Xigang, Sigang, temple, festival

Marshal Kang and Xin

Marshal Kang was reincarnated from one of the 36 Chinese Astrological stars. He was benevolent and merciful to all living beings when he was alive in mortal world. After he passed away, Emperor Yu Huang assigned him as Marshal Kang, to watch over the living beings on earth.

Marshal Xing was once a human in mortal world. He was known for his filial piety to parent. It's said that his mother accidentally wound a rooster which was disguised by spirit of thunder. So she was put to death for that accident. Xing felt grieved and strived to take vengeance on spirit of thunder. The Lord of Thunder was impressed by Xing's courage and dignity. So he gave Xing a magic panacea which turned Xing into a mighty spirit as well. So Xing was named as Marshal of Thunder, to guard the justice in human world.

Superintendent Fan and Xie

According to the legend, Fan and Xie were both bureaucrats in ancient China and engaged in crime fighting. Xie was tall and costumed in blue but Fan was short and dressed in black. They were close and faithful to each other. One day when they escorted a criminal who was sentenced to incarceration, that criminal escaped on the way to jail. In order to catch that fugitive, Fan and Xie separated and promised to meet each other again under the bridge later the day. Fan returned to the meeting point earlier, but unfortunately there's a flood coming around. In order to keep his promise, Fan stayed under the bridge and not went away. So he was drowned to death eventually. Later that day when Xie returned to the bridge, he saw Fan was dead with his arms still holding on tight to pillar of bridge. Xie blamed Fan's death on himself, so he hung himself under the bridge next to Fan. Emperor Yu Huang was touched by their friendship, so he retrieved their spirits and assigned them as the Superintendent of the Underworld, to arrest evil spirits and punish villains.

Mazu, Guardian of Ocean

Mazu is the deity worshipped by most people in Taiwan. The legend said that Mazu was born in A.D. 960 in Fujian province. When she's young, she was endowed with paranormal ability and able to foresee the future. She'd made lots of miracles and was admired by folks of that time. For example, she used to rescue sailor men from severe storms; call the rain forth when people were suffered in drought; she even assimilated two dreadful monsters and turned them into her best acolytes. In A.D. 987, she answered the call from celestial kingdom, ascended to sky and became a divinity.

In the following years, it was frequently witnessed that Mazu made her presence in many critical occasions, saved people from danger or threat. So more and more fishermen reverenced her as Guardian of Ocean and emperors from different dynasties honored her with different titles. In 1661 when Koxinga sailed to Taijiang lagoon and tried to disembark at Luermen, that night it happened to be low tide in Taijiang. So the whole fleet was tangled in lagoon and impossible to move on. Koxinga prayed to Mazu for help, then suddenly the tidal flow rushed into lagoon and brought the fleet to shore of Luermen. So after Koxinga defeated Dutch and settled in Tainan, he built a temple in Luermen as dedication to Mazu. Hereafter the worship to Mazu became popular in Taiwan. In year 1712, Qing An temple was bestowed a Mazu replica from Luermen temple. Then Mazu had become the host divinity of Qing An temple 'till today.

Guardian of Land

The homage to Guardian of Land has been existing since more than two thousand years ago. People believed that there's an invisible spirit watching over the land in which we inhabit. It's said that Guardian of Land was originated from Zhou dynasty. That time there's a governor who was righteous and kind to people all around. He was beloved by citizens of that state. After he passed away, a poor family made a tablet to symbolize him and prayed to it everyday. Surprisingly that poor family became very rich in few years and the village where they lived became prosperous soon after. So people who lived in that village built a temple in dedication to his spirit. Then more and more people from different places came to this temple to pay homage to him. The emperor heard this story and published an edict to honor him as Guardian of Land.

Guardian of Childbirth

The Guardian of Childbirth was actually a trinity of 3 divinities. It originated from legend "Fengshen – the investiture of Chinese divinities". That 3 divinities used to be masters with special gifts. They joined the war between ruling empire Shang and opposite party Zhou. These 3 masters were killed in one of combats. After years of battles, the empire Shang collapsed and the war was over eventually. Emperor Yu Huang assigned Master Jiang to summon those spirits who were killed during the war and designate them with different titles to help watch over the mortal world on behalf of celestial kingdom. These 3 masters were entitled as Guardian of Childbirth, to look after all pregnant women、new born babies and unborn children of this mortal world.