The procession of the goddesses who protect women in labour and children usually takes place at the beginning of the year. The chair on which the statue is seated is all covered over with flowers, and as it is carried round by its bearers all the childless women of the town come crowding round imploring the divinity to give them children. The women take from the chair the first flower that comes into their fingers. If it is a red flower, they may hope to have a daughter; if it is a white flower, that means that they will have a boy. At the same time, the would-be mothers make vows to present the goddess with tapestry or clothes, or some decorative object, should she hear their prayer.
Rich people often invite the goddess into their houses as she passes their doors. Fireworks are then let off, and flowers are added to those on the chair. Then tea and cakes are handed round to the members of the procession, and after this the Chinese Lucina is allowed to resume her peregrinations, to visit other houses if she be so disposed. Throughout the month women crowd into the sanctuary of the goddess in an unceasing stream, some to fulfil their vows and bring their votive offerings, and others to implore, in their turns, the intervention of the Chinese Genitrix goddess.
CHAPTER X
A BUDDHIST SOLEMNITY
It is on the eighth day of the fourth moon—which corresponds to the month of May of the Gregorian calendar—that the great ceremony of the ordination of the Buddhist priests, also called the Feast of the Bath of Buddha, is performed.
On the eve of this day all the candidates gather together in the monastery in each town to prepare themselves for the solemnity of the morrow. At about eight o’clock in the evening a bell is rung. The priests are in their places, each on his knees before the statue of Buddha. First a prayer is recited, and then hymns are sung. After this the chief priest takes down off its lofty pedestal a little idol—a statuette of Buddha, places it on a platter of gold or of carved silver, and pours over it water out of another platter. During this bath, which lasts for half-an-hour, the priests are in adoration, and all the musical instruments are heard. Then comes a rather lengthy pause. At midnight the ceremony of consecration begins. The candidates who, either by vocation or by sudden impulse, have chosen this career, have to live two or three years in one of the monasteries, and after this, before being qualified to exercise the function of minister, must submit themselves to a somewhat painful formality.