[133] Cf. pp. [262] seq. From Gibbon's Decline and Fall (vol. i. p. 344) we know that long after the establishment of Christianity there was kept up, in Europe, a pagan festival at which it was customary to decorate the doors of houses with branches of laurel and to hang out lanterns. The doors of Roman houses were regarded as being under the special protection of the household gods.
[134] Yüan hsiao.
[135] For some interesting notes on the bridge-walking customs, see Rev. E. Box's "Shanghai Folk-lore," in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (China Branch), vol. xxxvi. (1905) pp. 133-4. These practices are not confined to China. In Korea, on the fourteenth and fifteenth of the first month the men and boys of Seoul walk over three particular bridges in succession, in order to safeguard themselves from pains in the legs and feet throughout the ensuing year. (See article by T. Watters in Folk-lore, March 1895.) For the beliefs of many races on the subject of the expulsion of evils in general, see Frazer's Golden Bough (2nd ed.), vol. iii. pp. 39 seq., 70 seq.
[136] This may be compared with the Scottish customs in connection with the guisers or guisards. In Shetland a torchlight procession sometimes formed part of the revelry. (See Folk-lore, vol. iii. [Orkney and Shetland], pp. 203 seq.)
[137] For remarks on the supposed remarkable properties of this shrub, see De Groot's Religious System of China, vol. iv. p. 320.
[138] See County Folk-lore, vol. iv. (Northumberland) p. 73.
[139] In different parts of the Empire the date is variously assigned to the second, tenth, twelfth and fifteenth of the month. For Shanghai customs in connection with this festival, see Rev. A. Box, Journal of the R.A.S. (China), vol. xxxiv. p. 117 and vol. xxxvi. pp. 137-8. In that part of China "the women and children adorn the flowering shrubs with paper rosettes, and recite verses and prostrate themselves in token of respect and in hope of a fruitful season."
[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.