Identifier: liondragoninnort00john (find matches)
Title: Lion and dragon in northern China
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Johnston, Reginald Fleming, Sir, 1874-1938
Subjects: Weihaiwei
Publisher: New York, E. P. Dutton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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MASOUERADERS AT FESTIVAL OF FIRST FULL MOON.
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GROUP OF VILLAGERS WATCHING FIRST-FULL-MOON MASQUERADERS.P. 184) THE FESTIVAL OF COLD FOOD 185 many villages it is customary to rise before dawn andcook a kind of dumpling, which as it rises is sup-posed to assist Nature in her work of awakening thesluggish or dormant vitality of animals and of vegeta-tion. The presiding deity of this festival is, naturallyenough, the Sun, and it is to him that the dumplingsare offered. Similar offerings are made by the Em-peror himself in his capacity of High Priest. It isbelieved that if on the evening of this day childrenwash their faces in a kind of soup made from a certainshrub (Lycium chinense)1 they will never be ill andnever grow old. This reminds us of the old Englishbelief that young people will preserve their youthfulbeauty indefinitely by going into the fields beforebreakfast on the first of May and washing their facesin May dew.2 On the eighth of the second month it is thoughtthat by observing the direction of the wind it ispossible to fo

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