1. When a feudal lord was on the march and died in his lodging[2], they called back his soul in the same way as in his state. If he died on the road, (one) got up on the nave of the left wheel of the chariot in which he had been riding, and called it, waving the pennon of his flag.
(For the carriage with the bier) there was a pall, and attached to it a fringe made of black cloth, like a lower garment, serving as a curtain (to the temporary coffin), and the whole was made into a sort of house by a covering of white brocade. With this they travelled (back to his state), and on arriving at the gate of the temple, without removing the (curtain) wall, they entered and went straight to the place where the coffining was to take place. The pall was removed at the outside of the door.
2. When a Great officer or an ordinary officer died on the road, (one) got up on the left end of the nave of his carriage, and called back his soul, waving his pennon. If he died in his lodging, they called the soul back in the same manner as if he had died in his house.
[1. See the introductory notice, vol. xxvii, page 34.
2. The public lodging assigned to him in the state where he was.]
In the case of a Great officer they made a pall of cloth, and so proceeded homewards. On arriving at the house, they removed the pall, took the (temporary) coffin on a handbarrow, entered the gate, and proceeding to the eastern steps, there halted and removed the barrow, after which they took the body up the steps, right to the place where it was to be coffined.
The pall-house made over the body of an ordinary officer was made of the phragmites rush; and the fringe for a curtain below of the typha.
4. In every announcement of a death to the ruler it was said, 'Your lordship's minister, so and so, has died. When the announcement was from a parent, a wife, or an eldest son, it was said, 'Your lordship's minister, my -----, has died.' In an announcement of the death of a ruler to the ruler of another state, it was said, 'My unworthy ruler has ceased to receive his emoluments. I venture to announce it to your officers[1].' If the announcement were about the death of his wife, it was said, 'The inferior partner of my poor ruler has ceased to receive her emoluments.' On the death of a ruler's eldest son, the announcement ran, 'The heir-Son of my unworthy ruler, so and so, has died.'
5. When an announcement of the death of a Great officer was sent to another of the same grade, in the same state, it was said, 'So and so has ceased to receive his emoluments.' The same terms were employed when the announcement was to an ordinary officer. When it was sent to the ruler of another state, it ran, 'Your lordship's outside minister,
[1. Not daring to communicate the evil tidings directly to the ruler.]
my poor Great officer, so and so, has died.' If it were to one of equal degree (in the other state), it was said, 'Sir, your outside servant, our poor Great officer, has ceased to receive his emoluments, and I am sent here to inform you.' If it were to an ordinary officer, the announcement was made in the same terms.
6. In the announcement of the death of an ordinary officer to the same parties, it was made in the same-style, only that 'So and so has died,' was employed in all the cases.
7. A Great officer had his place in the lodgings about the palace, till the end of the mourning rites (for a ruler), while another officer returned to his home on the completion of a year. An ordinary officer had his place in the same lodgings. A Great officer occupied the mourning shed; another officer, the unplastered apartment[1].
8. In the mourning for a cousin, either paternal or maternal, who had not attained to the rank of a Great officer, a Great officer wore the mourning appropriate
[1. Two places of lodging about the palace are mentioned, here the mourning shed, and the unplastered apartment. Both these appear to have been in the courtyard, outside the palace itself; the former, a hut, formed by trees and branches of trees, placed against the wall on the east, with the most slender provision for accommodation and comfort; the latter, an apartment in some other place, made of unburnt bricks, and unplastered, more commodious, but nearly as destitute of comfort. In the former, the chief mourners 'afflicted themselves,' while those whose mourning was not so intense occupied the other.
The ordinary officer, who returned home at the end of a year, is supposed to hive had his charge in some town at a distance from court, where his presence could no longer be dispensed with; and the other, who occupies the unplastered apartment to the end of the rites, to have been employed at the court.]
for an ordinary officer; and an ordinary officer, in mourning similarly for a cousin on either side who had been a Great officer, wore the same mourning.
9. The son of a Great officer by his wife proper wore the mourning appropriate for a Great officer.
10. The son of a Great officer by any other member of his harem, who was himself a Great officer wore for his father or mother the mourning of a Great officer; but his Place was only the same as that of a son by the proper wife who was not a Great officer.
11. When the son of an ordinary officer had become a Great officer, his parents could not preside at his mourning rites. They made his son do so; and if he had no son, they appointed some one to perform that part, and be the representative of the deceased.
12. When they were divining by the tortoise-shell about the grave and the day of interment of a Great officer, the officer superintending (the operation) wore an upper robe of sackcloth, with (strips of) coarser cloth (across the chest), and a girdle of the same and the usual mourning shoes. His cap was of black material, without any fringe. The diviner wore a skin cap.
13. If the stalks were employed, then the manipulator wore a cap of plain silk, and the long robe. The reader of the result wore his court robes.
14. At the mourning rites for a Great officer (preparatory to the interment), the horses were brought out. The man who brought them wailed, stamped, and went out. After this (the son) folded up the offerings, and read the list (of the gifts that had been sent).
15. At the mourning rites for a Great officer, one from the department of the chief superintendent of the ancestral temple assisted (the presiding mourner), and one from that of the assistant superintendent put the question to the tortoise-shell, which was then manipulated in the proper form by the diviner.
16. In calling back (the soul of) a feudal lord, they used the robe which had first been conferred on him, with the cap and corresponding robes, varying according to the order of his nobility.
17. (In calling back the soul of) a friends wife, they used the black upper robe with a purple border, or that with pheasants embroidered on it in various colours; both of them lined with white crape.
18. (In calling back that of) the wife of a high noble, they used the upper robe of light green, worn on her first appointment to that position, and lined with white crape; (in calling back that of the wife of) a Great officer of the lowest grade, the upper robe of plain white. (The souls of other wives were called back) by parties with the same robe as in the case of an ordinary officer.
19. In the calling back, they stood (with their faces to the north), inclining to the west[1].
20. (To the pall over the coffin of a Great officer) there was not attached the (curtain of) yellow silk with pheasants on it, descending below the (bamboo) catch for water.
21. (The tablet of a grandson who had been) a Great officer was placed (in the shrine of his grandfather who had (only) been an officer; but not if he
[1. Paragraph 18 in the ordinary editions is before 16. The tablets must have been confused, and were, perhaps, defective.]
had only been an officer, and the grandfather a Great officer. In that case, the tablet was placed in the shrine of a brother of the grandfather (who had only been an officer). If there were no such brother, (it was placed in the shrine of their high ancestor), according to the regular order of relationship. Even if his grand-parents were alive, it was so.
