Gilpin observer., 1915-11-04
HOLD SNAKES SACRED
CHINESE HAVE DEEP REVERENCE
FOR THE REPTILES.
Spirit Of the Dragon King, Which Is
Worshiped, Supposed to Reside
Within Their Bodies-Rat
Is Also Honored.

1t is not always safe to kill snake
whether the snake is of the water
species or of tie land variety, for
within this reptiles body is supposed
to reside the spirit of what the yellow
man worships as the dragon king
This latter is believed by the average
superstitious John" to have the pow
er of ruling over floods. This dragon
king represents one symbol in the
ritual of worship of the Chinese reli-
gion called Taoism.
China practically possessed three
different forms of religion until the
advent of the Christian missionaries
The first of these religions was In the
form of a philosophy. This still ex-
lists to some extent and is known as
Confucianism. The second form has
been recognized as Buddhism, which
still exists throughout China as SYM
bolized in the worship of idols. AS
you travel through the country, here
and there you will frequently run
across idols of Buddha located on the
hillsides or other quiet and seques-
tered spots conducive to reverential
reflection. Plenty of worshipers yet
pay their homage to these Buddhist
idols, and you can see them conscien-
tiously observing the formal ceremo-
MES of their worship. But this form
of religion is steadily dying a natural
death since the advent of Christianity.
The third variety of religious OBJ
servance among the Celestials is that
of Taoism. This was started by an
old patriarch named Lao-tgu, who had
surrounding him group of eight
immortals" as his disciples. One of
these latter was given the RESPONSE
bility of representing the God of Bar
bers. The Taoist worshipers 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 a gruesome thought. Men and
women are depicted as climbing tow
ering mountains of ice, only to fall
back into gaping abyss as they near
ly reach the top. AS they fall their
uoultS are leNedieu dS UCihS SduSHt
upon spears and tossed backward and
forward by deft executioners. 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 millstone
process, and little dsgs are pictured as
running after the sufferers. tapping up
the blood. On certain occasions after
death the family will proceed in a
body to these temples and will hold
public wall.
On the drum tower of the Taoist
temple at Tientsin it has been COM
mon to see richly dressed native mer-
chants kneeling to an iron pot con-
tanning incense burned in honor of his
eXcellency the rat. Other similar dis
gushing procedures could be observed.
1t is hard to conceive that human be-
ings can be so superstitious as to de-
liberately endure such empty prac-
tees of hallowed mockery. Yet this
is one phase of China, the China of to-
day. The few modernized Mongolians
surely have their hands full in effec-
lively combating this awful element
of ignorance and bigoted superstition
and in holding their newly organized
republic to the main highway Of
progress.