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A Puppet Without An Ear

王泥喜法介

王泥喜法介

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Jun 6, 2018
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At Chinese funerals, sometimes a pair of puppets was buried with the dead, and this story is about this.

I am not sure whether you have an impression of this or not. But for readers of "Dragon Ball", it is not strange because Chiaotsu takes his shape from the male puppet. Another photo below is a snapshot from a Hong Kong movie, the poor guy was asked to dress like a male puppet to avoid a disaster.

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Now turning to the story, the main character is the mother of the narrator. One day, his mother received a call and was told a friend passed away. His mother then immediately left the office and went to the home of that friend. That friend came from a village in the outskirts of the city, so his mother drove herself there.

In the midway, his mother was so tired and accidentally slightly crashed into a pallet truck that carried two puppets. The owner of the truck was so angry and asked the narrator's mother to pay off it. His mother explained that she was so sorry for her carelessness because she had to hurry to attend her friend's funeral.

Hearing this, the owner ceased and told her that he was also going to attend this. The family ordered two pupppets for the dead. His mother then checked the two puppets and found them intact, only an ear of the male puppet was dislodged.

Then his mother attended the funeral in time and then left. Because she was so tired that day, after driving another while, she fell asleep in the car and dreamt a dream.

In this dream, she saw that friend invited her to visit the new home. In the narrator's mother's memory, the house looks big and nice, and there were two cute kids, a boy and a girl. His mother then stared at the two kids and found the boy had only one ear. In the dream, his mother then asked her friend why the boy had only one ear. The friend replied the boy lost one ear in a crash.

Then the narrator's mother woke from the dream and noted that the two kids were probably the puppets she had seen in the way.
 
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王泥喜法介 said:
This is the whole story. But if you know, I can write some more.
Click to expand...

I think people wanted to know more about puppies being buried at Chinese funerals.

Was this common? When and where was this tradition practised?

Are you referring to this?

Dogs Sacrificed by Shang Dynasty Were Just Pups. Some Were Even Buried Alive.​

By Stephanie Pappas
Published May 08, 2019

The Shang Dynasty ruled China's Yellow River Valley between 1600 B.C. and 1046 B.C., the second of China's dynasties, following the Xia, which was established around 2070 B.C. The Shang practiced both animal and human sacrifice, disposing of sacrificial remains in burials pits, or laying the sacrifices to rest in the tombs of the dead. Dogs, in particular, were often buried in pits just below the torso of the deceased, perhaps to act as an eternal guard in the afterlife.

Surprisingly, though, most of these eternal guard dogs were puppies, said Roderick Campbell, an archaeologist at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.

"Puppies, that sounds horrible," Campbell told Live Science. "Why would you sacrifice a cute little puppy? On the other hand, if it's not your puppy and if you're living in a society where you don't have the same assumptions of dogs and cuteness … it's a cheaper investment in the animal. You don't have to raise it yourself."

Campbell and his colleague Zhipeng Li of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences rounded up data from multiple Shang Dynasty sites where dog sacrifices occurred and published the research in March in the journal Archaeological Research in Asia. It's difficult for foreign scientists to get excavation permits in China, Campbell said, so the data came largely from older finds by a variety of researchers.

Dogs, Campbell said, have been used in rituals in China for as long as archaeological evidence extends; there are dog burials dating back 9,000 years at the Neolithic settlement of Jiahu.

Continued in more detail:
https://www.livescience.com/65425-puppies-sacrificed-shang-dynasty.html
 
Yithian said:
I think people wanted to know more about puppies being buried at Chinese funerals.

Was this common? When and where was this tradition practised?

Are you referring to this?

Dogs Sacrificed by Shang Dynasty Were Just Pups. Some Were Even Buried Alive.​

By Stephanie Pappas
Published May 08, 2019

The Shang Dynasty ruled China's Yellow River Valley between 1600 B.C. and 1046 B.C., the second of China's dynasties, following the Xia, which was established around 2070 B.C. The Shang practiced both animal and human sacrifice, disposing of sacrificial remains in burials pits, or laying the sacrifices to rest in the tombs of the dead. Dogs, in particular, were often buried in pits just below the torso of the deceased, perhaps to act as an eternal guard in the afterlife.

Surprisingly, though, most of these eternal guard dogs were puppies, said Roderick Campbell, an archaeologist at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.

"Puppies, that sounds horrible," Campbell told Live Science. "Why would you sacrifice a cute little puppy? On the other hand, if it's not your puppy and if you're living in a society where you don't have the same assumptions of dogs and cuteness … it's a cheaper investment in the animal. You don't have to raise it yourself."

Campbell and his colleague Zhipeng Li of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences rounded up data from multiple Shang Dynasty sites where dog sacrifices occurred and published the research in March in the journal Archaeological Research in Asia. It's difficult for foreign scientists to get excavation permits in China, Campbell said, so the data came largely from older finds by a variety of researchers.

Dogs, Campbell said, have been used in rituals in China for as long as archaeological evidence extends; there are dog burials dating back 9,000 years at the Neolithic settlement of Jiahu.

Continued in more detail:
https://www.livescience.com/65425-puppies-sacrificed-shang-dynasty.html
Click to expand...
Oh, I see and I just find that I have made a silly mistake because I misspelled "puppet" into "puppy". In fact, some kid-like puppets would be burned or buried with the dead at the funerals.
 
王泥喜法介 said:
Oh, I see and I just find that I have made a silly mistake because I misspelled "puppet" into "puppy". In fact, some kid-like puppets would be burned or buried with the dead at the funerals.
Click to expand...
Still unsettling. Sounds like a faint remnant of an ancient practice of child sacrifice.
 
escargot said:
Still unsettling. Sounds like a faint remnant of an ancient practice of child sacrifice.
Click to expand...
As far as I can see, the puppets are deemed as servants for the dead. According to Chinese funeral rituals, the family of the dead often make paper-products, such as paper-house and paper-puppet, and burn them at the funeral. Most Chinese conventionally believe those objects burnt at the funeral will go with the dead to the another world.
 
王泥喜法介 said:
Oh, I see and I just find that I have made a silly mistake because I misspelled "puppet" into "puppy". In fact, some kid-like puppets would be burned or buried with the dead at the funerals.
Click to expand...

An easy mistake to make, given the similar sound in English.
There is also the term "poppet" which, in folklore/witchcraft refers to an effigy, sometimes buried in a coffin.
 
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I am so relieved. I was avoiding this thread as I found the idea of puppies being buried with the dead quite horrific. Now I know it's puppets I can come back, those creatures are only worth burying. Except Sweep, he's a sweetie.
 
It happens, Last night I saw a film where someone announced they were having"Roast Puppy for supper" having mistranslated "Chicken" from English to German.
 
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