Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1915-07-15
HOLD SNAKES SACRED
CHINESE HAVE DEEP REVERENCE
ron THE REPTiLEs
Spirit o. the Dragon King. Which 10
Worshlped. Supposed 70 Reside
within Their sodIes--Rst
10 Also Honored.

n Is not always safe to kin snake
In China II doesn't matter much
whether the snake Is Of the water
species or Of the land variety. for
within this reptiles body Is supposed
20 reside the spirit Of what the yellow
man vorships as the dragon king
Thss latter Il believed by the average
supersfitiass John to have the pow
er Of ruling over foods This dragon
king represents one symbol In the
ritual OF worship Of the Chinese rsli-
gion called Taoism-
China practically possessed three
different forms Of religion until the
advent Of the Christian missionaries
The FIRST Of these religions vas In the
form Of q philosophy. This stiii ex-
lists to some extent and is known as
Confucianism- The second form has
been recognized a. Buddhism which
stfIl exists throughout China an sym
bosized Ia the worship Of idols Az
you travel through the country. here
and there you win frequently run
across idols Of Buddha located on the
hiTlsides or other quiet and seques-
tered spots conducive to reyerential
reflection Plenty Of worshipers yet
pay their homage to these Buddhist
idols. and you can see them conseien-
ticusly observing the formal ceremo-
mics Of their worship. But this form
Of religion il steadily dying natural
cs..h since the advent Of Christianity.
The third variety Of religious OBJ
servance among the CeIestisls IL that
Of Taoism- This was started By an
old patriarch named Lao-tsu. who had
surrounding him . group OF eight
lmmortais- as his disciples One OF
these latter was given the responsi-
bfiity OF representing the God Of Bar
hersL The Taoist vorshipers have
temples erected In each native town
In these temples are pictures portray
Ing the horrors Of the future life
When the souls Of the dead are buried
across the river Styx the artist has
painted q graesome thought Men and
women are depicted as climbing tow
erfng mountains OF Ice. only to fan
back into q gaping abyss as they near
ly reach the top As they fall their
bodies are revealed as being caught
upon spears and tossed backward and
BY def execufioners- These
gruesome pictures show the sufferers
to be finally ground up between MILL
stones. Some OF them show sharp
swords slashing to pieces the bodies
which have escaped the milestone
process. and little dogs are pictured a. |
after the sufferers. tapping up |
he blood. On certain occasions after |
! death the family win proceed in q
,ody to these temples and VIII hold
! public wall
On the drum tower Of the Tzotst /
emple at Tientsin IL has been com
non TO see richly dressed native mer-
hants kneeiing 70 an iron pot con-
aiming incense burned in honor Of his
the rat Other similar dis
usting procedures could be observed
II hard TO conceive that human be-
,gs can be so superstttious as 70 de-
berately endure such empty prac-
ces Of hailowed nockery. Yet this
J one phase Of China. the China Of to
~. The few undermined Mongoiians
urely have their hands full In effec-
lively combating this awful element
{ ignorance and bigoted superstition
nd In holding their newly organized
'epubiic to the main highway Of
progreas-