Note 622 — Chapter III · SYMPATHETIC MAGIC (continued 3)

J. J. M. de Groot, The Religious System of China, i. 60–63. Among the hairpins provided for a woman’s burial is almost always one which is adorned with small silver figures of a stag, a tortoise, a peach, and a crane. These being emblems of longevity, it is supposed that the pin which is decorated with them will absorb some of their life-giving power and communicate it to the woman in whose hair it is ultimately to be fastened. See De Groot, op. cit. i. 55–57.