22. The (tablet of a) wife was placed after that of the wife (of the principal of the shrine), in which her husband's tablet was placed. If there had been no such wife, it was placed in the shrine of the wife of the high ancestor, according to the regular order of relationship. The (tablet of a) concubine was placed in the shrine of her husband's grandmother (concubine). If there had been no such concubine, then (it was placed in that of the concubine of the high ancestor) according to the regular order of relationship.
23. (The tablet of) an unmarried son was placed in the shrine of his grandfather, and was used at sacrifices. That of an unmarried daughter was placed in the shrine of her grandmother, but was not used at sacrifices. The (tablet of) the son of a ruler was placed in the shrine of (one of) the sons (of his grandfather), that grandfather having also been a ruler.
24. When a ruler died, his eldest son was simply styled son (for that year), but he was treated (by other rulers) as the ruler.
25. If one, after wearing for a year the mourning and cap proper to the three years for a parent, met with the death of a relative for whom he had to wear the mourning of nine months, he changed it for the hempen-cloth proper to the nine months; but he did not change the staff and shoes.
26. In mourning for a parent, (after a year) the sackcloth of the nine months' mourning is preferred; but if there occurred the placing in its shrine of the tablet of a brother who had died prematurely, the cap and other mourning worn during that first year was worn in doing so. The youth who had died prematurely was called 'The Bright Lad,' and (the mourner said), 'My so and so,' without naming him. This was treating him with reference to his being in the spirit-state.
27. In the case of brothers living in different houses, when one first heard of the death of another, he might reply to the messenger simply with a wail. His first step then was to put on the sackcloth, and the girdle with dishevelled edges. If, before he had put on the sackcloth, he hurried off to the mourning rites, and the presiding mourner had not yet adjusted his head-band and girdle, in the case of the deceased being one for whom he had to mourn for five months, he completed that term along with the presiding. mourner. If nine months were due to the deceased, he included the time that had elapsed since he assumed the sackcloth and girdle.
28. The master, presiding at the mourning rites for a concubine, himself conducted the placing of her tablet (in its proper shrine). At the sacrifices at the end of the first and second years, he employed her son to preside at them. The sacrifice at her offering did not take place in the principal apartment.
29. A ruler did not stroke the corpse of a servant or a concubine.
30. Even after the wife of a ruler was dead, the concubines (of the harem) wore mourning for her relatives. If one of them took her place (and acted as mistress of the establishment), she did not wear mourning for the relatives[1].
1. If one heard of the mourning rites for a cousin for whom he had to wear mourning for nine months or more, when he looked in the direction of the place where those rites were going on, he wailed. If he were going to accompany the funeral to the grave, but did not get to the house in time, though he met the presiding mourner returning, he himself went on to the grave. The president at the mourning rites for a cousin, though the relationship might not have been near, also presented the sacrifice of Repose.
2. On all occasions of mourning, if, before the mourning robes had all been completed, any one arrived to offer condolences, (the president) took the proper place, wailed, bowed to the visitor, and leaped.
3. At the wailing for a Great officer, another of the same rank, wore the conical cap, with a sackcloth band round it. He wore the same also when engaged with the coffining.
If he had on the cap of dolichos-cloth in mourning for his own wife or son, and were called away to the lighter mourning for a distant relative, he put on the conical cap and band.
4. (In wailing for) an eldest son, he carried a staff, but not for that son's son; he went without it
[1. This lady took the deceased wife's place, and performed many of the duties; but she bad not the position of wife. Anciently, a feudal ruler could only, in all his life, have one wife, one lady, that is, to be called by that name.]
to the place of wailing. (An eldest son), going to wail for his wife, if his parents were alive, did not carry a staff, nor bow so as to lay his forehead on the ground. If (only) his mother were alive, he did not lay his forehead to the ground. Where such a prostration should have taken place, as in the case of one who brought a gift with his condolence, an ordinary bow was made.
5. (An officer) who had left a feudal prince and gone into the service of a Great officer did not on the lord's death return and wear mourning for him; nor did one who had left a Great officer to serve a prince, return to mourn on the death of the former.
6. The strings of the mourning cap served to distinguish it from one used on a festive occasion. The silk cap worn after a year's mourning, and belonging to that for three years, had such strings, and the seam of it was on the right. That worn in the mourning of five months, and a still shorter time, was seamed on the left. The cap of the shortest mourning had a tassel of reddish silk. The ends of the girdle in the mourning of nine months and upward hung loose.
7. Court robes were made with fifteen skeins (1200 threads) in the warp. Half that number made the coarse cloth for the shortest mourning, which then was glazed by being steeped with ashes.
8. In sending presents to one another for the use of the dead, the princes of the states sent their carriages of the second class with caps and robes. They did not send their carriages of the first class, nor the robes which they had themselves received (from the king).
9. The number of (small) carriages sent (to the grave) was according to that of the parcels of flesh to be Conveyed. Each one had a pall of coarse cloth. All round were ornamental figures. These parcels were placed at the four corners of the coffin.
10. (Sometimes) rice was sent, but Yû-dze said that such an offering was contrary to rule. The food put down (by the dead) in mourning was only dried meat and pickled.
11. At the sacrifices (after the sacrifice of Repose), the mourner styled himself 'The filial son,' or 'The filial grandson;' at the previous rites, 'The grieving son,' or 'The grieving grandson.'
12. In the square upper garment of the mourner and the sackcloth over it, and in the carriage in which he rode to the grave, there was no difference of degree.
13. The white cap of high (antiquity) and the cap of black cloth were both without any ornamental fringe. The azure-coloured and that of white silk with turned-up rim had such a fringe.
14. A Great officer wore the cap with the square top when assisting at a sacrifice of his ruler; but that of skin when sacrificing at his own shrines. An ordinary officer used the latter in his ruler's temple, and the cap (of dark cloth) in his own. As an officer wore the skin cap, when going in person to meet his bride, he might also use it at his own shrines.
15. The mortar for the fragrant herbs, in making sacrificial spirits, was made of cypress wood, and the pestle of dryandria. The ladle (for lifting out the flesh) was of mulberry wood, three, some say five, cubits long. The scoop used in addition was of mulberry, three cubits long, with its handle and end carved.
16. The girdle over the shroud used for a prince or a Great officer was of five colours; that used for another officer, only of two.
