Note 135 — Chapter VIII · VILLAGE CUSTOMS, FESTIVALS AND FOLK-LORE

For some interesting notes on the bridge-walking customs, see Rev. E. Box's "Shanghai Folk-lore," in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (China Branch), vol. xxxvi. (1905) pp. 133-4. These practices are not confined to China. In Korea, on the fourteenth and fifteenth of the first month the men and boys of Seoul walk over three particular bridges in succession, in order to safeguard themselves from pains in the legs and feet throughout the ensuing year. (See article by T. Watters in Folk-lore, March 1895.) For the beliefs of many races on the subject of the expulsion of evils in general, see Frazer's Golden Bough (2nd ed.), vol. iii. pp. 39 seq., 70 seq.