Jerome Yuchien's Ph.D Thesis
Chapter Seven: Lottery Gambling and The Three Deities (part V)
VII. the Land God and the Wealth God:
However, the stone Land God of San-tiau Hill (#S23; see figure 25); the stone Land God of Ai-liau Hamlet (#S31; see figure 33); the stone Land God of Chhien-kah Ward (#S39; see figure 41); the stone Land God of Chhau-o. Hamlet (#S61; see figure 65) are connected with the Lottery.
Why in most localities the Land God is not connected with the Lottery while in some places he is treated so? An exemplary case to offer the answer and to explain the complicated relations among the Stone God, the Land God, the Good Brothers, and the Third Prince is the locality named "Chap-si-hun" (literally, the Fourteen Shares) where the temple of the Grandfather of Yellow Stone of Lai-o. District (#S43) is located. The Grandfather of Yellow Stone was deified about 50 years ago because of its unusual location (see also Chapter Five). The temple was very popular for nominal adoption (see also Chapter Six) and is currently famous for revealing the Lottery numbers. However, the Bettors come to the temple not only to worship the Stone God entitled "the Grandfather of Yellow Stone", but also the Third Prince enshrined in the same temple. In addition, both the Land God temple and the Good Brothers temple located beside it are also worshipped by the Bettors for the winning numbers.
As I have explained in the previous sections, the Stone God, the Good Brothers, and the Third Prince are worshipped by the Bettors since they are all not bound by the officially approved morality. However, although people come to worship the Land God is also for the winning numbers, the notion of worshipping him is different. When asked why they were worshipping the Land God as a patron deity of the Lottery, most of the Bettors answered: "Because the Land God is a god of wealth (cf. Hu Taili 1991:155)." In Chapter Three, I stated that sometimes he is also seen as a wealth god, since wealth and prosperity depend on the quality of the crops and on the peace of the community. Moreover, he is venerated as a wealth god mostly by businessmen such as stall-holders, traders, shop-keepers etc. Therefore, my hypothesis is that the Land God who is worshipped in urban areas as wealth god is more likely to get involved with gambling.
Indeed, the worship of the Wealth God is common in Chinese world (Yang 1961:79). He is not only ubiquitous in shops and stores, but also widely present in many temples and even in private homes. In New Year Festival, red scrolls are hung on the side posts, proclaiming that "yellow gold is bestowed upon the lucky man" (Burkhardt 1958b:52).
Many deities serve as the Wealth God. Some are specialised gods concerned with blessing the acquisition of wealth, while others were all-purpose gods which assumed the additional function of imposing social and moral restrictions on the manner of attaining prosperity (Yang 1961:76). Guan'gong, for instance, the god of war and the symbol of loyalty, is often worshipped as "Wu Caishen" (i.e. "the Military God of Wealth"). In folkloristic interpretation, he was cast in his role of a wealth god not merely by his might to bring wealth but also by his spirit of justice and loyalty, which should govern the dispensation of wealth. The worship of the god Guan'gong and his kind not only is considered a favourable influence in one's efforts to acquire wealth but also commits one to the spirit of justice and loyalty after prosperity arrives (cf. Yang 1961:79). According to the legends portraying the Land God, to worship him as a god of wealth require the commitment to the spirit as implied in the case of Guan'gong.(note.19)
VIII. Conclusion:
During the years of my field research, I had many opportunities to chat with and interview the Bettors. Since the lottery was and is illegal, at first they were unwilling to tell me that they came to seek the winning numbers of the Lottery. However, believers of popular religion normally worship deities only during the daytime, but the Bettors carried out their worship almost always around midnight. Moreover, unlike normal worshippers who put offerings, lighted candles, burned incense sticks and burned spirit money, they only burned spirit money and stayed around the altars overnight and inspected the ashes of the incense sticks and/or the surface of the incense trays closely and repeatedly. An experienced field researcher could realise that they were Bettors seeking the winning numbers of the Lottery. As we became familiar with each other, they became more and more willing to tell me that they came for the winning numbers. I spent much time consulting them about how to use divination instruments and predict the winning numbers.(note.20) If they won in the Lottery, they bought gold plaques, hired a hand puppet show, a Taiwanese opera show, or even a striptease show to dedicate to the deities for thanksgiving. If they lost in the Lottery, they would consider that the time was still not mature, that the deities were unwilling to make them rich (cf. Yuan Chang-rue 1993:11). If they lost many times, they would think that the deity statue had been possessed by evil spirits and thus its hand must be cut off in order to prevent it from cheating the Bettors anymore (see figures 108 & 109).
Sometimes, when I asked why they liked to bet, people would answer me that betting was for recreation. In effect, it is a worldwide phenomena that the gambler may justify his/her losses as a fair payment for the pleasure s/he has obtained from the activity itself (Devereux 1968:54).
Sometimes, I seriously asked those whom I was relatively familiar with as to why they liked to bet, and they would, as seriously as I, answer that: "Life is harsh, the Lottery is the only way that I have a chance to get rich!" The content of their conversations, their clothes, the vehicles they drove, the vocabulary they used, all indicate the low social status and relative poverty of these people. A study (Sutton-Smith and others 1963:21; cf. Devereux 1968:56-57) points out that in the United States games of chance tend to be preferred by women and low-status economic groups - categories especially involved with positions of frustrating drudgery and with routine responsibilities. On the contrary, a preference for games of strategy and also games of physical prowess is more common among higher-status persons. The Lottery concerns only the luck of the Bettors; it is obviously a game of chance. Although that study was carried out in the United States, it can support the present case in Taiwan as well.
I believe that the prevalence of the Lottery is a reaction to the contemporary situation of the rapid social change in Taiwan. Actually, the majority of positions in the top ranks of the government, in the education and academic system, and in the military offices are possessed by the followers of the Government.(note.21) Those who are far away from the privileged have little chance to gain equal rights, no matter how hard they work. Nevertheless, since its rewards are distributed on the basis of pure chance, in the Lottery the factor of social inequality is minimised, and thus even the unprivileged people have equal chance to get rich and even to defeat the privileged.
Moreover, the previous examination of the divination instruments reveals the fact that the Bettors rely neither on extraordinary spiritual masters, nor do they depend on centralised priesthood. Additionally, through the analysis of the characteristics of the patron deities of the Lottery, we find that the Bettors favour the deities who are not bound by morality and who are outside the orthodox interpretation such as the deities I described in the previous sections. In other words, they favour "challengers" rather than "keepers" (see also Chapter Three). Just as Devereux (1968:56) maintains that "gambling would appear to make a mockery of the legitimate economy," I would say that to a certain degree the Lottery can be read as a resistance against or even subversion of those who are privileged and who set social values.
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(note.1)
Please see Hu Taili (1991) for a detailed description of the Lottery.
(note.2)
Under the pressures of rapid social change, those of a more pious frame of mind sought to reaffirm their religious and moral tradition through forming groups to foster it, and through claims to direct, new and direct revelations from ancient culture heroes. Indeed, both of these two factors, directly or indirectly, caused the resurgence of some folk sectarian societies in Taiwan. It is said that such a resurgence can be interpreted as a religious response to modernity (Jordan & Overmyer 1986:12-13).
(note.3)
For the historical experience of Taiwanese, please see Chapter One for details.
