
some coffin. Rich Chinese are very par
tlcular about the good quality of the wood
for their collins, often having them made
years before there is any probability of
some distinguished high officials are in the
habit of carrying their collins around with
them in their travels.
The funeral cortege Is usually very i'm
posing. Friends are present in their most
official dress, and a note of mourning added
to their splendor by the dark upper coat
donned for the occasion. Relatives are
clad in the coarsest white, and everybody
else wears band of white about the body
The coffin is borne on the shoulders of
men, the rank Of the deceased being indi-
q IyrI 70 hy-f hai,-
have been low in the social scale whose pail
is borne by only two bearers. Eight is the
usual number, and thirty-two the number
when the deceased has been high in official
circles. In the funeral train Taoist and
Buddhist priests always occupy a promi-
nent place. Although the Chinese as a ma
ton are followers of Confucius, they have
a feeling that the whole truth can be known
to none. and believe it the part of wisdom
to insure the future on all sides. Priests of
these two sects are accordingly always
called in to say prayers for the dead even
though the deceased may have had no faith
in their teachings. Rich families also have
in their funeral procession people carrying
sedan chairs, horses, and furniture made of
paper These things are burned after the
burial, the idea being that the dead man
shall not want for any of his customary
comforts in another world. There are GER
tain coolies in the procession also, carry
ing memorial tablets which chronicle the
offices and honors of the dead man. one for
every office. After the funeral these are
placed in the hall Of his ancestral home
Mourning music made by the doleful beat
of drums and the shrill plant of pipes and
flutes is also part of the procession, which
is often so long to take an hour to pass
a given point.
The choice of a burying ground is con-
sidered a matter Of great Importance in
China. A class of people who have great
influence there are the "Geomancers."
whose function 1t is to decide whether
place is lucky for hurying ground or for
building a house. Rich people spend a
great deal Of time and money in going about
selecting burial places for their dead.
Sometimes they spend years in their search
When lucky place is found the Geomancer
may say, IF you bury your father here
you will be rich yourself before you die"
1t is commonly believed that any good luck
in the life of a person comes as a reward
for burying his parents grandparents in
the right spot. 1t sometimes happens that
parents die before the lucky spot is found,
and In that case a little house is hastily
constructed and the body given a tempo
rary resting place there. No greater crime
is known in China than that of Decorating
a graveyard. Because graves are found