Note 230 — Chapter XII · DEAD MEN AND GHOST-LORE

For an account of the popular belief with regard to old coffin-wood and nails, see De Groot, op. cit. vol. i, pp. 328-9. See also Doolittle's Social Life of the Chinese, p. 561; and Dennys's Folk-lore of China (p. 48), where it is said that "a nail that has been used in fastening up a coffin is a sovereign charm. This is sometimes beaten out into a rod or wire and, encased in silver, worn as a ring round the ankles or wrists." It is very curious that even in this matter of coffin-nails we can trace a close connection between Chinese and Western European folk-lore. In the Shetland Islands (which seem to possess many remarkable parallels with Chinese folk-lore) it is said that toothache can be cured by picking the tooth "with the nail of an old coffin." (Folk-lore Journal, vol. iii. p. 380.) In parts of Yorkshire it was once the custom to take some coffin-lead or other coffin-metal from a churchyard and have it made into a ring; it then became a cure for cramp. (County Folk-lore, vol. ii. [North Riding of Yorkshire] p. 171.) Similar beliefs existed elsewhere in England—in Devonshire, for example. (See W. G. Black's Folk-Medicine, p. 175.) It may be noted here that a thoroughly "orthodox" coffin in China is supposed to have no nails at all, or as few as possible. The various planks are fitted into grooves and notches with the deliberate intention of avoiding the necessity of nails. This doctrine is well understood at Weihaiwei and followed there as far as practicable. The explanation of the nailless coffin given by De Groot is that it dates from a period in extreme antiquity when iron was unknown. The form of coffin that was adopted in a primitive age from necessity is used in modern times from a spirit of conservatism, or from reverence for a custom that time has sanctified. (See De Groot, op. cit. vol. i. pp. 95 and 286-7.) In Weihaiwei and many other places a single nail which serves no practical purpose is driven in (only far enough to make it immobile) on one side of the coffin-lid, and this nail is decorated with parti-coloured threads. The people of Weihaiwei seem to have no explanation of this custom, but it is evidently a kind of charm to bring wealth, happiness and an ample progeny to the family. The charm is based on a play on the word ting, "nail," which also means a man, or male offspring. As the nail (ting) is driven into the parent's coffin, so, it is thought, will there always be males (ting) to carry on the family; and as these five-coloured threads are wound round the nail, so will wealth, prosperity, honours, long life and many children be the portion of the sons of the family for all time to come.