They Burned Letters to the Dead on Ayer's Hill
Olympia's Chinese community gathered at a hillside cemetery in 1891 to honor eight departed countrymen with roast pork, red candles, wine and paper messages sent into the next world.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Yesterday was one of more than ordinary note. It was one of the three occasions of the year when Chinese residents visit the graves of their departed brethren and convey to them messages of love and remembrance. This ceremony occurs in March, June and October of each year, and after the more solemn part of the proceedings is disposed of, they go in for a good time. Wine flows like water, and cigars are generously distributed among any visitors who may have the good fortune to be present.
About twenty Chinese residents were driven to the Chinese burying ground at the top of Ayer's Hill yesterday, where lie the bodies of eight of their brethren. They were accompanied by J. B. Blodin, foreman for Foster Laberee, and by Henry Kirkendall. With them they took enough provisions to feed a small regiment: roast pork browned to a finish, roast chicken, apples, rice, wine, cigars and delicacies of all kinds.
With a shovel they first cut a pathway or gutter around the graves so that it touches the head and foot of each grave. Then red candles are placed in rows and permitted to burn during the entire ceremony.
On the ground are placed eight little cups filled with wine, and each Chinese resident present, one or two at a time, kneels before the cups or goes through the motions which are supposed to invite the spirits from God. The motion is simple: as he kneels, he swings forward three consecutive times, bowing his head to the earth. Then on rising, he spreads his feet apart and swings his clasped hands to and fro, as one does in preparing a heavy stone.
After some prayers, the solemn part of the service is followed with a small fire in which are consumed innumerable letters to the dead, the letters being written on paper especially prepared for the purpose. Every vestige of paper is destroyed. The services being over, the Chinese residents proceed to make away with the provisions they have taken with them. Anybody who is present is courteously invited to join them. The remaining wine is poured upon the fire, but all articles of food are carefully collected and brought home. The next celebration will occur in March.
“After some prayers, the solemn part of the service is followed with a small fire in which are consumed innumerable letters to the dead, the letters being written on paper especially prepared for the purpose.”
The Chinese burying ground on Ayer's Hill has vanished, and Olympia's early Chinese residents are often remembered only through the anti-Chinese expulsion era. This account recovers a moment of ordinary ritual, mourning and community at a time when Chinese Washingtonians faced relentless hostility.
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