9. Deified Ghosts: Popular and Authorised Interpretations of Religious Symbols


Mio Yuko





1. Introduction



In analyzing the worship of Ong-ia, one of the most popular "gods" in Taiwan, against the backdrop of its historical and social development, this paper attempts to explain how Ong-ia worship began and expanded in Taiwan.[1] In addition, I would like to explain how "gods" like Ong-ia have been or are being created within Han Chinese cosmology in Taiwan. I would like to examine these questions using mainly field data collected in Yun-lin district.
I have taken up the study of Ong-ia for three reasons. Firstly, many different tales describe the origins of Ong-ia. Although these spirits are now all called Ong-ia, they were originally all characterised as "ghosts". However, Ong-ia are now all considered "gods". Secondly, since the Qing period, temples that enshrine Ong-ia have always been among the most numerous in Taiwan. The lasting popularity of Ong-ia temples indicates that Ong-ia has been one of the most trusted "gods" among the Han Chinese immigrants from the mainland. Thirdly, the custom of enshrining Ong-ia in temples seems to have developed after the Han had migrated to Taiwan. In the early nineteenth century, no Ong-ia temples existed in Fukien and Kwangtung, the provinces from which many Han Chinese migrated to Taiwan at that time (See Table 1), although some customs associated with Ong-ia existed in these provinces. The fact that the worship of Ong-ia developed after the Han Chinese migrated to Taiwan suggests that this change is closely related with Taiwanese history and social conditions.
Moreover, an analysis of Ong-ia worship, I believe, is useful in understanding the distinctive cosmology of the Han Chinese in Taiwan. Many anthropologists assert that the Han Chinese cosmos is composed of three kinds of spiritual beings: sin ("gods"), kui ("ghosts") and cho'-sian ("ancestors"). This definition, however, seems too static and limited for understanding occult interpretations of many phenomena in Taiwanese society. The worship of Ong-ia is a case in points. The definition the anthropologists provide does not explain the change that Ong-ia underwent from "ghosts" to "gods". I think we have to consider the dynamic process of change in categories of spiritual beings.
The second section describes Ong-ia worship, highlighting its distinctive characteristics. This section also outlines some typical tales of origin and some rituals such as ong-chio and gia-ong. The third section deals with the worship and rituals of Ong-ia in Yun-lin whose population mostly consists of immigrants from Fukien. I argue that Ong-ia is conceived of as subordinate to the supreme "god" Thin-kong, and the rituals concerning Ong-ia symbolise the political link between the emperor and the people in the mundane world or between the supreme "god" and the people in the spiritual world. In the fourth section, I explore the mechanism by which an Ong-ia changes from a "ghost" to a "god". I also present a new general model of the process of the metamorphosis of the Han Chinese spiritual beings.

2. The characteristics of Ong-ia temples



The number of Ong-ia temples

As I said at the outset, Ong-ia has been one of the most popular "gods" in the Han Chinese society of Taiwan. The oldest record of Ong-ia temples in Taiwan can be traced back to the Kang-xi period of the Qing dynasty. According to Taiwan Fu-zhi Wai-zhi, for example, there were two toa-ong temples in the Peng-hu islands in the Kang-xi period (Liu, 1966: 73). We can find mention of seventy-nine temples in local documents of the Qing period in all (Cai, 1989: 113). These temples, however, were mentioned by government officials sent from mainland China. This meant that they were not well informed about local circumstances and may not have noticed some of the smaller temples, so we may guess there might have been more Ong-ia temples at that time than were recorded. It is certain that Ong-ia had been trusted by immigrants from mainland China since the beginning of the Qing period.
Table 2 shows the number of main "gods" enshrined in temples in Taiwan from 1918 to 1981 (Yu, 1982: 81). Ong-ia ranked second in popularity in 1918 and 1934, and first from 1950 onwards. The only more popular "god" in 1918 and 1934 was Fu-de Zheng-shen, the earth "god", due to the fact that immigrants must erect a temple to a guardian "god" of the earth or land as soon as they reclaim new ground and decide to settle there. This means that Ong-ia has been the most trusted "god" in Taiwan for many years. Moreover, according to the research carried out in 1918 and 1934, Ong-ia temples were mainly located at Peng-hu, Tai-nan, Tai-Chung, Kao-hsiung, and Ping-tung where immigrants settled earlier than other places (Liu, 1966). It is certain that Ong-ia had fulfilled its function when the social order was not yet firmly established.



Table 1. The number of important temples in Fukien and Kwangtung in the 19th Century (Cai, 1989)


Wu
W
S
Zh
B
Ch
M
Ta
Gu
X

Fuzhou
1
0
0
0
0
1
17
5
18
6

Xinghua
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
3
2
1

Quanzhou
0
0
0
1
4
2
9
4
7
3

Zhangzhou
0
0
0
0
2
5
9
6
10
2

Tingzhou
0
0
0
0
1
0
8
7
14
7

Yongchun
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
2
3
1

Longyan
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
3
0

Jiayingzhou
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
5
0

Huizhou
0
0
0
0
0
1
7
2
14
2

Chaozhou
0
0
2
3
0
0
4
1
10
2

Total
1
0
2
4
7
10
67
30
86
24


Key:
B: Bao-sheng Da-di
Ch: Chen-yuan-guang
Gu: Guan-gong
M: Ma-zu (Ma-tsu, Ma-cho')
S: San-shan Guo-wang
T: Tai-shan-shen
W: Wang-ye (Ong-ia)
Wu: Wu-wen-shen
X: Xuan-tian Shang-di
Zh: Zhan xun, Xu yuan

