Chinese Folk Worship is Popular Practice
By admin on 2014-12-16

Worship candles

Folk worship is an ancient religious activity and forms an important part of folk-custom in China.

There are numerous objects worshiped by people in ancient China. For example, there are some popular folk worship activities, such as worship of the God of Living Necessity, worship of ghost, worship of mountains & rivers and nature, worship of the god of Earth, worship of the god of Door, worship of Kwan-yin, worship of Fortune god, dragon worship and ancestor worship. 

People who believe in ghosts and gods think that the body will be decayed and the soul will turn into a ghost after a person dies. It is said some people's souls, instead of entering the "Hell (Yin world)", would remain in the Yang world, or come back to the Yang world from the "Hell", to bless or harm the people through dreams. Therefore, fortunes and, especially, diseases, are usually considered as the result caused by souls; and worship ceremonies on ghosts and Gods like "Sacrificing Ghost (Jigui)", "Calling Ghost (Zhaogui)" and "Driving Away Ghost" came into being.

The Door-God refers to figures of Gods pasted on the doors of fork families in China. People paste it to banish apparitions and evils and to guarantee the peace. Most figures are the two generals, Qin Shubao and Wei Cigong of the Tang Dynasty, which are usually pasted on the door to banish evils. Latterly, this convention of door God worship gradually promoted the popularity of New Year Picture.

The God of Fortune is one of most popular gods. To worship the God of Fortune is to worship the fortune. Since in the ancient people worried many dangers would arise during people's pursuit for fortune, they tried to seek protection from the God "Priest Zhao Gongyuan", hence the worship of the God of Fortune.