17. The must (put into the grave) was made from the malt of rice. There were the jars (for it and other liquids), the baskets (for the millet), and the boxes (in which these were placed). These were placed outside the covering of the coffin; and then the tray for the mats was put in.
18. The spirit-tablet (which had been set up over the coffin) was buried after the sacrifice of Repose.
19. (The mourning rites for) all wives were according to the rank of their husbands.
20. (Visitors who had arrived) during the slighter dressing of the corpse, the more complete dressing, or the opening (the enclosure where the coffin was), were all saluted and bowed to (after these operations were finished).
21. At the wailing morning and evening, (the coffin) was not screened from view. When the bier had been removed, the curtain was no more suspended.
22. When the ruler came to condole, after the carriage with its coffin (had reached the gate of the temple), the presiding mourner bowed towards him with his face towards the east, and moving to the right of the gate, leaped there, with his face towards the north. Going outside, he waited till the ruler took his departure and bade him go back, after which he put down (by the bier the gifts which the ruler had brought).
23. When Dze-kâo was fully dressed after his death, first, there were the upper and lower garments both wadded with floss silk, and over them a suit of black with a purple border below; next, there was a. suit of white made square and straight, (the suit belonging to) the skin cap; next, that belonging to the skin cap like the colour of a sparrow's head; and next, (that belonging to) the dark-coloured cap, with the square top. Zang-dze said, 'In such a dressing there should be nothing of woman's dress.'
24. When an officer died on some commission, upon which he had gone for his ruler, if the death took place in a public hotel, they called his soul back; if in a private hotel, they did not do so. By a public hotel was meant a ruler's palace, or some other building, erected by him, and by a private hotel, the house of a noble, a Great officer, or an officer below that rank[1].
25. (On the death of) a ruler, there is the leaping for him for seven days in succession; and on that of a Great officer, it lasts for five days. The women take their share in this expression of grief at intervals, between the presiding mourner and his visitors. On the death of an ordinary officer, it lasts for three days; the women taking their part in the same way.
26. In dressing the corpse of a ruler, there is first put on it the upper robe with the dragon; next, a dark-coloured square-cut suit; next, his court-robes; next, the white lower garment with gathers; next, a purple-coloured lower garment; next, a sparrow-head
[1. It is generally supposed that the Dze-kâo here was the disciple of Confucius, so styled, and also known as Mo Khâi; but the dressing here is that of the corpse of a Great officer, and there is no evidence that the disciple ever attained to that rank; and I am inclined to doubt, with Kiang Kâo-hsî and others, whether the party in the text may not have been another Dze-kâo. The caps of the last three suits are understood to be used for the suits themselves, with which they were generally worn. Zang-dze's condemnation of the dressing was grounded on the purple border of one of the articles in the first suit. See Analects X, 4.]
skin cap; next, the dark-coloured cap with the square top; next, the robe given on his first investiture; next, a girdle of red and green; over which was laid out the great girdle.
27. At the slight dressing of the corpse the son (or the presiding mourner) wore the band of sackcloth about his head. Rulers, Great officers, and ordinary officers agreed in this.
28. When the ruler came to see the great dressing of the corpse, as he was ascending to the hall, the Shang priest spread the mat (afresh), and proceeded to the dressing.
29. The gifts (for the dead, and to be placed in the grave), contributed by the people of Lo, consisted of three rolls of dark-coloured silk, and two of light red, but they were (only) a cubit in width, and completing the length of (one) roll[1].
30. When one came (from another ruler) with a message of condolence, he took his place outside, on the west of the gate, with his face to the east. The chief officer attending him was on the south-east of him, with his face to the north, inclining to the west, and west from the gate. The orphan mourner, with his face to the west, gave his instructions to the officer waiting on him, who then went to the visitor and said, 'My orphaned master has sent me to ask why you have given yourself this trouble,' to which the visitor replies, 'Our ruler has sent me to ask for your master in his trouble.' With this reply the officer returned to the mourner and reported it,
[1. This paragraph, which it is not easy to construe or interpret, is understood to be condemnatory of a stinginess in the matter spoken of, which had begun in the Lû. The rule had been that such pieces of silk should be twenty-five cubits wide, and eighteen cubits long.]
returning and saying, 'My orphaned master is waiting for you.' On this the visitor advanced. The mourning host then went up to the reception hall by the steps on the east, and the visitor by those on the west. The latter, with his face to the east, communicated his message, saying, 'Our ruler has heard of the bereavement you have sustained, and has sent me to ask for you in your sorrows.' The mourning son then bowed to him, kneeling with his forehead to the ground. The messenger then descended the steps, and returned to his place.
31. The attendant charged with the jade for the mouth of the deceased, and holding it in his hands flat round piece of jade--communicated his instructions, saying, 'Our ruler has sent me with the gem for the mouth.' The officer in waiting went in and reported the message, then returning and saying, 'Our orphaned master is waiting for you.' The bearer of the gem then advanced, ascended the steps, and communicated his message. The son bowed to him, with his forehead to the ground. The bearer then knelt, and placed the gem on the south-east of the coffin, upon a phragmites mat; but if the interment had taken place, on a typha mat. After this, he descended the steps, and returned to his place, The major-domo, in his court robes, but still wearing his mourning shoes, then ascended the western steps, and kneeling with his face to the west, took up the piece of jade, and descending by the same steps, went towards the east (to deposit it in the proper place).
32. The officer charged with the grave-clothes said, 'Our ruler has sent me with the grave-clothes.' The officer in waiting, having gone in and reported, returned and said, 'Our orphaned master is waiting for you.' Then the other took up first the cap with the square top and robes, with his left hand holding the neck of the upper garment, and with his right the waist. He advanced, went up to the hall, and communicated his message, saying, 'Our ruler has sent me with the grave-clothes.' The son bowed to him, with his forehead to the ground; and when the bearer laid down the things on the east of the coffin, he then went down, and received the skin cap of the sparrow's-head colour, with the clothes belonging to it inside the gate, under the eaves. These he presented with the same forms; then the skin cap and clothes which he received in the middle of the courtyard; then the court robes; then the dark-coloured, square-cut garments, which he received at the foot of the steps on the west. When all these presentations were made, five men from the department of the major-domo took the things up, and going down the steps on the west, went away with them to the-east. They all took them up with their faces towards the west.