Table 2: Changes in the number of main "gods" enshrined in Taiwan temples (Yu, 1982: 81)



1918



1930



1950


Name
No.
%

Name
No.
%

Name
No.
%

1.
F
669
19.25

F
674
18.41

W
677
17.63

2.
W
447
12.86

W
534
14.59

G
443
11.54

3.
M
320
9.21

M
335
9.15

M
383
9.97

4.
G
304
8.75

G
329
8.99

F
327
8.52

5.
X
172
4.95

X
197
5.38

Sh
306
7.97

6.
Y
143
4.11

Gu
157
4.29

X
267
6.95

7.
Gu
132
3.80

S
121
3.31

Gu
192
5.00

8.
S
119
3.42

B
117
3.20

B
141
3.67

9.
B
109
3.14

Sh
103
2.81

S
124
3.23

10.
Sa
72
2.07

Y
86
2.35

Z
94
2.45















1966



1975



1981


Name
No.
%

Name
No.
%

Name
No.
%

1.
W
556
13.26

W
747
13.99

W
753
13.59

2.
F
449
10.71

G
565
10.58

G
578
13.44

3.
G
428
10.21

M
494
9.25

M
510
9.21

4.
M
381
9.08

Sh
480
8.99

Sh
499
9.01

5.
Sh
308
7.34

F
385
7.21

X
397
7.17

6.
X
270
6.44

X
375
7.03

F
392
7.08

7.
Gu
192
4.58

Gu
334
6.26

Gu
356
6.43

8.
B
139
3.31

B
160
3.00

B
162
2.92

9.
S
129
3.09

S
133
2.49

Sa
135
2.44

10.
Z
94
2.21

Z
114
2.14

Z
115
2.08


Key:
F: Fe-de Zheng-shen
G: Guan-yin
Gu: Guan-gong
Sa: San-guan Da-di
M: Ma-zu (Ma-tsu, Ma-cho')
X: Xuan-tian Shang-di
S: San-shan Guo-wang
Sh: Shi-jia-mou-ni
W: Wang-ye (Ong-ia)
Y: You-ying-gong
B: Bao-sheng Da-di
Z: Zhong-tan Yuan-shuai


The names and characteristics of Ong-ia

Ong-ia has various other names, such as Ong-kong, Chhian-sui, Tai-thian-sun-siu, etc. Ong-ia and Ong-kong originally meant "Imperial prince" and were used as honorific titles for a king within the feudal system. Chhian-sui was also used as an honorific title for a feudal lord. It literally means "one thousand years old", in contrast to Ban-sui, which means literally "ten thousand years old" and refers to the emperor. Tai-thian-sun-siu has the secular meaning of making a tour of inspection and guarding people. Originally, it meant that the emperor ordered feudal lords to go around on tours of inspection instead of him and this meaning was borrowed by religion. Similarly, Ong-ia accepts the order of Thin-kong, the supreme "god", goes down to the human world, patrols there, and guards people. After that, Ong-ia goes back to the heavenly world and reports incidents which happened in the human world to Thin-kong.
Moreover, it is very interesting that there are as great a number of Ong-ia as there were feudal lords in the mundane world, and that each Ong-ia has its own surname and its official duty. It was once said that there are 360 Ong-ia surnames in Taiwan, but just over 130 surnames were found in practice (Marui, 1919:35-37). Actually, people form several Ong-ia (usually, three, five, seven or twelve) into a group and dedicate a temple to this group.
Each Ong-ia has its image whose face looks villainous. Its expression is intended to keep people in awe (Maejima, 1938:624). This is in striking contrast to Ma-cho' (The Empress of Heaven) and Kuan'im (the Goddess of Mercy) who are also very popular "gods" in Taiwan but whose faces are very peaceful. They are very merciful and can relieve anyone of any kind of sufferings. Ong-ia, on the contrary, is very cruel and judges people's wrongdoings severely. The god's cruelty is closely related to shamans, Tang-ki. The possibility that a Tang-ki will be possessed by Ong-ia is higher than with other "gods". A Tang-ki who is possessed by Ong-ia is thought to be very cruel. He transmits Ong-ia's will to people and gives advice or orders to them.

Ong-ia festivals

There are some kinds of festival concerning Ong-ia. One of them is Ong-chio, the cosmic renewal rite held by Ong-ia. It is held every three, five or twelve years. At some temples, it is held irregularly. At an Ong-chio festival, Taoist priests preside over rituals, of which the highlight is the one in which a paper boat is made, paper images of Ong-ia put on board, and the boat either floated on the water or burned. Originally, according to Sui-shu (Matsumoto 1983:213), chio means to dedicate offerings to "gods" and present a petition to Heaven in the evening. In contemporary Taiwan, chio means to worship "gods" in a temple in order to pray for fertility and the peace of the community. Not all festivals held at an Ong-ia temple, however, are Ong-chio. For example, Ngo-ni Ong-ia (five-year-Ong-ia) festival held at Ma-ming-san in Yun-lin is one kind of chio, but not Ong-chio. At Xiao-liu-qiu island in Pengtung County, another kind of Ong-ia festival called gia-ong is held every three years. People carry about sedan chairs and walk through the streets and they eventually burn an Ong-ia boat, but they do not have an Ong-chio ritual (Mio, 1990). Roughly speaking, there are two kinds of Ong-ia festivals. One is accompanied with chio, and the other is not.

