Jerome Yuchien's Ph.D Thesis
Chapter Five: The Deification of Stones and Tree (part IV)
C, With Phallic Appearance:
In Sion-lim Ward, a phallic stone about 100 cm in height is worshipped with two round stones each of 30 cm diameter in a hole of a big tree. Even though the stones look like a phallus and two testes, the villagers regard them as the Stone God (#S33; see figure 35) and are not aware of the suggestive form of the stones as a sexual organ. Nevertheless, women who are pregnant like to worship him to bless their unborn children.
On the top of a hill called "Chiam-teng" (literally, the Pointed Top) in Lai-o. District of Taipei City, we can find an upright stone of 70 cm in height together with two round stones of 25 cm in diameter worshipped at the back of a big temple dedicated to a popular god named "Khai-chiang seng-ong" (literally, the First Divine Patriarch of Zhangzhou Prefecture). The history of the temple says that more than 200 years ago, a group of Zhangzhou people who fled the forces of another sub- ethnic group took refuge on the top of the hill. One person of the group took his amulet of Kai-chiang seng-ong from his body and put it on a long and pointed stone in the middle of two round stones and worshipped the amulet. That night, the enemies at the foot of hill saw the top of the hill was shining and thousands of soldiers had come to protect the people on the hill. Therefore the enemies were frightened and left. The people on the hill believed that it was the miracle performed by "Kai-zhang Sheng- wang" ("First Divine Patriarch of Zhangzhou Prefecture") and the soldiers that were seen at night were spirit soldiers of the god. As a result, they built a temple to worship him represented by the stones (#S49; see figure 52) in memory of the manifestation.
Beside the stone Granny of Ho-peng Ward (#S16), a phallic stone (#S15; see figure 15) wrapped with a red ribbon is worshipped. I was informed that the stone has worn a red ribbon since 1991 and is worshipped only by lottery gamblers.
III. How the Tree Deities were Deified:
1, Performing miracle:
Among the 39 sacred trees I have researched, 6 were deified because of their performing miracles. For instance, in front of Liong-tek Temple, one of the most important temples in Chhau-tun Town, a giant tree is venerated as the Tree God (#T20; see figure 86). In 1959, there was an enormous flood in the area. When the water came, many villagers survived by climbing up to the tree. Out of gratitude, people began to worship it and identified it with the Tree God.
The deification of the Tree God of Ho-peng Ward (#T26; see figure 92) is similar to the previous one. The big camphor tree of about 20 m in height; its trunk about 5 m round. It is located at the back of Ho-peng Primary School and in front of a big Tai- jion-ia Temple. According to some historical records of the Nantou Country, the tree has been revered as the Tree God since the Qing Dynasty. During the Japanese period, it was also looked upon by the Japanese as a divine tree, with posts erected to protect it from harm (Yuan Chang-rue 1993:13). The legend says that because the tree saved many children by letting them climb up to its branches in a big flood in the Qing Dynasty, the villagers regarded it divine and deified it as the Tree God since. From then on, the Tree God here became the protector of children and the nominal parent of unhealthy children of the villages around.
In the Jiaqing Era (1796-1821 CE.), Mr. Chhuah, a cowherd, and his playmates set an abandoned statue of Khu Hu Tai-Te (Emperor Khu) and some other deity statues under a banyan tree (#T30; see figure 96) and worshipped them for fun. Surprisingly, the deity statues on the tree disappeared and the tree became so divine that it attracted many local inhabitants to worship it. Then the tree was deified. Nowadays, the deified tree is identified with "the Tree King" (Chhiu Ong Kong) or with the deity statue set on the tree "Emperor Khu" (Khu Hu Tai-Te).
The custodian and elders chatting in the temple of the Tree God of Lam-kian West Road (#T34; see figure 101) told me that, originally, some public-spirited local inhabitants collected the unworshipped posthumous bones in the area to deposit them under a big tree and worship them. Later on, after the tree and the posthumous bones performed some miracles by healing skin diseases, people decided to initiate two temples side by side to worship the Land God, the Tree God and the posthumous bones. The tree was deified after that.
A legend says that a day the Emperor Jiaqing visited Taiwan, he and his bodyguards took a rest under a big tree. Surprisingly, a band of bandits came to ambush them. At that moment, a mysterious hero in red suddenly descended from the tree, defeated the bandits and saved the Emperor Jiaqing. The Emperor later realised that the hero was the spirit of the tree. Out of thanksgiving, the Emperor deified the tree as "the Tree King" (#T39; see figure 105).