33. The chief of the attendants (of the messenger) had charge of the carriage and horses, and with a long symbol of jade in his hand communicated his message, saying, 'Our ruler has sent me to present the carriage and horses.' The officer in waiting went in and informed the presiding mourner, and returned with the message, 'The orphan, so and so, is waiting for you.' The attendant then had the team of yellow horses and the grand carriage exhibited in the central courtyard, with the front to the north; and with the symbol in hand he communicated his message. His grooms were all below, on the west of the carriage. The son bowed to him, with his forehead to the ground. He then knelt, and placed his symbol in the corner, on the southeast of the coffin. The major-domo then took the symbol up, and proceeded with it to the east.
34, The message was always delivered with the face turned towards the coffin, and the son always bowed to the attendant charged with it, with his forehead down to the ground. The attendant then knelt with his face to the west, and deposited his gift (or its representative). The major-domo and his employés ascended by the steps on the west to take these up, and did so with their faces towards the west, descending (again) by the same steps.
The attendant charged with the carriage and horses went out, and returned to his place outside the gate.
35. The chief visitor then, (wishing) to perform the ceremony of wailing, said, 'My ruler, being engaged in the services of his own ancestral temple, could not come and take part in your rites, and has sent me, so and so, his old servant, to assist in holding the rope.' The officer in waiting (reported his request), and returned with the message, 'The orphan, so and so, is waiting for you.' The messenger then entered and took his place on the right of the gate. His attendants all followed him, and stood on his left, on the cast. The superintendent of ceremonies introduced the visitor, and went up on the hall, and received his ruler's instructions, then descending and saying, ' The orphan ventures to decline the honour which you propose, and begs you to return to your place.' The messenger, however, replied. 'My ruler charged me that I should not demean myself as a visitor or guest, and I venture to decline doing as you request.' The other then reported this reply, and returned, and told the messenger that the orphan firmly declined the honour which he proposed, and repeated the request that he would return to his place. The messenger repeated his reply, saying that he also firmly declined (to return to his place). The same message from the mourner was repeated, and the same reply to it, (after which) the mourner said, 'Since he thus firmly declines what I request, I will venture respectfully to comply with his wish.'
The messenger then stood on the west of the gate, and his attendants on his left, facing the west. The orphaned mourner descended by the steps on the east, and bowed to him, after which they both ascended and wailed, each of them leaping three times in response to each other. The messenger then went out, escorted by the mourner outside of the gate, who then bowed to him, with his forehead down to the ground.
36. When the ruler of a state had mourning rites in hand for a parent, (any officer who was mourning for a parent) did not dare to receive visits of condolence (from another state).
37. The female relatives of the exterior kept in their apartments; the servants spread the mats; the officer of prayer, who used the Shang forms, spread out the girdle, sash, and upper coverings; the officers washed their hands, standing on the north of the vessel; they then removed the corpse to the place where it was to be dressed. When the dressing was finished, the major-domo reported it. The son then leant on the coffin and leaped. The wife with her face to the east, also leant on it, kneeling; and then she got up and leaped[1].
38. There are three things in the mourning rites for an officer which agree with those used on the death of the son of Heaven:--the torches kept burning all night (when the coffin is to be conveyed to the grave); the employment of men to draw the carriage; and the keeping of the road free from all travellers on it.
[1. See the twelfth paragraph in the second, section of next Book. it appears here, with some alteration, by mistake.]
1. When a man was wearing mourning for his father, if his mother died before the period was completed, he put off the mourning for his father (and assumed that proper for his mother). He put on, however, the proper dress when sacrificial services required it; but when they were over[1], he returned to the mourning (for his mother).
2. When occasion occurred for wearing the mourning for uncles or cousins, if it arrived during the period of mourning for a parent, then the previous mourning was not laid aside, save when the sacrificial services in these cases required it to be so; and when they were finished, the mourning for a parent was resumed.
3. If during the three years' mourning (there occurred also another three years' mourning for the eldest son), then after the coarser girdle of the Kiung hemp had been assumed in the latter case, the sacrifices at the end of the first or second year's mourning for a parent might be proceeded with.
4. When a grandfather had died, and his grandson also died before the sacrifices at the end of the first or second year had been performed, (his spirit-tablet) was still placed next to the grandfather's.
5. When a mourner, while the coffin was in the house, heard of the death of another relative at a
[1. That is, the sacrifices regularly presented at the end of the first and second year from the death. The translation here and in the next three paragraphs, if it were from an Aryan or Semitic language, could not be said to be literal; but it correctly represents the ideas of the author.]
distance, he went to another apartment and wailed for him. (Next day), he entered where the coffin was, and put down the offerings (to the deceased), after which he went out, changed his clothes, went to the other apartment, and repeated the ceremony of the day before.
6. When a Great officer or another officer was about to take part in a sacrifice at his ruler's, if, after the inspection of the washing of the vessels to be used, his father or mother died, he still went to the sacrifice; but took his place in a different apartment. After the sacrifice he put off his (sacrificial) dress, went outside the gate of the palace, wailed, and returned to his own house. In other respects he acted as he would have done in hurrying to the mourning rites. If the parent's death took place before the inspection of the washing, he sent a messenger to inform the ruler of his position; and when he returned, proceeded to wail (for his deceased parent).
When the death that occurred was that of an uncle, aunt, or cousin, if he had received the previous notice to fast, he went to the sacrifice; and when it was over, he went out at the ruler's gate, put off his (sacrificial) dress, and returned to his own house. In other respects he acted as if he had been hurrying to the mourning rites. If the deceased relative lived under the same roof with him, he took up his residence in other apartments[1].
[1. The Khien-lung editors doubt the genuineness of this last sentence. A commissioned officer, they say, and much more a Great officer, occupied his own residence, and had left the family at home; and they fail to see how the condition supposed could' have existed.]
7. Zang dze asked, 'When a high minister or Great officer is about to act the part of the personator of the dead at a sacrifice by his ruler, and has received instructions to pass the night previous in solemn vigil, if there occur in his own family occasion for him to wear the robe of hemmed sackcloth, what is he to do?' Confucius said, 'The rule is for him to leave his own house, and lodge in the ruler's palace till the service (for the ruler) is accomplished.
8. Confucius said, 'When the personator of the dead comes forth in his leathern cap, or that with the square top, ministers, Great officers, and other officers, all should descend from their carriages when he passes. He should bow forward to them, and he should (also) have people going before him (to notify his approach, that people may get out of the way[1]).