Tales of the origin of Ong-ia

There are various accounts of the origin of Ong-ia:

1. Plague spirit: Many tales describe Ong-ia as being originally an un-sin. Un means tropical fever, such as plague, malaria, or typhoid fever. There had been periodic epidemics in southeastern China and Taiwan and each time many people died of un. Traditionally, they believed that pestilence was caused by evil spirits such as un-sin and if un prevailed, they must expel it through exorcism. This kind of exorcism was originally called nuo. Ming period records indicate that patients in Fukien drove spirits of the plague away when they were recovering from the illness. They had made paper images of the spirits and had floated them away on a boat (Ino, 1965 [1928], vol. 2: 453). The custom of floating away spirits of the plague, however, changed slightly after people migrated to Taiwan. A local document describes how, during the Kang-xi period, people residing in several neighboring villages jointly held a sang-un ("sending the plague spirits away") ritual every three years (Maejima, 1938:48). In Fukien, most rites to drive plague spirits away were held by an individual who had recovered from an epidemic. In Taiwan, on the other hand, it became a communal festival to prevent the plague from spreading which was held periodically by several communities jointly.[2]
2. The embodiment of 360 jin-shi, high ranking government officials: Many tales describe how an emperor awarded the status of "god" and the title of Ong-ia to these officials because of their untimely and unnatural deaths. No accounts of this type, however, survive in authentic official documents. In general, when people worshipped a spirit enthusiastically, officials would report this to an emperor and he would award this spirit an official title of a "god". In the case of Ong-ia, we cannot find this process in official histories and accounts remain only in novels or oral histories. One typical account goes as follows:
One day during the Tang dynasty, 360 high ranking officials were playing music in a basement of the imperial palace. At that time, a magician named Zhang Tian-shi visited an emperor. The emperor wanted to try the ability of this magician and asked him if the music was played by men or "ghosts". Zhang answered that it was played by men. The emperor said that there could be no men living in a basement. Zhang said "if it is played by men they will die when I stab a sword into the floor, but if it is played by 'ghosts' they will not die." He tried it out and all of them died. The emperor could not help believing in his magical power. The officials, on the other hand, appealed to Yama, that they had been falsely charged by the emperor. Yama accused the emperor and reproved him for his evil deed. The emperor repented of his own folly and awarded the status of "god" and the title of Ong-ia to these officials (Suzuki, 1975: 506-7).
Another version of the legend survives in which officials and plague spirits are closely linked. For example, after five high-ranking officials were killed as described before, their spirits were given magical paraphernalia by Zhang, and they made the emperor and many other people sick. The supreme "god" had pity on them, healed them, and at the same time awarded the status of "god" to the spirits of the five officials (Maejima, 1938: 40-42).
A further similar legend runs as follows. When five members of the gentry were going to the capital to take the examination, at one place they heard people say that a plague spirit had cast a poison into a well in order to spread an epidemic, so these five men threw themselves into the well to save the people. It is said that these five men ascended to heaven and later became Ong-ia (Suzuki, 1975: 507).[3] The number of officials is in some versions five, but in other versions 360. In another version, twelve men make up the party. In Taoist sutras, twelve Ong-ia are called Chap-ji-ni tat-ni Un-ong, "twelve-year princes of plague on duty", meaning that each of these twelve spirits has its own surname and is put in charge of its own year (Kang [Katz], 1990: 161-2).
3. Koxinga: As mentioned before, originally Tai-thian-sun-siu meant that an emperor ordered feudal lords to go on tours of inspection instead of him, and this custom was extended to the religious world, even though, in origin, the term did not have any religious implications. Moreover, in Fukien, we cannot find a "god" called Tai-thian-sun-siu. So, this kind of "god" was created only after many Han Chinese migrated from Fukien to Taiwan (Cai, 1989).
Koxinga was an political hero who tried to re-establish the Ming dynasty and who set up a base in Taiwan. He and his son were respected by immigrants and were worshipped as ji-ong, two princes, after they died. Their dynasty, however, was overthrown in the time of Koxinga's grandson. The Kang-xi emperor was afraid that their remains might become a spiritual symbol for the Taiwanese people of resistance to the Qing dynasty, and removed them to the mainland. After that, the Taiwanese people deplored their removal and began to hold a ritual at irregular intervals to the memory of these three heroes. It is said that this rite was the origin of the Sang Ong-chun, "seeing off the princes' ship" (Lian, 1979 [1921], Cai, 1989).
Many other tales survive, and we cannot say that only one story is the correct one, and that the others are nonsense. We might infer that there are several families of Ong-ia. For example, it is said that three Ong-ia run in the family of Koxinga, but others do not (Shi, 1981). It is also said that twelve Ong-ia run in a different family from the others. There are other cases of each Ong-ia having its own special legend. In my paper, I make no attempt to show which legend is the most reliable. However, we can extract common features of the various kinds of Ong-ia from these different legends, which will be analyzed below.

