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Honan, China

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · May 4, 1905

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 82, No. 18.

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Honan, China

By A. C. Selmon

HSIANG CHENG HSIEN.—Yesterday we had a good illustration, taken from Chinese customs, to use as a text for our Sabbath meeting with the people. Day before yesterday was the fifteenth day of the twelfth Chinese month. On this day the people worship the old heavenly father. The one thus named corresponds to the true God, but they have a vague and distorted idea of him, as is shown by their mode of worship. When any disaster befalls the family, as sickness or business difficulties, then some member of the family must go to the idol temple and burn yellow paper and incense and imitation money made of paper. The idol is requested to protect the family. If disaster still continues to come, they beseech the old heavenly father for protection, and promise that if he protects them, they will give him a pig or a goat. These are the two animals that are most used.
On the morning of the fifteenth of the twelfth month, they fulfil their pledge by securing the animal and pouring wine into its ear. It cries out with pain, and when this happens, its soul is thought to leave the body and ascend to heaven.
In case disaster has befallen a poor man's family, and he has pledged a pig or goat, but when the appointed day comes, there is none to be used, there is a fear that the man may lose favor with the old heavenly father. So in order that heaven may know that the pledge has not been forgotten, the poor man secures a paper pig or goat, and this is burned, as a substitute for the real animal.
After the living animal has been offered in the way mentioned above, it is butchered, and the meat is eaten. The pig's head is put into a large bowl, and this is placed on the mantel, which stands in front of the ancestral tablets, in the main room of the house. Above the pig's head is placed an inscription, stating that this is an offering to the lord of heaven and earth.
The bowl is left on the mantel for a few days, during which time the essence of the offering is supposed to be taken by the spirit worshiped. After this the head is eaten, but the people state that it does not have a good relish, because the essence has been taken out.
This plan of worshiping God is of Satan's own devising, and has been followed from generation to generation, and serves to effectually shut out the true light and deceive the people as to the nature of the true God.
A. C. SELMON.