9. During the mourning rites for a parent, when the occasion for one of the sacrifices was at hand, if a death occurred in the family of a brother or cousin, the sacrifice was postponed till the burial of the dead had taken place. If the cousin or brother were an inmate of the same palace with himself, although the death were that of a servant or concubine, the party postponed his sacrifice in this way, At the sacrifice the mourner went up and descended the steps with only one foot on each, all assisting him, doing the same. They did so even for the sacrifice of Repose, and to put the spirit-tablet in its place.
10. From the feudal rulers down to all officers, at the sacrifice at the end of the first year's mourning
[1. See vol. xxvii, Page 341, Paragraph 26, which is here repeated.]
for a parent, when the chief mourner took the cup offered to him by the chief among the visitors, he raised it to his teeth, while the visitors, brothers, and cousins all sipped the cups presented to them. After the sacrifice at the end of the second year, the chief mourner might sip his cup, while all the visitors, brothers, and cousins might drink off their cups.
11. The attendants at the sacrifices during the funeral rites give notice to the visitors to present the offerings, of which, however, they did not afterwards partake.
12. Dze-kung asked about the rites of mourning (for parents), and the Master said, 'Reverence is the most important thing; grief is next to it; and emaciation is the last. The face should wear the appearance of the inward feeling, and the demeanour and carriage should be in accordance with the dress.'
He begged to ask about the mourning for a brother, and the Master said, 'The rites of mourning for a brother are to be found in the tablets where they are written.'
13. A superior man will not interfere with the mourning of other men to diminish it, nor will he do so with his own mourning[1].
14. Confucius said, 'Shâo-lien and Tâ-lien demeaned themselves skilfully during their mourning (for their parents). During the (first) three days they were alert; for the (first) three months they manifested no weariness; for the (first) year they were full of grief; for the (whole) three years they were
[1. The Khien-lung editors think paragraph 13 is out of place, and would place it farther on, after paragraph 43.]
sorrowful. (And yet) they belonged to one of the rude tribes on the East[1]'.
15. During the three years of mourning (for his father), (a son) might speak, but did riot discourse; might reply, but did not ask questions. In the shed or the unplastered apartment he sat (alone), nobody with him. While occupying that apartment, unless there were some occasion for him to appear before his mother, he did not enter the door (of the house). On all occasions of wearing the sackcloth with its edges even, he occupied the unplastered apartment, and not the shed. To occupy the shed was the severest form in mourning.
16. (The grief) in mourning for a wife was like that for an uncle or aunt; that for a father's sister or one's own sister was like that for a cousin; that for any of the three classes of minors dying prematurely was as if they had been full-grown.
17. The mourning for parents is taken away (at the end of three years), (but only) its external symbols; the mourning for brothers (at the end of one year), (and also) internally.
18. (The period of mourning) for ruler's mother or wife is the same as that for brothers. But (beyond) what appears in the countenance is this, that (in the latter case) the mourners do not eat and drink (as usual).
19. After a man has put off the mourning (for his father), if, when walking along the road, he sees one like (his father), his eyes look startled. If he hear one with the same name, his heart is agitated.
[1. Shâo-lien; see Analects XVIII, 8, 3, and 'Narratives of the School,' Article 43.]
In condoling with mourners on occasion of a death, and inquiring for one who is ill, there will be something in his face and distressed manner different from other men. He who is thus affected is fit to wear 'the three years' mourning. So far as other mourning is concerned, he may walk right on (without anything) having such an effect on him.
20. The sacrifice at the end of the second[1], year is signalized by the principal mourner putting off his mourning dress. The evening (before), he announces the time for it, and puts on his court robes, which he then wears at the sacrifice.
21. Dze-yû said, 'After the sacrifice at the end of the second year, although the mourner should not wear the cap of white silk, (occasions may occur when) he must do so[2]. Afterwards he resumes the proper dress.'
22. (At the mourning rites of an officer), if, when he had bared his breast, a Great officer arrived (on a visit of condolence), although he might be engaged in the leaping, he put a stop to it, and went to salute and bow to him. Returning then, he resumed his leaping and completed it, after which he readjusted his dress and covered his breast.
In the case of a visit from another officer, he went on with his leaping, completed it, readjusted his upper dress, and then went to salute and bow to him, without having occasion to resume and complete the leaping.
23. At the sacrifice of Repose for a Great officer of the highest grade, there were offered a boar and a
[1. So, Khan Kâo.
2. Such as receiving the condolences of visitors on account of some other occasion of mourning.]
ram; at the conclusion of the wailing, and at the placing of his spirit-tablet, there was, in addition, the bull. On the similar occasions for a Great officer of the lowest grade, there was in the first case a single victim, and in the others the boar and the ram.
24. In consulting the tortoise-shell about the burial and sacrifice of Repose, the style of the petition was as follows:--A son or grandson spoke of himself as 'the sorrowing,' (when divining about his father or grandfather); a husband (divining about his wife) said, 'So and so for so and so;' an elder brother about a younger brother, simply said, 'So and so;' a younger brother about an elder brother said, 'For my elder brother, so and so.'
25. Anciently, noble and mean all carried staffs. (On one occasion) Shû-sun Wû-shû[1], when going to court, saw a wheelwright put his staff through the nave of a wheel, and turn it round. After this (it was made a rule that) only men of rank should carry a staff
,26. (The custom of) making a hole in the napkin (covering the face of the dead) by which to introduce what was put into the mouth, was begun by Kung yang Kiâ[2].
27. What were the grave-clothes (contributed to the dead)? The object of them was to cover the body. From the enshrouding to the slighter dressing, they were not put on, and the figure of the body was seen. Therefore the corpse was first enshrouded, and afterwards came the grave-clothes.
28. Some one asked Zang-dze, 'After sending
[1. A Great officer of Lû, about B.C. 500.
2. We do not find anything about this man elsewhere.]
away to the grave the offerings to the dead, we wrap up what up remains;--is this not like a man, after partaking of a meal, wrapping-what is left (to take with him)? Does a gentleman do such a thing? Zang-dze said, 'Have you not seen what is done at a great feast? At a great feast, given by a Great officer, after all have partaken, he rolls up what is left on the stands for the three animals, and sends it to the lodgings of his guests. When a son treats his parents in this way as his (honoured) guests, it is an expression of his grief (for their loss). Have you, Sir, not seen what is done at a great feast?'
29. 'Excepting at men's funeral rites, do they make such inquiries and present such gifts as they then do? At the three years' mourning, the mourner bows to his visitors in the manner appropriate to the occasion; at the mourning of a shorter period, he salutes them in the usual way
30. During the three years' mourning, if any one sent wine or flesh to the mourner, be received it after declining it thrice; he received it in his sackcloth and band. If it came from the ruler with a message from him, he did not presume to decline it;--he received it and presented it (in his ancestral temple).
