Block

Item number Edz1131 a-b from the MOA: University of British Columbia.

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Description

Two rounded brown wooden semicircular objects attached to each other by an orange string looped through a small hole in each of their tips.

History Of Use

Chinese people who practice popular religion use these blocks for making important decisions and solving problems. The string holding the blocks together has to be cut and removed. The petitioners are more likely to be women than men. They kneel in front of the shrine to the god who protects their household, or go to a temple and kneel in front of the altar behind which is the image of the deity to which the temple is dedicated. They then worship the god and state their question or petition, after which they throw the blocks on the floor three times. The answer to the question or petition is determined by the way the blocks fall, round side up or flat side up. This is considered to be the god’s answer.

Narrative

From a ritual goods shop in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. Mrs. Kwok Fung, Yin-ha, of Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, gave invaluable help to Elizabeth Johnson in the selection and purchase of these offering materials, a complete set of those needed by a household, and in explaining their meaning and how they were used.