3. Ngo-ni Ong-ia



In this section I would like to analyze one case study, that of Ngo-ni Ong-ia, or Twelve Ong-ia in Yun-lin.
This temple is named Ma-ming-san Tin-an-kiong, and its main "god" consists of twelve Ong-ia images. In 1990, I had an opportunity to observe the great festival held every five years and in 1991 I joined the annual small spring festival.
Ma-ming-san Village, from which there has been recent large-scale outmigration, is located in the rural area of Yun-lin County. Usually one can hardly find any villagers in the village, but the temple is one of the most famous Ong-ia temples in Taiwan and there always are many visitors coming from all over the country.
Ma-ming-san Village was established by immigrants from Quan-zhou, Fukien about 300 years ago. Originally they had been worshipping a kind of Ong-ia named Lau-zu Ong-ia. One day in 1662, Lau-zu Ong-ia suggested that heavenly "gods" were arriving by sea on the northwest coast of this village and that the villagers should meet these "gods". They found a ship washed up on the shore, on which was hung a piece of cloth, on which the words Tai-thian-sun-siu Ngo-ni-Chhian-sui were written in ink. Other finds included three images of "gods", one incense pot, three lit incense sticks, a scroll of cloth on which the names and birthdays of twelve Ong-ia were written, and so on. Then, the villagers told people of several neighboring villages that they should come and see these "gods" and erect a small temple jointly. After they subsequently rebuilt this temple many times it became a large luxurious temple. Ngo-ni Ong-ia, the main "god" of this temple, is also called Chap-ji Ong-ia, or twelve Ong-ia. Each of these twelve Ong-ia has its own statue, name and birthday. I could not collect any legends that connected Ngo-ni Ong-ia with the spirit of plague. According to the history published by the administrative committee of the temple, after arriving at Ma-ming-san village, Ngo-ni Ong-ia informed people that it had come from Quan-zhou with power delegated by the supreme "god", and would investigate the people of the area in order to praise their good deeds and punish severely their evil deeds. It is also recorded that after that revelation, the number of worshippers increased radically because Ngo-ni Ong-ia came often and had cured people and livestock of epidemics.

Table 3. Miracles Accomplished by Ngo-ni Ong-ia

No.
Date
Place of Ong-ia's Manifestation
Suggestion by Ong-ia and Result





1.
1856
?
Because there was an epidemic, the "god" ordered purification with grass grown around the temple. At last the epidemic died down.

2.
1879
Xia-lun village and Bo-zi-liao village
Many people in the two villages were killed as the result of a marriage dispute. The "god" ordered the assailants to pay compensation for the deaths in order to make peace.

3.
1884
Si-hu and Nei-hu
An ox raised by two Si-hu villagers was stolen by Nei-hu villagers. There was a violent fight and 17 people were killed or injured. The "god" passed sentence and everyone obeyed it.

4.
1893
Ma-ming-san Village
A gang of thieves attacked the village and many villagers were killed. The "god" admonished the head of the gang. He repented and dedicated an opera to the "god".

5.
1895
Si-hu
Many people died of an epidemic. Because the "god" patrolled the village and made people drink magical water, the epidemic died down.

6.
1945
Taipei County
Because a doctor was falsely charged by the Japanese, he wanted to kill himself. However, the "god" appeared to him in a dream and persuaded him to be patient for a while. After the war ended he was cleared of the charge.

7.
1951
Ma-ming-san
It was decided to change the date of a ceremony, but a big fire broke out. As the "god" did not agree to the change, the original schedule was followed.

8.
1966
Taipei County
The "god" prophesied a traffic accident: a driver inspected his bus and found that a screw was loose in one of the wheels.


(Source: Ma-ming-shan Zhen-an-gong Guan-li Wei-yuan-hui, 1970)

In this history, however, can be found many miracles accomplished by Ngo-ni Ong-ia which were not related to epidemics (see Table 3). It is likely therefore that Ngo-ni Ong-ia came to be considered an almighty "god" at an early stage.
I visited about fifty villages which join in a large festival held every five years, and collected tales about the origin of Ngo-ni Ong-ia, but I could hardly find any which suggested a relationship between the plague spirit and Ong-ia. The most popular tale is that Ngo-ni Ong-ia was twelve "gods" who had originally been high-ranking government officials suffering from an unnatural and untimely death as the result of an emperor's mischief. Of course, because there are no epidemics in contemporary Taiwan, people nowadays would not necessarily connect the spirit of plague with Ong-ia. For them it is more meaningful that Ong-ia is the representative of the supreme "god" and is invested with complete authority. So, at this kind of large festival, people expect Ong-ia to assure them of more general benefits, such as the maintenance of peace and order in society, or the prosperity of the whole community, rather than concrete and individual benefits, such as curing a disease. Of course, Ong-ia receives individual requests at the festival, but will only carry them out if he has an opportunity. What he should do in the festival is to take charge of communal rites.[4]
According to my research, many people told me that Ngo-ni Ong-ia was very ferocious and if people did not keep their promises to him, Ong-ia would punish them severely. What is more, Ngo-ni Ong-ia is said to be outrageously tyrannical. Many informants living in villages which take part in the large festival told me about one typical episode. Ngo-ni Ong-ia was so tyrannical that if a child stumbled over something in front of him at the festival in his honor, Ngo-ni Ong-ia would surely have him "led away" (i.e. killed) in order to make him one of his own soldiers. Ngo-ni Ong-ia had also often "led away" worshippers who had tasted the seasoning of offerings made to him. He could not forgive people who ate offerings to him before he ate them. He was so cruel that people trembled with fear.
One day, Ngo-ni Ong-ia found that many people had gathered to worship Ma-cho' of Pei-kang. He asked her why people were not willing to come to worship him, and why she was more popular than him. Pei-kang is located within the religious territory of Ngo-ni Ong-ia, but Ma-cho' of Pei-kang has worshippers all over Taiwan and is more popular than Ngo-ni Ong-ia. Ma-cho' answered that Ngo-ni Ong-ia was too cruel for people to approach him. She added that "gods" as well as people were not willing to enjoy offerings because he did not let people taste the seasoning of the offerings. It is said that after talking with Ma-cho', Ngo-ni Ong-ia repented of his past misdeeds and became more tolerant, and that therefore the number of worshippers increased.


