ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we shift from judicial rites for resolving disputes to penitential rites that mimic the judicial system, and from legitimation in the form of convincing others of the righteousness of one’s cause to legitimation in the form of atoning for one’s misdeeds (often in order to merit reincorporation into the family or community). Trials of the insane provide a setting for coping with behavior considered to be both culturally unacceptable and the result of divine retribution, with the friends and relatives of the accused (or patient) attempting to determine the karmic causes of his or her affliction and perform penance in order to achieve a cure. In the case of dressing up as a criminal, while some people do so in order to repay a vow or to petition the deities to help heal family members who are suffering from illness, the main idea underlying these rites is that the participant (or sick person intended to benefit from the ritual) has been suffering as a result of having done something wrong in this life or a previous lifetime. Thus, despite the fact that both rites are broadly penitential in nature, they also have clear links to the Chinese ideology of justice and the dread of divine retribution, including punishments stemming from an underworld indictment. In addition, both rites feature actions that center on judicial practice, namely putting a suspect on trial or placing a convicted criminal in a cangue.
