House Gods

Chinese house gods sacred beings who are believed to protect and bring blessings of “fu” into the home setting. They were placed on family altars or shrines after being consecrated by a monk or priest in an eye-opening ceremony. Over 200 gods and goddesses were worshiped not including hundreds of local deities for each town, village and city. It is difficult to identify individual Chinese house deities since China’s four religious traditions, Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Popular Religion, have blended so thoroughly it is difficult to extract one religion and its artistic traditions from the other. According to Fowler, “each of these has its own particular characteristics, the cross-fertilization of beliefs and practices between all four has been prolific, resulting, almost, in a fifth genre—Chinese religion. Thus, it is often difficult to extract Taoist from Confucian, Buddhist and popular beliefs and practices let alone identify particular deities. Common house gods include the Earth God, the Kitchen God, and a wide range of wealth gods. Although the Communist party outlawed these gods as “suspicion” when it took over the Chinese government in 1949, they continue to be worshiped privately in homes in China and world wide.

Sources:

Jonathan Chamberlain, Chinese Gods, Selangor, Pelanduk Publications, Malaysia, 1997

Jeaneane D. Fowler, An Introduction to the Philosophy and Religion of Taoism: Pathways to Immortality, London, Sussex Academic Press, 2004

Jeaneane D. Fowler and Merv Fowler, Chinese Religions: Beliefs and Practices, London, Sussex Academic Press, 2007