One occupied with such mourning did not send any gift, but when men sent gifts to him he received them. When engaged in the mourning rites for an uncle, cousin, or brother, and others of a shorter period, after the wailing was concluded, he might send gifts to others.
31. Hsien-dze said, 'The pain occasioned by the
[1. See vol. xxvii, pp. 122-3, paragraph 5. There is probably something wanting at the beginning of this paragraph.]
mourning for three years is like that of beheading; that arising from the one year's mourning, is like the stab from a sharp weapon.'
32. During the one year's mourning, in the eleventh month, they put on the dress of silk, which was called lien; in the thirteenth month they offered the hsiang sacrifice, and in the same month that called than;--which concluded the mourning.
During the mourning for three years, even though they had occasion to assume the dress proper for the nine months' mourning, they did not go to condole (with the other mourners). From the feudal lords down to all officers, if they bad occasion to dress and go to wail (for a relative newly deceased), they did so in the dress proper to the mourning for him, After putting on the lien silk, they paid visits of condolence.
33. When one was occupied with the nine months' mourning, if the burial had been performed, he might go and condole with another mourner, retiring after he had wailed without waiting for any other part of the mourner's proceedings.
During the mourning for one year, if before the burial one went to condole with another in the same district, he withdrew after he had wailed, without waiting for the rest of the proceedings.
If condoling during the mourning for nine months, he waited to see the other proceedings, but did not take part in them.
During the mourning for five months or three months, he waited to assist at the other proceedings, but did not take part in the (principal) ceremony
[1. That is, in putting down the offerings to the deceased.]
34. When one (was condoling with) another whom he had been accustomed to pass with a hasty step[1], (at the interment of his dead relative), he retired when the bier had passed out from the gate of the temple. If they had been on bowing terms, he retired when they had reached the station for wailing. If they had been in the habit of exchanging inquiries, he retired after-the coffin was let down into the grave. if they had attended court together, he went back to the house with the other, and wailed with him. If they were intimate friends, he did not retire till after the sacrifice of Repose, and the placing of the spirit tablet of the deceased in the shrine.
35. Condoling friends did not (merely) follow the principal mourner. Those who were forty (or less) held the ropes when the coffin was let down into the grave. Those of the same district who were fifty followed him back to the house and wailed; and those who were forty waited till the grave was filled up.
36. During mourning, though the food might be bad, the mourner was required to satisfy his hunger with it. If for hunger he had to neglect anything, this was contrary to the rules. If he through satiety forgot his sorrow, that also was contrary to the rules. It was a distress to the wise men (who made the rules) to think that a mourner should not see or hear distinctly; should not walk correctly or be unconscious of his occasion for sorrow; and therefore (they enjoined) that a mourner, when ill, should drink wine and eat flesh; that people of fifty should do nothing to bring on emaciation; that at sixty they should not be emaciated; that at seventy they should drink
[1. This was a mark of respect. Compare Analects IX, 9.]
liquor and eat flesh:--all these rules were intended as preventives against death.
37. If one, while in mourning, was invited by another to eat with him, he did not go while wearing the nine months' mourning or that of a shorter period; if the burial had taken place, he might go to another party's house. If that other party belonged to his relative circle, and wished him to eat with him, he might do so; if he did not belong to that circle, he did not eat with him.
38. While wearing the mourning of nine months, one might eat vegetables and fruits, and drink water and congee, using no salt or cream. If he could not eat dry provisions, he might use salt or cream with them.
39. Confucius said, 'If a man have a sore on his body, he should bathe. If he have a wound on his head, he should wash it. If he be ill, he should drink liquor and eat flesh. A superior man will not emaciate himself so as to be ill. If one die from such emaciation, a superior man will say of him that he has failed in the duty of a son.'
40. Excepting when following the carriage with the bier to the grave, and returning from it, one was not seen on. the road with the mourning cap, which was used instead of the ordinary one.
41. During the course of mourning, from that worn for five months and more, the mourner did not wash his head or bathe, excepting for the sacrifice of Repose, the placing the spirit-tablet in the shrine, the assuming the dress of lien silk, and the sacrifice at the end of a year.
42. During mourning rites, when the sackcloth with the edges even was worn, after the burial, if one asked an interview with the mourner, he saw him, but he himself did not ask to see any person. He might do so when wearing the mourning of five months. When wearing that for nine months, he did not carry the introductory present in his hand (when seeking an interview). It was only when wearing the mourning for a parent that the mourner did not avoid seeing any one, (even) while the teats were running from him.
43. A man while wearing the mourning for three years might execute any orders of government after the sacrifice at the end of a year. One mourning for a year, might do so when the wailing was ended; one mourning for nine months, after the burial; one mourning for five months or three, after the encoffining and dressing.
44. .Zang Shen asked Zang-dze, saying, 'In wailing for a parent, should one do so always in the same voice?' The answer was, 'When a child has lost its mother on the road, is it possible for it to think about the regular and proper voice?'
1. After the wailing was ended, there commenced the avoiding of certain names. (An officer) did not use the name of his (paternal) grandfather or grandmother, of his father's brothers or uncles; of his father's aunts or sisters. Father and son agreed in avoiding all these names. The names avoided by his mother the son avoided in the house. Those avoided by his wife he did not use when at. her side. If among them there were names which had been borne by his own paternal great-grandfather or great-grand-uncles, he avoided them (in all places).
2. When (the time for) capping (a young man) came during the time of the mourning rites, though they were those for a parent, the ceremony might be performed. After being capped in the proper place, the subject went in, wailed and leaped,--three times each bout, and then came out again.
3. At the end of the nine months' mourning, it was allowable to cap a son or to marry a daughter. A father at the end of the five months' mourning, might cap a son, or marry a daughter, or take a wife (for a son). Although one himself were occupied with the five months' mourning, yet when he had ended the wailing, he might be capped, or take a wife. If it were the five months' mourning for one who had died in the lowest degree of immaturity, he could not do so[1].
4. Whenever one wore the cap of skin with a sackcloth band (in paying a visit of condolence), his upper garment of mourning had the large sleeves.
5. When the father was wearing mourning, a son, who lived in the same house with him, kept away from all music. When the mother was wearing it, the son might listen to music, but not play himself When a wife was wearing it, the son, (her husband), did not play music by her side. When an occasion for the nine months' mourning was about to occur, the lute and cithern were laid aside. If it were only an occasion for the five months' mourning, music was not stopped.