Map1
Map 2

Another legend which many informants pointed out is that Ngo-ni Ong-ia is deaf. It is said that originally the supreme "god" ordered Ngo-ni Ong-ia to go to Chu-lo-san (now called Chia-yi), but that he misheard and went to Ma-ming-san.
These two legends, about Ngo-Ong-ia's cruelty and deafness, are not recorded officially in the temple history, though most worshippers know about them and believe them. There is a difference of interpretation about the characteristics of Ngo-ni Ong-ia between people and the official record made by the temple. The native interpretation suggests that Ngo-ni Ong-ia had originally been very dangerous and had been different from ordinary "gods". Because these features are usually attributed to "ghosts" or intermediary beings between "gods" and "ghosts", such as Iu-eng-kong, Ngo-ni Ong-ia was given a marginal position in the world of "gods". On the other hand, for the temple committee what is important is how Ngo-ni Ong-ia was given authority by the supreme "god". Thus it is stressed that Ngo-ni Ong-ia can solve lots of people's problems as the representative of the will of the supreme "god", and that the temple can preside over the chio festival.
We can classify the settlements of worshippers into three categories: elementary villages; incense villages; and branch or friendship temples. There are twelve elementary villages and they are located around Tin-an-kiong. Ancestors in most of these villages met Ong-ia when he first came from China (see Table 4 and Map 1). These villages are the most elementary units because members of the temple committee are elected from villagers living in these villages. Moreover, at the annual festival held on January 15th of the lunar calendar only these villages join in. This festival is held to pray for the peace and prosperity of these villages. The events which make up the festival are very simple. At around 7 o'clock, people gather on the temple and a priest (hoat-su) meets the twelve Ngo-ni Ong-ia and their soldiers. After that, the procession starts. The twelve Ong-ia are divided into two groups, the East line and the West line (see Table 4) and each group forms a parade following a fixed route. Each village has one or more musical bands or folk performance groups and they follow this in procession. The palanquins of Ngo-ni Ong-ia are carried by the villagers. When the procession marches through a particular village, the villagers living there carry the palanquins, and when the procession arrives at the the boundary with the next village, the men in the next village take them over. Each procession goes around prescribed villages and returns to the temple by the evening. In the evening, having encountered Ngo-ni Ong-ia, people dedicate Taiwanese traditional opera performances to the "god". At the other annual festival held in the autumn, the villagers also dedicate opera performances to express their gratitude because the "god" has taken care of the villagers and made the land fertile.[5]
These villages are now divided into five branches (ko': see Table 4). A branch is the basic unit for the organisation of festivals because each branch has to take turns at taking charge of preparing lunch for all the participants in the annual spring festival. In 1991, H-1 village took charge of it. At the large festival held every five years, worshippers from all over the country come to join the festival, but in these cases also, these five branches play the very important role. Each branch has to prepare a large altar (toan) around the temple to make offerings to the "gods".
The incense villages (hiun-chng) also play an important part in the activities of this temple, but these villages only take part in large festivals. They are located in the coastal area of Yun-lin and Chia-yi (see Map 2). In 1990 about 260 villages joined in the festival. In the old days, some villages took part in the festival jointly, but now each village joins in separately. A committee in each village selects the date during September and October (the lunar calendar) to make a pilgrimage to Tin-an-kiong and to accompany an image of Ngo-ni Ong-ia to their own village. Villagers expect Ong-ia to make a round of inspection in the village and they make offerings to him to express their gratitude. It is not certain when villages around Ma-ming-san began to take part in this ritual, but in the opinions of elder people, villages north of Pei-kang river had already joined in before the Showa Period. According to my research, many villages south of this river began to participate in the ritual during and after World War II. This was because in some villages people originally living in the northern areas migrated to the south because of flooding or overpopulation. In another village, when villagers worshipped Ngo-ni Ong-ia during World War they were unharmed despite the air raids and after the war, they decided to hold a ritual meeting with the god every five years.
The third group is composed of branch temples and friendship temples. Branch temples are given authorisation to set up a statue of Ngo-ni Ong-ia in their own temples by the temple committee of Ma-ming-san Tin-an-kiong. These temples have no obligation to take part in festivals held by Tin-an-kiong, but most worshippers of these temples voluntarily form their own pilgrimage groups to take part in the chio rite (the cosmic renewal rite). It is the largest and the most important rite in the large festival held every five years and this rite is held during the last five days of the festival. They also bring their statues of Ngo-ni Ong-ia and other images of "gods" worshipped in their own villages to Tin-an-kiong to show them the rite.
Friendship temples are not so closely related to Tin-an-kiong as branch temples. Because worshippers from these temples have come to Tin-an-kiong to make a pilgrimage before, they are invited to take part in the cosmic renewal rite. It means that these temples originally had no relationship with Tin-an-kiong, but when worshippers made a tour of pilgrimage, they visited Tin-an-kiong because the temple is very large and famous. Therefore, they have the option of taking part in the rite.
As described above, there are held two kinds of festivals in Tin-an-kiong. One is the annual festivals held in spring and autumn, and the other is the large festival held every five years during September and October. The annual festivals are more localised and I think have a longer history than the large festival because villagers taking part in it are all living near the temple and most of them are descendants of those who had first met the images of Ong-ia. The area in which villages taking part in the large festival are located and their villagers' way of participating in it suggest that people of these villages had begun to worship Ngo-ni Ong-ia later than those of elementary villages. Moreover, it is certain that the geographical location of worshippers has gradually moved south.

