Mu yu, the bath on the altar
On the merit-making altar the summoned soul is washed once: a basin of clear water and a set of paper clothes, the clothes burnt when the chant ends.
Pronunciation mù yù｜Rites of life｜One entry in the Chaoshan glossary
What it means
Mu yu follows zhao hun, the summoning of the soul. A basin of clear water and a set of paper clothes are set out on the altar; the master of the altar chants the section for bathing, and when it is done the paper clothes are carried to the burning place and set alight — the dead have been given a change of clothes.
The paper clothes are made to the sex of the dead, one set for a man and one for a woman. What is washed is the soul, not the body, which is why there is only a basin of water on the altar and no other vessels.
When you see it
On the merit-making altar, after the summoning and before the crossing of the bridge. Even a single-night service keeps this passage; what gets cut are the pardon, the carrying of the scriptures and the striking of the sand.
Words easily confused
It is not the mai shui before the coffining. There the water is dipped from the stream and the corpse washed; here a basin of clear water on the altar and the soul washed, several days apart. It shares its name with the third-day bath of a newborn and the bathing before a wedding, and each goes its own way.
Custom in Chaoshan funerals; this page describes only, and neither endorses superstition nor urges anyone to follow it.
Read next: Funeral custom: from merit-making to the coffin leaving.
See also: Rites of life: the five thresholds side by side, merit-making: whose feast is it.
Same group: summoning the soul, crossing the bridge.
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Last revised: 3 November 2026