The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1904-01-21

TERMS: si1 0GRsp Months Hsa5; E. ia cenes aSvance
)ne in his race to heaven, 1t being q
Chinese superstition that the Devil
must crawl through each and every
hole in the paper before he can overtake
the dead mans soul. The more holes
The more trouble he has, so all the
mourners go broke on devil paper
which they buy from their priests. No
papers are thrown behind children's
funerals, as they have never sinned and
the Devil cannot trouble them. The
music and other noise attending the
burial of a Chinaman is for the purpose
Of frightening the Devil away.
Another of their funeral customs is
to place food, in the shape, generally,
of roasted pig (whole) roasted ducks,
rice, onions, and tea upon the grave to
sustain the spirit upon it's heavenward
journey. In China the food is left upon
the grave for several days, but the
somewhat annoying practice of boys
who follow the procession to the burial
ground and appropriate the spread for
blowout of their own soon stopped
that custom here. The food is now
taken back and placed in the joss house.
It would be we'll for our lawmakers
to revise the statutes so as to permit q
foreigner to be sworn by the oath used
in his own country. For example, q
Chinaman will swear to "tell the truth,
the whole truths and nothing but the
truth" and then testify that black is
white and that he landed here with
Columbus. OF course, the Chinese are
not the only ones who will do this, as i
am well aware that few of eur own
people do not consider an oath binding.
A Chinese oath is rather peculiar; here
is one used by the See Yup Soney Tong
and also by some Chinese judges. The
person taking the oath is given a
lighted candle which he blows out, and,
scattering the smoke with his hand,
says, lin Chinese of course): 81 hope
my spirit may be extinguished as this
candle and my family scattered as this
smoke is, if I tell anything but the
truth" Strange to say, this oath is
shown great respect by most Cinnamon.
In nearly every Chinese store and
house you will see long streamsrs Of
rich paper covered with Chinese char
acters. These are quotations from the
sayings of Confucius and are similar
to the prints containing extracts from
the Bible found in some Christian
homes. Most Chinese homes have
jar (sometimes tin can) containing
several perfumed candles, or in poor
families, punks. Around these candles
are other and smaller ones which emit
q decidedly disagreeabIe odor. These
candles, or punks as the case may be,
are lighted on days Of religious festivals,
the larger and sweet smelling ones to
propitiate the Chinaman's numerous
gods, the smaller ones to keep away
devils
You are possibly familiar with the
joss house or Gods House of the
Chinese, long dark room, sickening
with the odor Of incense. with three
large gods at the end and images OF
less important gods ranged upon the
sides. A table is loaded with eatables,
mostly sweatmeats, and burning
candles. In the center of the room il
piece Of mating for worshippers to
kneel upon. This is the place where
the Chinese secure their devil paper,
punks for religious occasions and
many other blessings for which they
pay dearly to the priests in charge. a
strange thing about the joss house is
the name. The word "Jess" is not q
Chinese word and the people of the
! interior Of China never heard the word.
One authority says that when missions
were first planted upon the coast of
China the places of worship were called
the House Of Jesus or Jesus House.
The Chinese Immediately appropriated
: the-name for their own places of wor-
ship, but .joss" house was the nearest
they could come to the proper pro-
nounciation. So you see pagan
people worship in house bearing tho
name Of the Son Of God. r. w.
/ Oft our displeasures, to ourselves