COCK, THE. In China if there has been delay in burying a coffin, " it is not unusual to see on the way to the grave a live white cock with its feet tied standing upon the catafalque." From ancient times the Chinese have regarded the cock as an emblem of the sun. A Chinese book says : " The cock is the emblem of the accumulated Yang (i.e. the sun) and of the South. Etherial things which partake of the character of fire and of the Yang element, have the property of flaming up: hence, when the Yang rises above the horizon the cock crows, because things of the same nature influence each other." The cock seems therefore to be placed upon the catafalque because it contains Yang matter or vital energy. Another reason is that it is supposed to keep away spirits of darkness. It is commonly believed, moreover, that these cannot withstand daylight, and are put to flight every morning by the cock's crowing. To impart vitality to a soul-tablet marks are made on it with blood taken from the comb of a cock. When per sons are lingering between life and death, or even when they are dead, the blood of a cock is supposed to have power to revive them. In funeral processions white cocks are preferred. In ancient times they were also preferred for exorcising purposes. See J. J. M. de Groot, R.S.C. Modern European Jews observe a cere mony in which a cock or hen (preferably a white one) plays a part. The bird serves as a kind of vicarious sacrifice on the day before the Day of Atonement. Usually a male person takes a cock, a female a hen. Psalm evil. 17-20 and Job xxxiii. 23-24 are first recited, and then, the right hand resting on the animal's head, the bird is swung round the bead three times. While this is being done, these words are said three times in Hebrew " This be my substitute, my vicarious offer ing, my atonement. This cock [or hen] shall meet
death, hut I shall find a long and pleasant life of peace." The bird is afterwards killed and given to the poor; or it is eaten and its equivalent in money given to the poor. The ceremony bears the Yiddish name " Kap parath-Schlag." See Oesterley and Box. The cock appears as emblem of the Attis-priest in an inscription on an urn in the Lateran Museum at Rome. Lucian speaks (Syrian Goddess, § 48) of " a certain holy cock who dwells hard by the lake " (the sacred lake of Hierapolis). According to W. G. Wood-Martin, on some of the islands off the western coast of Ireland, it is the custom on St. Patrick's day to sacrifice a black cock in honour of the saint. The Gadbas, a primitive tribe belonging to the Vizagapatam District of Madras, offer a white cock to the sun and a red cock to the moon. When the Oraons, an important Dravidian tribe in India, the members of which work as farmservants and labourers, celebrate at the Sarni festival the mar riage of the sun-god and earth-mother, the former is represented by a white cock and the latter by a black hen. After the marriage the cock and hen are sacri ficed. The Valans, a fishing caste in Southern India, hold a grand festival called Kumbhom Bharani (cock festival) in the middle of March, " when NEtyars and low caste men offer up cocks to Bhagavathi, beseeching immunity from diseases during the ensuing year " (E. Thurston and K. Rangachari). S. Couling notes that in Hongkong the form of oath for Chinese in Court was by cutting off a cock's head.