ABSTRACT

Local cults (p.29) have been conspicuously absent from my account so far. So I will play myself out with a rousing chorus of Houtu worship, returning further northwest to the area of Yixian county, southwest of Beijing – one of rather few areas for which I have detailed material on such cults. Even if this sometimes diverts us from the path of liturgy/ritual, it will serve usefully to remind us of the wider religious context. 1