The “Wooden Combs” are ancestor worshippers like the Chinese, and we had
the good fortune to be given three of their “dooteepoussas” (I do not
know how this word should be spelt, but have written it phonetically),
namely sections of bamboo, each containing “a soul,” wrapped in cotton
wool and fastened with a thread. A wooden pin runs crosswise through
the bamboo, which prevents the “soul” being drawn out by a tiny bunch
of grass, which protrudes from the top of the soul-carrier. As will be
seen by the illustration, these are exactly in the shape of crosses and
they have little cuts on the bamboo varying in number, which refer to the
deceased. The Lolos also have these soul-carriers. In Yünnan Province
the shape of these soul-carriers approximates to the Chinese ancestral
tablets and Clarke gives another form of them which he calls a spirit
hamper. The name “lolo” given to these tribes by the Chinese is said to
come from this fact, lolo meaning a basket. The Lolos consider the name
to be a term of terrible reproach, but do not object to be called Nosu
or I-chia. They keep these spirits in their houses, or a tree, or hidden
in a rock. The ones I possess are kept in a long box fastened against the
outer wall of a house, with a shelter over it like a shrine: sometimes
more than one family keeps their soul-carriers in the same box. The
funeral rites of these people are very elaborate and extend over a whole
year. Dr. A. Henry has kindly given me permission to quote his account of
these people and their language from the _Journal of the Anthropological
Society_ for 1903. He spent much time studying their habits and language
in Yünnan, and brought back from there large quantities of MSS.,
ancestral tablets and dresses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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