Gods of Door

Some Gods of Door look terrifying. When I was a child visitng some of my relatives in the villages I was literally frightened and could not go to sleep at night. I had to sleep with my grandmother in her small bed. If I could not smell her pillow or her blanket I would be most upset. Her pillow was a lacquer Fujian pillow, which exuded a special fragrance. And her blanket which would often be sun dried had a warm welcoming fragrance.




If you know what I mean, my Ngie mah did not have the old ladies' smell. She always smelled so good.

Back to the Door Gods.

Menshen or door gods are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions. As my relatives were all Methodists they did not have the menshen to guard their doors.

The door gods were originally Shenshu (Chinese: 神荼) and Yulü (Chinese: 鬱壘) under the Han.

Later the deified generals Qin Shubao (Chinese: 秦叔寶) and Yuchi Gong (Chinese: 尉迟恭) became door gods from the Tang Dynasty onwards.

If there is only one door,Wei Zheng or Zhong Kui is commonly used.

When I visited Fujian where most village homes had two panels of doors, the door gods were well affixed. Some are horrifying figures. But some are lovely ones, like the photo above. I have taken quite a lot of photos of door gods. But unfortunately I cannot share them with my grandmother any more. She would have loved to see them

My fears come back to visit me again.