6. When an aunt or sister died (leaving no son), if her husband (also) were dead, and there were no
[1. This paragraph seems to me, as to many of the Chinese critics, irretrievably corrupt or defective.]
brother or cousin in his relative circle, some other of her husband's more distant relatives was employed to preside at her mourning rites. None of a wife's relatives, however near, could preside at them. If no distant relative even of her husband could be found, then a neighbour, on the east or the west, was employed. If no such person (suitable) could be found, then the head man of the neighbourhood presided. Some say, 'One (of her relatives) might preside, but her tablet was placed by that of the (proper) relative of her husband.'
7. The girdle was not used along with the sackcloth band. That band could not be used by one who carried in his hand his jade-token; nor could it be used along with a dress of various colours.
8. On occasions of prohibitions issued by the state (in connexion with the great sacrifices), the wailing ceased; as to the offerings deposited by the coffin, morning and evening, and the repairing to their proper positions, mourners proceeded as usual[1].
9. A lad, when wailing, did not sob or quaver; did not leap; did not carry a staff; did not wear the straw sandals; and did not occupy the mourning shed.
10. Confucius said, 'For grand-aunts the mourning with the edges even is worn, but the feet in leaping are not lifted from the ground. For aunts and sisters the mourning for nine months is worn, but the feet in leaping are lifted from the ground. If a man understands these things, will he not (always) follow, the right forms of ceremonies? Will he not do so?'
[1. The punctuation and place of this short paragraph vary. Its integrity is also doubted.]
11. When the mother of Î Liû died, his assistants in the rites stood on his left; when Î Liû died, they stood on his right. The practice of the assistants (at funeral rites) giving their aid on the right, originated from the case of Î Liû.[1].
12. The mouth of the son of Heaven was stuffed after death with nine shells; that of a feudal lord, with seven; that of a Great officer, with five; and that of an ordinary officer, with three[2].
13. An officer was interred after three months, and the same month the wailing was ended. A Great officer was interred (also) after three months, and after five months the wailing was ended. A prince was interred after five months, and after seven the wailing was ended.
For an officer the sacrifice of Repose was offered three times; for a Great officer, five times; and for a feudal prince, seven times.
14. A feudal lord sent a messenger to offer his condolences; and after that, his contributions for the mouth, the grave-clothes, and the carriage. All these things were transacted on the same day, and in the order thus indicated.
15. When a high minister or Great officer was ill, the ruler inquired about him many times. When an ordinary officer was ill, he inquired about him once. When a Great officer or high minister was buried, the ruler did not eat flesh; when the wailing was finished, he did not have music. When an officer was encoffined, he did not have music.
16. After they had gone up, and made the bier
[1. A minister of duke Mû of Lû, B.C. 409-377.
2. This was not the practice in the Kâu dynasty.]
ready, in the case of the burial of a feudal lord, there were 500 men to draw the ropes. At each of the four ropes they were all gagged. The minister of War superintended the clappers; eight men with these walking on each side of the bier. The chief artizan, carrying a shade of feathers, guided the progress (of the procession). At the burial of a Great officer, after they had gone up and made the bier ready, 300 men drew the ropes; four men with their clappers walked on each side of the bier; and its progress was guided (by the chief artizan) with a reed of white grass in his hand.
17. Confucius said, 'Kwan Kung had carving on the square vessels for holding the grain of his offerings, and red ornaments for his cap; he set up a screen where he lodged on the way, and had a stand of earth on which the cups he had used, in giving a feast, were replaced; he had hills carved on the capitals of his pillars, and. pondweed on the lower pillars supporting the rafters'. He was a worthy Great officer, but made it difficult for his superiors (to distinguish themselves from him).
'An Phing-kung[2], in sacrificing to his father and other progenitors, used only the shoulders of a pig, not large enough to cover the dish. He was a worthy Great officer, but made it difficult for his inferiors (to distinguish themselves from him).
'A superior man will not encroach on (the observances of) those above him, nor put difficulties in the way of those below him.'
[1. See Confucian Analects Ill, 22, and V, 17.
2. A minister of Khî, contemporary with Confucius, distinguished for his simple, and perhaps parsimonious, ways.]
18. Excepting on the death of her father or mother, the wife (of a feudal lord) did not cross the boundaries of the state to pay a visit of condolence. On that occasion she did so, and went back to her original home, where she used the ceremonies of condolence proper to a feudal lord, and she was treated as one. When she arrived, she entered by the women's gate, and went up (to the reception hall) by steps at the side (of the principal steps), the ruler receiving her at the top of the steps on the east. The other ceremonies were the same as those of a guest who hastened to attend the funeral rites.
19. A sister-in-law did not lay the soothing hand on the corpse of her brother-in-law; and vice versâ.
20. There are three things that occasion sorrow to a superior man (who is devoted to learning):--If there be any subject of which he has not heard, and he cannot get to hear of it; if he hear of it, and cannot get to learn it; if he have learned it, and cannot get to carry it out in practice. There are five things that occasion shame to a superior man (who is engaged in governmental duties):--If he occupy an office, and have not well described its duties; if he describe its duties well, but do not carry them into practice; if he have got his office, and lost it again; if he be charged with the care of a large territory, and the people be not correspondingly numerous; if another, in a charge like his own, have more merit than he.
21. Confucius said, 'In bad years they used in their carriages their poorest horses, and in their sacrifices the victims lowest (in the classes belonging to them).'
22. At the mourning rites for Hsü Yû, duke Âi sent Zû Pî to Confucius to learn the rites proper at the mourning for the officer. Those rites were thus committed at that time to writing.
23. Dze-kung having gone to see the agricultural sacrifice at the end of the year, Confucius said to him, 'Zhze, did it give you pleasure?' The answer was, 'The people of the whole state appeared to be mad; I do not know in what I could find pleasure.' The Master said, 'For their hundred days' labour in the field, (the husbandmen) receive this one day's enjoyment (from the state);--this is what you do not understand. (Even) Wan and Wû could not keep a bow (in good condition), if it were always drawn and never relaxed; nor did they leave it always relaxed and never drawn. To keep it now strung and now unstrung was the way of Wan and Wû.'
