Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 5/Fasts for rain and fine weather
Fasts for rain and fine weather, (祈晴禱雨) Chi ch‘ing tao yü
In times of drought or very wet weather the official issues a proclamation forbidding the butcher to kill pigs or oxen, chin tu (禁屠). The idea is that the taking of life is an offence against the gods.
In times of drought an altar is put up at the Lung Wang miao, the temple of the dragon king. In times of flood it is erected at the Huo shên miao, the temple of the god of fire. At this altar the district magistrate makes obeisance morning and night.
When fasting for fine weather the north gate of the city is closed; when fasting for rain, the south gate; because it is said in the eight diagrams, the North belongs to water and the South to fire.
To shoot the mists, ta wu (打霧). In times of continued wet weather, soldiers are told of to shoot at the mists. The people put great faith in this practice.
In wet weather the official has to worship the sun tablet in some temple, and all the people have to worship a tablet to this luminary at the doors of their dwellings.
In times of drought the Dragon king is worshipped and each home has a tablet put up beseeching his help; also the water dragon is brought out. This is a plaited bamboo frame joined together with sackcloth, which is paraded through the streets by young men; each house prepares a bucket of water and a ladle and as the dragon passes it is drenched with water. Another method is to hsiao kou, to laugh at the dog. The custom has its origin in the saying, if you laugh at a dog the weather won't be fine. In times of desperation for lack of rain, a dog is dressed up as a bride, put in a chair and carried through the streets and every one laughs at it, hoping that by doing so rain may come.
Officials go barefooted and pray for rain; this is said to be an example of an official suffering for his people.
In some cases the Ch'êng huang or city god is stood in the sun. I have known of the district magistrate getting angry at the prolongation of the drought and demanding that the city god give him an explanation; he said, "You govern the dead, and I the living; let us both stand in the sun and the one whose head splits first must bear the blame of the drought." The result was that the idol's head was cracked by the sun.
Men also go to the dragon pool and carry home a bucketful of water, which is worshipped at the altar. At the pool a chicken is sacrificed and its head thrown to the dragon. On the return journey twigs are stuck into the hair of those who go on this errand.
The pang (梆) pang yü or wa (娃) wa yü, is a human-headed fish, a kind of mermaid; it is caught and kept in a tank of water till the rain comes. This is a rare fish, but it has come under my notice on two or three occasions, when thousands of people have run mad after the creature.
When the magistrate is not in favour with the people, they may attack the yamen and demand water for fields or rain.
Another method is to throw the egg. A water butt is prepared and filled with water, and decked round with cedar and willow branches. An egg is selected, over which "thunder" incantations are read morning and evening for three days, after which it is thrown up into the air with the belief that the rain will accompany it on its downfall.