coming of a cat to a household is an omen of approaching poverty. The coming of a strange cat, and its staying in a house, are believed to foreshadow an unfavourable change in the pecuniary condition of the family. It is supposed that a cat can foresee where it will find plenty of rats and mice in consequence of approaching dilapidation of a house, following the ruin or poverty of its inhabitants.”29 It is considered to be very unlucky when a cat is stolen from a house. A cat washing its face portends the arrival of a stranger. Dead cats are not buried but hung on trees.
Cedrela
(捲樹)
The xiāngchün (香捲), or Cedrela odorata, is mentioned by the philosopher Zhuāng Zî (莊
The wood resembles mahogany and is used in cabinet work. A decoction of the bark is employed as medicine for fever and dysentery. The leaves are eaten in the spring and the silkworm is also fed upon them; they are also used to make a lotion for baldness. The fruit of the tree is said to be astringent, and is employed in the treatment of affections of the eye. (Vide also HEMEROCALLIS).
Chain
(鐵練)
“Buddha formulated his view of life into a twelve-linked closed chain called ‘the Wheel of Life’ or of ‘Becoming’ (Bhavacakra), or the Causal Nexus (Pratitya Samutpãda); which he is represented, in the Vinaya scripture itself, to have thought out under the Tree of Wisdom.”30 (Vide WHEEL OF THE LAW, BODHI TREE.) This chain, which is of iron, is one of the insignia of some of the Buddhist deities.
Charms
(符)
Charms carried on the person are made up of all kinds of materials, and worn on the shoulder, back or breast, to protect from disease, demons, and evil influence. The shāohuïtünfú (燒灰
A number of old brass or copper cash are sometimes strung together in the form of a sword, and kept straight by a piece of iron running up the middle. They are hung at the heads of beds so that the supposed presence of the monarchs, under whose reigns the cash were coined, may have the effect of keeping away ghosts and evil spirits. They are used chiefly in houses or rooms where persons have committed suicide or suffered a violent death. Sick persons use them, also, in order to hasten their recovery.
Another charm is the báijiāsuô (百家鎖), or “Hundred Family Lock.”To obtain this a man goes round among his friends, and having obtained from one hundred different persons three or four cash each, he himself adds whatever money is required, and has a lock made, which he hangs on his child’s neck, for the purpose of locking him, as it were, to life, and making the one hundred persons sureties for his attaining old age. A similar article is the jîngquānsuô (頸圏鎖), or the “Neck Ring Lock,” worn by grown females as well as by children for the same purpose as the preceding.
The gütōngjìng (古銅鏡), or the “Old Brass Mirror,” is supposed to possess the virtue of immediately healing any who have become mad by the sight of a spirit or demon, by their merely taking a glance at themselves in it. By the rich it is kept in their chief apartments, for the purpose of keeping away spirits.
The hûzhâo (虎爪), or the “Tiger’s Claw,” is a charm against sudden fright, and is said to infuse the wearer with the courage of the animal.
An amulet of peach-wood or peach-stones (桃符) is regarded as a powerful antidote against evil spirits. A string of carved peach-stones is often hung about the necks of children to prevent them from being stolen by demons for the purpose of burying them under the foundations of buildings or bridges to give solidarity to the structure.“A kind of padlock is made by cutting the kernels of the flat peach (幡桃). The mother fixes one of these padlocks on each of her child’s feet. . . . The common people believe that peach-stone padlocks confer longevity, bind children to life, and have a mysterious power for warding off evil influences.”31 In this connection it may be interesting to note that the peasant of Exmoor who is liable to fits of any kind wears suspended from his neck a little bag containing small pieces or twigs of the ash-tree, which is supposed to possess healing vitue. Many Chinese children wear a brass or silver padlock attached to the neck by a chain. This is to chain them to existence, and prevent them being ravished by death from their affectionate parents. These padlocks may be found in all silversmith’s shops and many street stalls, and vary in size and shape.
“A person goes round begging a bit of thread from door to door. With these various coloured threads, a kind of tassel is made, and hung on to the dress of the child. This tassel is called the Hundred Family Tassel (百家線).”32
The good fortune of a child is said to be assured if he wears suspended from his neck a metal plate engraved with the eight characters of his horoscope (八字), or the animals representing the corresponding signs of the zodiac. The Twelve Branches of Earth (十二地支), in various combinations with the Ten Celestial Stems (十天干), provide terms for the sixty years of the Chinese cycle. When baby girls are discarded and exposed in the open, the eight characters of their horoscope are sometimes pinned to their garments, so that they may not be married to one whose horoscope does not agree with theirs.
An ear-ring (耳環) is sometimes attached to a child’s ear to delude the evil spirits—always on the look-out to injure male children—into the belief that the boy is really a girl. “Persons give to this ear-ring the form of a weight of a clock, as this represents, according to their idea, something heavy and hard to raise. The evil spirits would thus be unable to snatch from this world a beloved child, the weight attaching to the ground and riveting him to existence.”33
The Heavenly Dog (天狗), otherwise called the Child-stealing Devil (
Конец