About 150 years ago, Chap-ji Field was a sandy place. In their efforts to fight the floods brought about by typhoon from Zhenwen River every year, a sapling was planted one year in a peace festival by early cultivators as a protection against floods. As the young plant grew into a tree of enormous size standing out in the vast expanse of the rice field, and flooding was indeed reduced (Yuan Chang-rue 1993:3). Therefore, people deified it as the Tree God (#T28; see figure 94) after that.
About 40 years ago, Mr. Tan Khun, a poor herbalist, was told in a dream to worship the Autumn Maple tree on Gen-kiu-in Rd. When he came, he found one of the branches of the tree grew like a human head. He regarded this as a miracle and started to worship the tree and named it the Autumn Maple God (Ka-tang Kong, #T33). It is efficacious for healing skin diseases and children's sickness. It is said that those who suffered skin disease would recover quickly by applying the water in which bark they scraped from the tree had been soaked (Yuan Chang-rue 1993:14f). In 1977, when the herbalist became richer, he built the present temple "Shan Nan Gong" and set a statue for the Tree God. The statue is black-haired, red-faced one in a blue Taoistic gown, the same attributes as Xian'gong, the most popular god of the area.
2, With Enormous Size:
In Taiwan, trees of enormous size are likely to be deified. According to my field record, at least 15 trees were worshipped for this reason. Exactly speaking, they are not the biggest ones in Taiwan. However, because they are so big and distinguishable in their environs, they are regarded as divine. For example, the Beech Grandfather (#T16; see figure 81) of Ke-jiu Kia in Pak-si Ward is not the biggest tree in Pak-si Ward, but because it is located in an area of plain fields, it is very prominent like a landmark and thus deified. The villagers usually call it "the Beech Grandfather" ("Ke-jiu Kong") and regard it as the guardian of the fields and they worship it on the humble altar set under the tree.(note.8)
3, With Special Location:
In Taiwan, a rapidly urbanised country, most large trees located on plains have been cut down; why do some still survive? I attribute it to location beside temples. Indeed, the trees located beside temples are also less possible to cut down and more possibly deified. For example, the Banyan Tree Goddess of Thong-liang Village (#T27; see figure 93) was one of the potted trees delivered to the island by a trading boat about 300 years ago. The villagers planted it in front of the village temple Thong-liang Village. Many years ago, the tree, because it became big and wide, was deified as the Banyan Tree Goddess.
Beside the Stone God of Uan-lim Town (#S5; see figure 5), a tree is worshipped as the Tree God (#T1; see figure 66). Because the site where the stone was dug up about 200 years ago was beside the tree, people built the Temple for the Stone God beside the tree and have cherished it very much. About 100 years ago, when the tree had grown big and strong, it was deified and has been worshipped ever since.
The Tree God of Kim-bin Road (#T6; see figure 71) was originally the tree for the temple of the Land God of Kim-b? Ward. Fifteen years ago, when the tree grew extraordinarily big and when the lottery gambling "Everybody Happy" became prevalent, the tree began to be deified as a patron deity of gambling.
According to Mr. Li, a local leader, in the twentieth year of the Qianlong Era (1736-1796 CE.), a gentlemen called Li Chhong and his relatives crossed the Taiwan Straits from Fujian Province to the area (Tun-ho Ward). When they settled down, they used three stones to build a shrine of the Land God under the banyan tree. Later on, when the stone-made shrine was covered by the trunk of the tree, the statues of the Land God became invisible; people gradually forgot why they worshipped the tree and began to call the tree the Tree God (#T14; see figure 79), not the Land God. As a result of this, the villagers, though some still worship the tree as the Land God, had to initiate another shrine for the Land God beside the tree.
The Tree God (#T15; see figure 80) was originally the tree for the shrine of the Land God of To.-sian Ward, a small Hakka hamlet. About 100 years ago, when the tree grew extraordinarily big, the villagers began to deify it as the Tree God.
In front of the Land God Temple of the hamlet "Tua-khut" in Sin-hong Ward, a big tree is worshipped as the Tree God (#T17; see figure 82). I was told that originally the tree was for the temple of the Land God Temple. About 20 years ago, when it grew big and strong, people hung a red ribbon on the trunk of the tree and apotheosised it as the Tree God.
