[140] Tylor's _Primitive Culture_ (4th ed.), vol. ii. pp. 277-8, 290 _seq._, 297 _seq._, and p. 432. See also Frazer's _Golden Bough_ (2nd ed.), vol. iii. p. 251. [141] Gomme's _Folk-lore Relics of Early Village Life_, p. 97. [142] J. M. Robertson in _Religious Systems of the World_ (8th ed.), p. 369. [143] In 1910 it falls on April 6, which is the 27th of the second Chinese month. [144] See illustration. [145] See p. 257. [146] Instances of similar rain-charms may be found in Frazer's _Golden Bough_ (2nd ed.), vol. i. pp. 188-9. [147] _Tuan Wu_ or _Tuan Yang_. [148] See Frazer's _Golden Bough_ (2nd ed.), vol. iii. pp. 268, 270, 274 and especially pp. 337-8. See also _Folk-lore Journal_, vol. iii. p. 148. [149] There is supposed to be some magic efficacy attached to brooms, and evil spirits are believed to have a special dread of them. In Europe, as every one knows, a witch must have her broomstick just as she must have her black cat. [150] _Kuei Chieh._ [151] The so-called Indian ink ordinarily used by Chinese. [152] The ordinary Chinese name is _Chung Yüan_, a reference being understood to the _Shang Yüan_, or the fifteenth of the first month, and the _Hsia Yüan_ or the fifteenth of the tenth. [153] Cf. the offerings to Ashtoreth the Moon-goddess of the Hittites. For mention of similar offerings in England itself, see Dennys's _Folk-lore of China_, p. 28. [154] There is a play on this Chinese word, which has the same sound as a different character meaning _to go up_ or _to receive promotion_. He who eats the cake is supposed to be securing his own advancement in life. There is a similar double-meaning in the phrase _têng kao_. [155] For remarks on the ancient custom of drinking this wine, see De Groot, _Religious System of China_, vol. iv. p. 322. [156] See p. 277. [157] There is some reason to believe that the Hearth-god was once regarded as an anonymous ancestor of the family, though nowadays this relationship is ignored. The Chinese _Tsao shên_ may be compared with the Japanese Kojin. For some valuable notes on Hearth-worship in general, see Gomme's _Folk-lore Relics of Early Village Life_, pp. 87 _seq._ The cult of a hearth-god has been known in western Europe and also in New Zealand. CHAPTER IX THE WOMEN OF WEIHAIWEI