Jerome Yuchien's Ph.D Thesis
Chapter Four: Festival Dates of the Three Deities (part II)
According to the Chinese Almanac, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is the birthday of "the Seven Star Goddess" (Chhit-niu-ma). The main task of the Goddess is to look after children, and there is a common belief that all children under the age of sixteen come under her protection. Once a baby has reached, or sometimes almost reached, its first birthday, its parents take it to a temple to worship the Seven Star Goddess in order to engage her protection. During worship, ancient coins, silver medallions, or lock medallions are hung on red ribbons and placed around the neck of the child as an amulet. If she is the child's protectress, at dusk of the seventh day of the seventh month of every year, offerings of soft cakes (a type of steamed dumpling with a hole pressed in the centre), are made at doorways to worship the Goddess. Upon reaching adulthood (age sixteen) the child must go to a temple on the birthday of the Seven Star Goddess and thank the Goddess for her protection over the last sixteen years by offering noodles, a rite called "taking off the amulet" (see also, Wei & Coutanceau 1976:66f). Besides, a rite called "Leaving the House of the Seven Star Goddess" is to be performed in addition to the "taking off the amulet" (see also, Wei & Coutanceau 1976:66f).
The fifteenth day of the eighth month is known by the English world as the "Moon Festival" and called "Tiong-chhiu-cheh (literally, the Mid-Autumn Festival)" by Taiwanese.(note.7) In addition, the Moon Festival, which always occurs on a full moon, is also set aside as the birthday of the Moon Goddess. As on many other festival days, everyone must worship their ancestors and the Land God on this occasion.
It is now the beginning of autumn, a season in Taiwan of clear skies and mild weather after the hot, damp summer. This festival is usually blessed with blue skies and clement temperatures; so when night falls, a luminous, full moon shines in the star-filled sky - a wonderful sight after the prolonged haziness of summer. As a tribute to the Moon Goddess, families set up incense altars in their gardens, and on these small, round altars are set out a pair of red candles, four types of fruit, moon-cakes and lighted incense to worship the Moon Goddess (Pai geh-niu) (Wei & Coutanceau 1976:93).
In Taiwan, I do not find the Moon Goddess as a popular protectress of children. However, the report from Fuzhou by Hodous (1929:179f) illustrates that in some places of China, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is also the date to worship the "mother", a goddess who protects children and the Seven Star Goddess.
So far, it is clear that the birthday festival of the Bed Goddess can be on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month or at the end of each year. The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is also considered to be the birthday of the Near Water Goddess. The birthday festival of the Seven Star Goddess can be held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month or on the fifteenth day of eighth lunar month. Moreover, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is also the festival of the "mother goddess". The main task of all these goddesses is to protect children. Therefore it is my hypothesis that the reason the devotees of these stones and trees hold festivals on the same days as these protective goddesses is that both of these two groups of deities share the same function, that is, to be guardian of children.
4, they believe they are following the traditional dates of Stone and Tree Gods:
The birthday festival of the Stone God of Ka-ho Ward (#S36; see figure 38) is celebrated on the 19th of the first month. I asked why celebrations for the Stone God are held on this day, and they replied: "because the day is the 'genuine day (Chian- jit)' of the birthday of the Stone God." I think that the date for the birthday of the Stone God is really traditional and thus "genuine", since more than thirty years ago, the informants at the same locale told Liu Zhiwan (1961:162) that: "the Stone God's birthday is on the eighteenth or nineteenth day of the first lunar month."
Nevertheless, the neighbours of the Temple of the Stone God of Sia-thau Rural-town (#S6; see figure 6) said to me that the birthday of the Stone God (of Sia-thau) is on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh lunar month, even though they did not know why it was on that specific date. However, I think the reason it is on the twenty-fourth of the eleventh month is that they follow the traditional day for Chinese to worship certain natural objects such as the Stone God and the Tree God, on the Winter Solstice which falls on or around the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh lunar month (Burkhardt 1958c:161; Eberhard 1970:21).
5, the date is mixed up with that of the Land God:
At first, I guessed that the reason the believers of the Tree God of Tun-ho Ward (#T14; see figure 79) just hold celebrations for the Tree God on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month is that it is on the same day as some goddesses who are the protectresses of children. But I was given an account that about 250 years ago, a group of kin crossed the Taiwan Straits from Fujian Province to Tun-ho Ward of Chhau-tun Town. When they settled down, they used three stones to build a shrine for a statue of the Land God under the banyan tree. Later on, the stones and the statue were covered by the trunk and became invisible; people began to call the tree "the Tree God," and not the Land God. However, they still hold birthday celebrations for the Tree God of Tun-ho Ward (#T14; see figure 79) on the fifteen day of the eighth lunar month, the date for the birthday festival of the Land God of the area whose statue is now in the trunk of the tree.
Moreover, the reason the birthday festival of the Tree God of Chheng-bek Ward (#T32; see figure 98) is celebrated on the second day of the second lunar month is that the Tree God is mixed up with the Land God. Therefore, it is probable that the birthday festivals of the Stone God of Tiong-guan Ward (#S19; see figure 19) and the Stone God of Sion-lim Ward (#S33; see figure 35) are on the second day of the second lunar month, and the birthday of the Stone God of Su-Lim District (#S50; see figures 53 & 54) is celebrated on the sixteenth day of the eighth lunar month all because they are mixed up with the Land God.
