(shu is blood)

Introduction.

This is a shortened version of Wang Ming-ji’s account of the ndao-shu ritual and the explanations in the introduction to that account, M366IN, apply here as well. There are, however, two small pieces of additional information. The length of cloth required for the shaman-healer’s trousers was four Chinese feet. A Chinese foot was about fourteen inches long. None of the young woman’s family had any role to play in the house cleansing except that her father had to indicate with his foot the location of the child’s birth. He was not permitted to speak. However, when the house-cleansing party left and had travelled less than half a mile, he followed them, sharing a smoke and a drink before they finally departed.

In his list of spirits, M371, Yang Yung-xin notes that a similar ritual was required to cleanse the house if a stranger died there.

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