ABSTRACT

A singular custom is annually observed at the place on the morning of the twenty-ninth day of the first month, often called “the eating of filial porridge.” While the festival is nominally fixed for a certain day, still, in practice, the worship of the dead at their tombs is sometimes performed a few days before or a few days after the time appointed in the calendar, according to the convenience or the necessities of living relations. The ceremony of exhorting the farmers to diligence in their calling is perhaps equally impressive. The ceremonies, performed near the south gate, the officials are required to burn incense and offer sacrifice in honour of the god of the five grains. Directly in front of the tomb-stone there is usually, if the tomb be large and of the “horse-shoe” pattern, a kind of stationary altar of stone or cement.