One Miao village in China says that dragons once guarded their families,
crops and animals from disaster. For years the villagers gave offerings to the
dragons for their help. But political and economic troubles intervened, and the
offerings ceased for 30 years. Faced with ill fortune, the villagers felt that
the dragons had retreated for lack of offerings.
In 1988 village elders
discussed how to bring the dragons back. Hundreds of images of people cut from
white paper and mounted on bamboo sticks were taken to the highest points of the
village where liquor was sprinkled, incense burned, and rice scattered. These
images are said to be 'shetong,' or the spirits of children who must be
coaxed back along with the dragons.
Because dragons were too large to
pull, a duck was symbolically dragged by a leash through its beak nostrils on a
complicated route ending at a shrine above the village. There,
chickens were killed on an offering table; more incense and paper money were
burned. But how could the people be sure the dragons would return?
They would have to tell the gods of their plight.
Legends say there was
once a great fir tree reaching to the heavens. Humans climbed it too
often, however, and bothered the gods; so Thunder struck it down.
Left with no other way to communicate with the gods, the villagers climbed to
the top of a mountain and thrust a bamboo branch into its crest, signaling to
the gods, 'All is not well.'
Pray:
- Father, thank You for the 'good news tree' at Calvary that bridges the gap between man and God.
- Yet a gap remains between those who know You and the millions of Miao who have never heard of Jesus' salvation.
- Would You would quickly and miraculously complete the financial need of a couple who have been waiting for nearly two years to return to the Miao, their return limited by lack of funds. Bring supporters alongside who will give and then pray diligently for them as they seek ways to get news of Calvary to a huge group of unreached Miao.
- Prosper the effort to get seed potatoes to villages suffering intensely as a result of the severe Chinese winter. All is not well for them. Use the provision of potatoes by Christians to show them that a loving God does know about them and care for them.
