Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 5/Door Gods
Door Gods (門神), mên shên.
There are many guardian spirits of doors of houses, offices, etc., as follows :
Wên and wu mên shên, the literary and military guardians of the door. These are put on the outside doors of dwelling houses, public offices and temples; the former is the picture of a civil official in the likeness of T‘ien kuan, the latter, mostly seen on street doors, is generally a military official with shield and buckler, bow and arrows, ready for the fray.
T‘ung tzŭ (童子) mên shên, the youthful door god, is the likeness of two youths with red cord tied round the hair.
Ho ho êrh hsien (和合二仙) mên shên is the door god of business partnership. It is a picture of four youths (two on either side of the picture), holding a large coin between them.
There is a female door god, nü mên shên; this is a picture of a woman, said to be one of the fairies.
Ch‘in chün Hu shuai (秦軍胡帥), a picture of two military officials of the T‘ang dynasty, one called Ch‘in Shu pao and the other, Hu Ch‘ing tê.
Lo chüeh (落脚) mên shên, a door god as large as the door. Only those in high office or with high degrees dare have this style of door god. Some have civil and others military officials in full dress painted or engraven on their doors the full height of the door.
Shên t‘u yü li (神荼鬱壘), the mourning door god. In this case there is no picture, and all former door gods are washed or scraped off and the above four characters only are passed two on each half of the door. Shên t‘u and Yü li are said to be two brothers mourning for a parent.
P‘an (蟠) lung, the coiled dragon door god, is only used on temple doors at the two season sacrifices. No private residence dare use it as it is typical of the emperor.
Hêng ho (哼哈) êrh mên shên, the Buddhist door gods, ferocious-looking, only to be seen on the doors of Buddhist temples. These two hêng and ho, are said to be parts of the goddess of mercy, who, on becoming a celestial, divided into seventy-two parts.
Tu chüeh shou (獨角獸), the unicorn door god, can only be used by official families.
Chi kung mên shên, the rooster door god. This is a very ancient one, probably of aboriginal origin, and still used by the tribesmen in the mountain districts west of Kuan hsien. The rooster is believed to drive away ants and chicken blood drives away demons, hence the widespread use of cock's blood on the prow and stern of boats on the Yangtse. The Ssŭch‘uanese say that their province is a chi lung hsüeh (雞籠穴), a chicken coop; that is, it is surrounded by mountains, and when a coop is full the first thing to be done is to seize some chickens and kill them. This has been what other provinces have done to Ssŭch‘uan in the past and what is feared in the present. So whenever trouble breaks out, chickens are killed and eaten wholesale to avert if possible this calamity.
Wu fu p‘êng shou (捧壽), the five happinesses complete in old age. These five blessings are age, riches, peace, virtue, happiness. In this charm the character shou for old age occupies the centre with five bats fluttering around it; the five bats represent the five happinesses (蝠 for 福).