24. Mang Hsien-dze said, 'If in the first month at the (winter) solstice it be allowable to offer the (border) sacrifice to God, in the seventh month, at the summer solstice, we may offer the sacrifice in the temple of the ancestor (of our ruling House).' Accordingly Hsien-dze offered that sacrifice to all the progenitors (of the line of Lû) in the seventh month'.
25. The practice of not obtaining from the son of Heaven the confirmation of her dignity for the wife (of the ruler of Lû) began with duke Kâo[2].
[1. Hsien-dze was the honorary title of Kung-sun Mieh, a good officer of Lû, under dukes Wan, Hsüan, Khang, and Hsiang. He must understand him as speaking of the sacrifices of the state, and not of his own.
2. See Confucian Analects VII. 30. Duke Kâo married a lady of Wû, of the same surname with himself, and therefore had not announced the marriage to the king.]
26. The mourning of a ruler and his wife were regulated by the same rules for the ladies of his family married in other states and for those married in his own[1].
27. When the stables of Confucius were burned, and the friends of his district came (to offer their condolences) on account of the fire, he bowed once to the ordinary officers, and twice to the Greater officers;--according to the rule on occasions of mutual condolence.
28. Confucius said, 'Kwan Kung selected two men from among (certain) thieves with whom he was dealing, and appointed them to offices in the state, saying, "They were led astray by bad men with whom they bad associated, but they are proper men themselves." When he died, duke Hwan made these two wear mourning for him. The practice of old servants of a Great officer wearing mourning for him, thus arose from Kwan Kung. But these two men only mourned for him by the duke's orders.'
29. When an officer, in a mistake, used a name to his ruler which should be avoided, he rose to his feet. If he were speaking to any one who had the name that should be avoided with the ruler, he called him by the name given to him on his maturity.
30. (A Great officer) took no part in any seditious movements within his state, and did not try to avoid calamities coming from without.
31. The treatise on the duties of the Chief Internuncius says, 'The length of the long symbol of rank was for a duke, nine inches; for a marquis or
[1. There are differences of opinion as to the meaning of this paragraph, between which it is not easy to decide. It would be tedious to go into an exhibition and discussion of them.]
earl, seven; for a count or baron, five. The width in each case was three inches; and the thickness, half an inch. They tapered to the point for one inch and a half. They were all of jade. The mats for them were made with three different colours, (two rows of each,) six in all.'
32. Duke Âi asked Dze-kâo, 'When did members of your family first begin to be in office?' The answer was) 'My ancestor held a small office under duke Wan[1].'
33. When a temple was completed, they proceeded to consecrate it with the following ceremony:--The officer of prayer, the cook, and the butcher, all wore the cap of leather of the colour of a sparrow's head, and the dark-coloured dress with the purple border. The butcher rubbed the sheep clean, the officer of prayer blessed it, and the cook with his face to the north took it to the pillar and placed it on the south-east of it. Then the butcher took it in his arms, went up on the roof at the middle point between the east and west, and with his face to the south stabbed it, so that the blood ran down in front; and then he descended. At the gate of the temple, and of each of the two side apartments, they used a fowl, one at the gate of each (going up as before and stabbing them). The hair and feathers about the ears were first pulled out under the roof (before the victims were killed). When the fowls were cut at the gates of the temple, and the apartments on each side of it, officers stood, opposite to each gate on the north. When the thing was over, the officer of prayer announced that it
[1. This paragraph is supposed to be defective. Duke Wan was marquis of Lû from B.C. 626 to 609.]
was so, and they all retired, after which he announced it to the ruler, saying, 'The blood-consecration has been performed.' This announcement was made at the door of the back apartment of the temple, inside which the ruler stood in his court-robes, looking towards the south. This concluded the ceremony, and all withdrew[1].
When the great apartment (of the palace) was completed, it was inaugurated (by a feast), but there was no shedding of blood. The consecration by blood of the temple building was the method taken to show how intercourse with the spirits was sought. All the more distinguished vessels of the ancestral temple were consecrated, when completed, by the blood of a young boar.
34. When a feudal lord sent his wife away, she proceeded on her journey to her own state, and was received there with the observances due to a lord's wife. The messenger, accompanying her, then discharged his commission, saying, 'My poor ruler, from his want of ability, was not able to follow her, and take part in the services at your altars and in your ancestral temple. He has, therefore, sent me, so and so, and I venture to inform your officer appointed for the purpose of what he has done.' The officer presiding (on the occasion) replied, 'My poor ruler in his former communication did not lay (her defects) before you, and he does not presume to do anything but respectfully receive your lord's message.' The officers in attendance on the commissioner
[1. This ceremony is also described in the 'Rites of the greater Tâi,' Book X, with some difference in the details. It is difficult, even from the two accounts, to bring the ceremony fully before the mind's eye.]
then set forth the various articles sent with the other the lady on her marriage, and those on side received them.
35. When the wife went away from her husband, she sent a messenger and took leave of him, saying, 'So and so, through her want of ability, is not able to keep on supplying the vessels of grain for your sacrifices, and has sent me, so and so, to, presume to announce this to your attendants.' The principal party (on the other side) replied, 'My son, in his inferiority, does not presume to avoid you punishing him, and dares not but respectfully receive your orders.' The messenger then retired, the principal party bowing to him, and escorting him. If the father-in-law were alive, then he named him self; if he were dead, an elder brother of the husband acted for him, and the message was given as from him; if there were no elder brother, then it ran as from the husband himself. The message, as given above, was) 'The son of me, so and so, in his inferiority.' (At the other end of the transaction), if the lady were an aunt, an elder sister, or a younger, she was mentioned as such.
36. Confucius said, 'When I was at a meal at Shâo-shih's, I ate to the full. He entertained me courteously, according to the rules. When I was about to offer some in sacrifice, he got up and wished to stop me, saying, "My poor food is not worth being offered in sacrifice." When I was about to take the concluding portions, he got up and wished to stop me, saying, "I would not injure you with my poor provisions[1]."
[1. See pages 20, 21, paragraph 13.]
37. A bundle of silk (in a marriage treaty) contained live double rolls, each double roll being forty cubits in length.
38. At the (first) interview of a wife with her father and mother-in-law, (her husband's) unmarried aunts and sisters all stood below the reception hall, with their faces towards the west, the north being the place of honour. After this interview, she visited all the married uncles of her husband, each in his own apartment.
Although not engaged to be married, the rule was for a young lady to wear the hair-pin;--she was thus treated with the honours of maturity. The (principal) wife managed the ceremony. When she was unoccupied and at ease, she wore her hair without the pin, on each side of her head.