Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-28
CHINESE AND PAPER
JoSSES AND EVIL SPIRITS THAT
MUST BE PRorITIATED.
Superstitions Cost the Natives OF the
Flowery Kingdom at Home and
Abroad Many a Dollar.
From The Brooklyn Eagle.

From The Brooklyn Eagle.
Paper figures largely in the many curious
superstitions of the Chinese. Every Chiness
household has a great respect for paper
having characters upon 1t, and every scraI
of it found is kept and selemnly burned
For this they believe much credit will be
given in the other world, as well as this
In China the benevolent societies employ
an old man with pair of big chopsticks
to pick up scraps of paper from the road
sides and out of crevices, etc, and burn
them. HIS calling is considered a most
honorable one.
When a Chinaman takes a voyage he
throws overheard quantities of gilt paper
money, made In the shops in Canton, to
propitiate the god OF the sea. From these
paper shops come also the blue and white
paper used in mourning and the perforated
paper thrown out at funerals, that the dew
lis may crawl through it, and so lose track
of the soul of the departed ones. Here In
these shops are printed and sold long let
tiers of supphcation from the sick to be
burned before the joss, who may thereby
grant the petitioners health. Other things
made IN paper are the marriage dolls, With
out which no wedding, according to the
Chinese, Will be happy or fruitful one.
Paper to Burn.
In San Francisco also there are many OF
these paper factories, the one end of which
is to aid the Chinese In providing them
with something to burn in the celebration
of many feasts and religious ceremonies.
Perhaps there is no other feature entering
so largely into the superstition and religious
belief of the Chinese as the burning at va
rious seasons, of. It would seem, almost
every object under the sun. Among the
simpler of the things made in paper are
figures cut out by hand, as American chill
dren do paper dolls. all to be burned for the
edifcatien and appeasing of the great joss.
Oftenest they are burned by the eldest son
of a Chinese household, who believes that
unless he burns, at the feast of the wor-
ship of the tombs. representations in paper
of the things his father uses and needs in
this life his father, when he reaches the
other world, win find himself reduced to
beggary and without these things
Many paper articles are also made to be
burned at Ia Tstou, the feast of music to
avert damage from fire. One million dol
lars worth of these various paper articles
are burned every year In China.
Chinese New Year.
But the Chinese new year, beginning
about February /, is the time OF all others
when every Chinaman is ready to burn
paper before the JOSS The most elaborate
long robes and paper suits OF clothing are
made to go up in smoke before the various
josses. On the river boats where so many
OF the lower classes live, the head Of the
house puts up new joss picture and will
fool 1t If he can. For he viii sometimes
burn gorgeous robe such as officials wear
thinking thereby to attain such a station
In the eyes of the joss and pass on the
honor to the members of his family
In China many valuable robes are burned
by the women ON the It'll Of July, the feast
day of the joss of the seven sisters. This
10 nor N ha mr. aEf =
married daughters of an ancient Chinese
god and the women and girls worship her
with especial veneration and love. A spe-
cha! robe is made to be burned before her.
called the coat of the seven sisters, a rich
ly decorated affair, sometimes with brass
rings let in the body as a sort of insertion
or embroidery. Sometimes the Offering
burned before the joss consists Of paper
a paper cap or headdress and slippers Of
paper.
From the San Francisco paper shops are
sold also hundreds OF robes and the tiniest
of red and green and gold paper slippers
for Quon Yum. Queen of Heaven, the ia
nous little foot woman joss. But Quon Dai
zee is the grand mogul among the josses.
Everything that can possibly contribute to
his comfort is burned at the New. Year
feast. Gorgeous fans with lucky sentences
written on them and paper water pipes
blaze up before him in reckless profusion
from bronze receptacles.
Boats Of Flowers.
Demands for paper boats smothered in
cargoes of flowers to be burned before
Buck Dali, the river joss, are also frequent.
Paper notices which are supposed when
burned to keep out the demon of the
plague, are good sellers The paper suits
and trunks range in price from 80 cents
to $3.50 and more and in China on the l4th
day of July, which is the feast day of all
the josses, silken robes costing as high as
$40 are sometimes burned by the richest de-
voices. In San Francisco even the poorest
family will hoard pennies in order to be
able to burn a robe costing at least so
cents, and thereby gain good luck through
out the year.
Among the smaller articles of these paper
shops are the strings Of figures represent
ing the servants who, as they are burned.
are supposed to descend and be at the
beck and call Of people in the other world.
Spears, armor. paper horses to ride, fishes
to eat, pipes to smoke, clothes to wear. In
short. everything that the person gone be-
fore used and needed in his profession or
life on earth, are burned that he may be
provided with them in the hereafter If It
were not for paper to be burned before the
joss the Chinaman would be like OtheIlo-
his occupation gone.