4. From "Ghost" to "God"



In this section I will discuss three issues using the case material above. First, I would like to examine the process by which the knowledge of Ong-ia and its rituals were constructed historically and socially. Secondly, I would like to analyze the ritual process of the Ong-ia festivals and make its political characteristics clear. Finally, I would like to present a new model which explain how "gods" are created in Han Chinese cosmology.
We will begin by considering the question of the knowledge of Ong-ia. Sources of knowledge can be divided into three. Firstly there are records and legends which have been mentioned in the general discussion of the "god". In a Taoist sutra, Dao-zang, which we can consider to have been authorised by the Ming dynasty, twelve Ong-ia are described as spirits of the plague. In Taiwan, there remain many kinds of legends about Ong-ia, and some of them clearly indicate the relationship between Ong-ia and spirits of the plague. But these tales were mostly collected before World War II. For example, during the latter part of Japanese colonial rule, many ships which enshrined Ong-ia drifted from mainland China to Taiwan. It is said that these ships were set adrift in order to drive an epidemic away from mainland China and it was believed that Ong-ia could bring people who met them good fortune if they worshipped them in Taiwan (Taiwan Kanshuu Kiji, Vol. 3). According to other records, in the Qing dynasty, there were periodic large festivals held in many places, in which people made a paper boat, installed a paper Un-ong (king of plague) in it and set it adrift to prevent an epidemic from becoming prevalent (Maejima, 1938). Moreover, there remain some legends that connect spirits of the plague and high ranking government officials. For example, in Chekiang, Dor collected a legend that explained the spirits of the plague as five high ranking officials killed by the mischief of an emperor (Dor, 1965-7). In Taiwan also, it is recorded in Taihai Shi-cha-lu that 360 high ranking officials killed by magic became spirits of the plague (Maejima, 1938:42). Judging from these records, we can see that formerly some kind of Ong-ia had been closely linked to high ranking government officials who transformed themselves into spirits of the plague.
The second group consists of official histories of Ong-ia recorded by current temple committees including Ma-ming-san Tin-an-kiong. Generally speaking, these records do not mention the relationship between Ong-ia and spirits of the plague, although some of them mention that high ranking officials became Ong-ia. According to the history recorded by the temple committee of Ma-ming-san Tin-an-kiong, as we have seen, the origin of Ngo-ni Ong-ia is not mentioned in detail except that he had been originally more efficacious against diseases of men and livestock. At Pou-tsu in Chia-yi county, there is another Ngo-ni Ong-ia temple which is said to have no relationship with Ma-Ming-san's Ong-ia. This Ngo-ni Ong-ia consists of 15 "gods" and their surnames are different from the surnames of Ma-ming-san's Ngo-ni Ong-ia. In its official history the linkage between spirits of the plague and Ong-ia is not mentioned. It is said that their Ngo-ni Ong-ia came there on board a ship and when people around there began to worship them jointly, Ngo-ni Ong-ia suggested that they had come from Quan-zhou, in mainland China to hold rites obeying orders of the supreme "god". Ngo-ni Ong-ia also added that their duties are to go around on tours of inspection, to praise Men's good deeds and punish their evil deeds, to cure disease and to protect their community, the people and the state (Pu-zi-zhen Zhen-an-gong Guan-li Wei-yuan-hui 1991) .
At Tung-shih there is also an Ngo-ni Ong-ia temple which is not related to Ma-ming-san Tin-an-Kiong. This Ngo-ni Ong-ia consists of thirteen "gods" and their surnames are also different from the surnames of Ma-ming-san's Ngo-ni Ong-ia. According to the official history edited by the temple committee, these Ngo-ni Ong-ia came there one night in 1913 and wrote four Chinese characters, Tai-thian Sun-siu, in the sky using divine light. The history also adds that each Ngo-ni Ong-ia has a different tale of origin. For example, one was originally Na-zhuo Tai-zi, a child who plays an active part using magic in a famous novel Feng-shen yan-yi. Besides him, Ngo-ni Ong-ia in this temple include generals of various periods, officials, a doctor, and so on (Xian-tian-gong Guan-li Wei-yuan-hui 1980).
There is also an Ngo-ni Ong-ia temple at Chung-shan village in Mai-liao district. According to the monument erected by its temple committee, once upon a time a villager found a bamboo cylinder drifting when he was fishing at sea and in it there were four flags on which names of Ngo-ni Ong-ia were written. However, the origin and characteristics of Ngo-ni Ong-ia were not mentioned. A caretaker of the temple told me that Ngo-ni Ong-ia came from mainland China and although their final destination was Chia-yi originally, because of the good geomantic characteristics of Ma-ming-san they decided to settle there via Chung-shan. This means that people in Chung-shan began to worship Ngo-ni Ong-ia earlier than people in Ma-ming-san.
I also visited kinds of Ong-ia temples other than Ngo-ni Ong-ia. There are cases in which three Ong-ia make up a group, or where five Ong-ia make up a group (cf. the section on the origin of Ong-ia above). However, neither in these or other famous Ong-ia temples could I collect any tales which suggested a relationship between Ong-ia and spirits of the plague. For example, in one temple which enshrines five Ong-ia at Ma-toh in Tai-nan county, it is interesting to note that when I asked a temple committee member whether or not Ong-ia was in origin a plague spirit, he flatly denied it and told me that kind of view was nonsense fabricated by scholars.
The third group consists of tales that are meaningful for present worshippers of Ma-ming-san Tin-an-kiong. They believe that Ngo-ni Ong-ia were high ranking government officials. But for them, it is more important that Ngo-ni Ong-ia is deaf and very ferocious.
So we have to examine two problems. One is what the differences of knowledge of Ong-ia among these three groups mean. The other is whether there are common features among these three kinds of interpretations in spite of their apparent differences or not and if there are, what are they.
I would like to consider the former question first. We can find some evidence that some kinds of Ong-ia, especially Ngo-ni Ong-ia, originated from spirits of the plague. However, this interpretation was either rejected or forgotten afterwards. Of course, one practical reason is that in contemporary Taiwan epidemics do not become prevalent because of medical progress, and people need not depend on supernatural beings to alleviate them. However, it is interesting to note that for common people worshipping Ngo-ni Ong-ia as a violent and dangerous "god", these characteristics of violence and danger are important because they are the source of its power and efficacy.
On the other hand, so far as the rank or the dignity of a temple is concerned, the marginality or dangerous characteristics of the main "god" is not improper. The Han Chinese, according to the anthropologists' analysis, believe "gods" to have been people who had led lives full of virtuous deeds and who were then enshrined and given court ranks posthumously. The Han Chinese also believe, the anthropologists add, that because "ghosts" had no sons or suffered unnatural deaths, such as murder or suicide, they often do harm to people if they are not taken care of properly (Jordan, 1972; Wolf, 1974). Judging from the above, because the characteristics of Ngo-ni Ong-ia people believe in may be those of "ghosts" in origin and are not suitable for authorisation by the temple, the temple committee might have concealed them intentionally and have only handed down records which were convenient to promote Ngo-ni Ong-ia as being an authentic "god".
As for the second question, that of common elements in these different interpretations, in whichever form Ong-ia are thought to originate, they are all marginal and dangerous beings as stated above. Their existence is a threat to social order and they may become a menace to humanity if they are left as they are because they are potentially dangerous. This is why spirits expelled or adrift from mainland China had to be worshipped at many places in Taiwan and why people should worship Ngo-ni Ong-ia of Ma-ming-san in spite of his violence. Mary Douglas (1966) argues that to be on the margins of society is to be in contact with danger, and at the source of power. Certainly, we find countless examples of evidence from ethnographic data that marginality and danger, when incorporated into a social order, spawn creative power. Thus, Ong-ia became powerful beings exerting great influence upon the Taiwanese people.
Secondly, I would like to consider the political characteristics of Ngo-ni Ong-ia festivals. As mentioned above, there are three different categories of worshippers based on how they join in the festivals. In this paper, I would like to exempt the third group from analysis because it commonly happens that a temple has branch temples or that worshippers of a temple make pilgrimages to many temples including both the original temple from which it developed and other popular temples. Here I think it enough to confirm that, for a temple, having many branch temples and friendship temples gives it enormous popularity and religious authority. Ngo-ni Ong-ia has a different meaning for worshippers in the first group, i.e. those in the elementary villages, from those in the second group, i.e. the incense villages. Its difference is due to Ngo-ni Ong-ia's whereabouts and the way he is seen by villagers. For people belonging to the second group, Ngo-ni Ong-ia is a visitor practically coming from Ma-ming-san Tin-an-kiong and ideally coming from Heaven. He is invested with full power by the supreme god and is dispatched to his district of jurisdiction to make an inspection and bring peace to the community. People and "gods" in a local community should therefore meet and receive him warmly lest he should make an unfavourable report on incidents which happen there to the supreme "god". We can say their relationship with Ngo-ni Ong-ia or with Heaven is almost the same as that with a feudal lord or an emperor [6]. Therefore, once they see him off, he becomes a less important being, and more detached from problems from which people suffer in everyday life. It means that he can guard people in a more abstract sense. It is the duty of "gods" residing in a community as local officers in the mundane world to deal with these problems.
He is a more complex being for people in the first group. On one hand, he is a representative of Heaven and he holds chio festivals periodically at Tin-an-kiong. On the other hand, however, he usually resides in Tin-an-kiong and plays the role of an local officer. He is both a resident of the local community and an agent of the supreme "god". However, according to the memories of elders, before World War II, every time they had a chio festival, they floated Ngo-ni Ong-ia on board down the river in front of the temple. They say that after the war, they stopped floating it because diplomatic relations between mainland China and Taiwan had been broken off. Nowadays this custom remains in a few communities belonging to the second group. We can guess Ngo-ni Ong-ia had a more distinct character of a visitor even in communities belonging to the first group before.
The two points discussed above bring us to the following generalisation. First of all, we can guess that in origin Ngo-ni Ong-ia had a close relationship with the plague. However, this fact may have been gradually forgotten or intentionally concealed by some groups. Secondly, from the point of native interpretation, some features in common with spirits of the plague - marginality, danger, multivocal power etc. - remain until now. Thirdly, in the process of ritual practice, people recognise and strengthen the socio-religious order and authority brought by Ngo-ni Ong-ia. It may appear that the second point is inconsistent with the third point. However, from the standpoint of native interpretations, marginality, danger, and multivocality of Ngo-ni Ong-ia indeed can consolidate his power, efficacy and authority.
Last of all, I would like to present a new operational model which explain how "gods" are created in Han Chinese cosmology. At first, we should make one important point about spirits for the Chinese, which is that every Han Chinese spirit has two aspects - one that is beneficial to mankind and the other harmful. Most importantly, whether the actions and effects of spirits are beneficial or baneful depends on the judgement of the living. If a "god" causes a bad effect, people never interpret the effect as an evil spell. They believe that the "god" is inflicting punishment on them because they committed immoral deeds or acted profanely against him. However, if a "ghost" brings the same bad effect, people interpret it as an evil spell. Yet if a "ghost" acts mercifully toward people and they realise that the number of good effects is greater than the number of bad influences, the "ghost" may approach becoming a "god". Conversely, if a "god" constantly fails to bring blessings upon people, it may become forgotten by them. In short, any Chinese spirit may become a "ghost" or a "god", depending not only on its effects, but also on people's interpretation.
Then, we have to consider the condition for spirits to become a "god". As mentioned above, Ngo-ni Ong-ia in origin had suffered unnatural deaths, and after their deaths, they were not given court ranks by emperors formally. However, in the practical process of the metamorphosis of spirits, I guess that the deification of spirits precedes the conferment of court ranks, that is that their true past identity becomes unimportant. In addition to the case of Ngo-ni Ong-ia, we can find some similar evidence. In contemporary Taiwan, one kind of gambling, called Da-jia-le is very popular and many people depend on some kind of spirits to have lottery numbers told. Most spirits on which they depend in origin should be classified as "ghosts". However, once a spirit which they had consulted proved to be very efficacious, more people come to consult it and often they decide to make a "god" image and build a sumptuous temple for it. Even if his past identity is disreputable, he can be recognised as a "god" and be treated in the appropriate way. In contemporary Taiwan, especially, there is no emperor to give spirits court ranks. Therefore, people can freely create "gods". In many cases, they decide to have spirits raise to a rank of "god" according to oracles by shamans (Mio, in press). I guess that in the case of Ngo-ni Ong-ia, although there were emperors in the Qing dynasty, the central court was too far away for Taiwanese people and control by officials was not always complete. Therefore, even if Ngo-ni Ong-ia became widely worshipped, there were no officials to notice it or report it to emperors.
Lastly I should add one more point. As I suggested above, the deification of spirits precedes conferment of court ranks and their true past identity becomes unimportant. In the case of Ngo-ni Ong-ia, at the same time its past identity became forgotten, and an authoritative story that it had been high ranking government officials and the ritual of their being dispatched by Heaven periodically to make an inspection tour, was given emphasis. In many cases, whether a spirit is given a court rank or not, if it becomes popular enough to be seen as a "god", it may be provided with an apparently authoritative and authentic myth. In the case of Ma-tsu, we can find much evidence for this in historical documents (Li, 1979).