6, they identify the date with that of some specific deities other than the Land God, the Stone God, and the Tree God:
Some festivals are held on some specific days for some stone/tree deities because they are identified with some specific deities other than the Land God. For instance, Mr. Phuan Hong- guan and his fellow believers celebrate the birthday of the Grandfather of the Ancient Temple of An-lam District (#S40; see figure 42) on the twenty-third day of the third lunar month. Asked why this day, they answered: "Because the Ancient Temple God is a part of the ancient Temple of the goddess Ma-cho., it is also a part of the goddess Ma-cho.. We hold the celebration for him on the twenty-third day of the third lunar month, the same day as the birthday of the goddess Ma-cho.."(note.8) The stone Granny of Chhim-khen Rural-town (#S45; see figure 48) is also the same. I questioned the custodian on what day they hold birthday festivals for the goddess. He answered that: "the stone goddess is the goddess Ma-cho., certainly, her birthday is on the twenty- third day of the third lunar month."
The believers hold celebrations for the phallic stone identified with the First Divine Patriarch of Chiang-chiu District of Chiam-teng Hamlet (#S49; see figure 52) on the sixteenth day of the second lunar month. They say that because: "the (phallic) stone is "Kai-chiang seng-ong (the First Divine Patriarch of Chiang-chiu District of Chiam-teng)" and the two (testes) stones are his bodyguards, we hold festivals for the god on the sixteenth day of the second lunar month, the standard birthday of the god "Kai-chiang seng-ong".
The main festival of the stone Turtle (#S56; see figure 61) located beside Ken-ki Road, the main road leading to Yilan County from Taipei, is celebrated on the seventh day of the sixth lunar month. The temple custodian told me that this is because a Chinese story book mentions that there was a stone turtle god and that the birthday of this stone turtle in the story was on the seventh day of the sixth month. The adherents of the stone Turtle (#S56; see figure 61) follow the idea and celebrate the birthday of the god on the specific day.
The Autumn Maple God of Lam-kang District (#T33; see figure 99) is even more interesting. Neither the custodian nor the neighbours of the temple knows why they hold the main festival for him on the eighteenth day of the fifth lunar month. However, because the statue of the patron deity is moulded and dressed like "Sian-gong", the most popular and influential deity in this mountain area, I think that they might more or less have identified the Autumn Maple God with the influential god "Sian- gong" and follow the tradition to hold the festival the eighteenth day of the fifth lunar month, the same day as the birthday of the god "Sian-gong". According to the Almanac published and circulated by Muzha Xian'gongmiao, the most popular and influential temple of Xian'gong cult in Taiwan, and to a hagiography cited by Katz (1993), Xian'gong was born on the fourteenth day of the fourth lunar month. The eighteenth day of the fifth lunar month is, according to the Almanac, the memorial day of deification (chengxian jinianri) of Xian'gong. However, people in Lam-kang District do not distinguish these two different dates and think the eighteenth day of the fifth lunar month is the birthday of Xian'gong.
In front of a big goddess temple in Sai-kang Rural-town, a tree is venerated as General Chu (#T29; see figure 95), the associate and guardian of the goddess. I was told that because the location of the tree is so close to the goddess temple, it must be General Chu who closely guards the goddess. Therefore the birthday festival of the tree god is held on the eleventh day of the sixth lunar month, the standard birthday of General Chu.
7, they schedule the date of the same deity's festival date:
As above-mentioned, it is important in the popular religion that rites are carried out at the proper time; therefore, it is important that the birthday festivals are celebrated on the "genuine day". Nonetheless, in the observances, friends and relatives from neighbouring communities are invited to enjoy with deities the entertainment associated with the festival such as opera or puppet performance and to feast on the sacrifices, after the gods have consumed the essence of the offerings. If all temples of the same deity hold birthdays on the "genuine day (Chian-jit)' of the birthday of the God", people would have had fewer opportunities to entertain and to exchange feasts (cf, Sangren 1987:96). Additionally, if the birthday festivals of the same deity of the adjacent hamlets are held on the same day, then it would be more expensive to get food for the festival and to hire an opera troupe. Therefore, informants agree that, socially and economically, it is better that festivals should be scheduled on different dates in neighbouring parishes. However, some scheduling conflicts are unavoidable, since people feel that the birthday celebration ought to be held as near as possible to the "genuine day" (Lin Mei-rong 1987:69; Sangren 1987:97).
Having this idea in mind, we can understand why the birthday festival of the stone Land God of Tong-an Street (#S42; see figure 44) is held on the thirteenth of the eighth lunar month and the festival of the stone Land God of Tua-kham Village (#S51; see figure 55) is celebrated on the eighteenth of the eighth lunar month. It is because they are scheduled on different dates but near the fifteenth of the eighth month to avoid the "genuine day".
In spite of this, I was told by the devotees of the stone Land God of Tong-an Street (#S42; see figure 44) that though they hold celebrations on the scheduled date and not on the "genuine day" (the fifteenth of the eighth month), it is even better to celebrate before the "genuine day". Therefore they chose the thirteenth of the eighth month to hold celebrations, the date as near as possible to the "genuine day" and appreciated by the God.
III. Why Some Deities Have no Birthday:
However, devotees of some places do not hold festivals for their deities. Among the 61 stone deities I studied, believers in 25 stone deities do not organise any birthday festival for their deities. Among the 39 tree deities studied, the believers of 16 tree deities do not hold any birthday festival for their deities. Why do these deities have no birthday? I attribute this fact to four reasons:
