City God of the Palace of Felicitous Tranquillity 城隍境主

Posted by on Jan 23, 2018 in blog, Photography, Taiwan, Temple Culture | No Comments

City God of the Palace of Felicitous Tranquillity

or

慶安宮城隍境主 (Qingan Gong Cheng Huang Yeh) in Xigang, Tainan

Censer with The City God in Qing An Temples Cheng Huang Hall

Censer with The City God in Qing An Temples Cheng Huang Hall

The City God of the Palace of Felicitous Tranquillity in resides in the Cheng Huang Hall (城隍殿) which is to the left of the Main Hall Dai Tian Fu entrance and is commonly called the tiger entrance.

Civil and martial judges in Qing An Temples Cheng Huang Hall

Civil and martial judges in Qing An Temple’s Cheng Huang Hall

Worship of the City God began during the Zhou Dynasty and is commonly believed to be the protector of cities and the god who controls the Yin and Yang (the realm of the living and dead). His duties are twofold, the protector of a geographic area and as a judge who decides the fate of departing souls. There are City Gods at the provincial level, county level and city level. Following the Ming and Ching dynasties the City God was elevated from common god and granted a celestial post that could be held by those that possessed exemplary qualities when living. The city god worshipped at Qingan Temple is the very same city god that Koxinga prayed to in 1661 when he sailed into the Taijiang Inland sea to defeat the Dutch rulers.

Black-faced martial Judge in Cheng Huang Hall

Black-faced martial Judge in Cheng Huang Hall

Two celestial judge statues are to the left and right of the Qing An temple’s city god. The white faced ‘civil’ judge holds the ledger of life and death. This judge is in charge of recording the lifespan, the good and bad fortune, and the good and bad deeds one has accrued in their lifetimes.The other is the martial judge who metes out judgements in accordance with the evidence in the civil judge’s ledger

Ghost (or paper) money stacked against a wall of the Cheng Huang Hall in Qing An Temple

Ghost (or paper) money stacked against a wall of the Cheng Huang Hall in Qing An Temple

The City God celebrates a birthday on the eleventh day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar

Qing An Temple, Xigang

Censer in front of the City god with the martial judge in background, Qing An Temple