Notes



1. Place names and local terms are transcribed in the glossary at the end of the book as follows: Most of the village and deity names are transcribed in the church system of Fukien Romanisation, (In the glossary list, this is suggested by 'f'). Names of big cities, county- and higher-level administrative units in Taiwan are transcribed in the customarily accepted Pekinese Romanisation. However, some of them are transcribed in Pin-yin, as are the names of several of the more famous "gods". A few words are transcribed using the Hepburn system of Japanese Romanisation (J).
2. In mainland China, however, one kind of rite was held communally to exorcise Wu Wen Shi-zhe, five epidemic messengers. In most cases, the rites were held on May 5 (Kang [Katz], 1990).
3. There are some other kinds of legend suggesting the relationship between officials and Ong-ia. See Maejima, 1938, So, 1938, Cai, 1989 etc..
4. In some communities there are Ngo-ni Ong-ia temples which are branch temples of Ma-ming-san Tin-an-kiong. In these temples Ong-ia usually receives individual consultations. In other cases, there are no Ong-ia temples in a village, but are some shamans possessed by Ngo-ni Ong-ia. In these cases also, Ong-ia takes on settlement of individual troubles.
5. The annual autumn festival is not held when the large festival is held.
6. It is often pointed out that the spiritual world of the Han Chinese is a copy of the traditional mundane world. For example, an emperor is compared to the heavenly supreme "god" and various "gods" are stratified as same as government officials (Wolf, 1974, Ahern, 1981).

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Updated 4 June 2020