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Gods, Ghosts and Ancestors: Folk Religion in a Taiwanese Village by David K. Jordan
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 10, 2023
This book is way more approachable than I had expected it to be.
He introduces us to the Divination chair which is sat in by a god and hoisted aloft by 'illiterates'.
He explains the hierarchies of gods and ghosts and how one might become a god with some creative haunting. He explains the 'tang-ki' or divine boys who become vessels for the gods.
It taught me quite a lot about the lesser-known (and not well-advertized) beliefs and practices in Taiwan's own version of Daoism. Upon my own personal discoveries, I have found that despite being written in the 1960s many of the practices described in the book are alive and well today. Though, most Taiwanese don't know the things which the author describes in detail, After speaking with a few older folks it seems he was right on the money.
I am giving the book 5 stars despite there being a number of formatting and spelling errors that could be overcome pretty easily. I do this because the author has chosen to give the book away for free to anyone who might want it. Most niche books like this of any quality can sell for hundreds of dollars. I am very grateful that this was not the case because I might not have learned so much.
A must-read for those with a great interest in Taiwanese (or Southern Chinese) culture.
He introduces us to the Divination chair which is sat in by a god and hoisted aloft by 'illiterates'.
He explains the hierarchies of gods and ghosts and how one might become a god with some creative haunting. He explains the 'tang-ki' or divine boys who become vessels for the gods.
It taught me quite a lot about the lesser-known (and not well-advertized) beliefs and practices in Taiwan's own version of Daoism. Upon my own personal discoveries, I have found that despite being written in the 1960s many of the practices described in the book are alive and well today. Though, most Taiwanese don't know the things which the author describes in detail, After speaking with a few older folks it seems he was right on the money.
I am giving the book 5 stars despite there being a number of formatting and spelling errors that could be overcome pretty easily. I do this because the author has chosen to give the book away for free to anyone who might want it. Most niche books like this of any quality can sell for hundreds of dollars. I am very grateful that this was not the case because I might not have learned so much.
A must-read for those with a great interest in Taiwanese (or Southern Chinese) culture.
December 30, 2024
After skipping the foreword and introduction, I hoped this book won't stay as dry as the first 4 pages. Sadly, it stayed dry. I really don't care how the village is structured or how long some mayors lasted. Apart from a temple and 2-3 gods, nothing regarding religion was mentioned up to that point and that was what I was there for. It took the author until about 15 % into the book to talk about religion. Why was all that stuff before necessary?
Finally there was something, even something that made me curious: The Po Soul is associated not just with earth and darkness but also femaleness? It is necessary to life but unimportant in the greater scheme of things, tends to linger in coffins or around graves and eventually burn itself out and expire. That sounds a bit misogynistic. And it really sounds as if the hungry ghosts/good brethren are to be worshipped/sacrificed to, for fear of pissing them off.
Interestingly, in the book one guy stated that animals can be immortals but not gods, but I do know stories where animals did become gods. Granted that was from the Qing empire and the republic of China in the 1920s, not Taiwan.
And at the time of this research some Taiwanese considered the gods to resemble the Republican government? Hm, that could look interesting in a movie. Sadly, when it came to the focus on specific ritual details... I will never be able to remember that.
The whater ghost (a drowned child) was the first truly interesting thing here for me. I am not interested in all these details about rituals or families. The exorcism ritual with its gods was kind of interesting, but not much. The chapter on gods, ghosts and ancestors was sooooo boring. And apparently the chinese ancestors don't do much in regard to revenge, they just get worshipped and help their descendents as much as they can (ghosts bring disease but ancestors don't). I hoped the chapter on divine guardians would be better than the ones before, sadly, it was not.
The memorable stuff was sadly the negative stuff about the customs presented: There is really no justification here for having dead sons having adopted sons but not women, even quotes only state that this is the proper way. What he quotes here about chinese people honoring the widow sounds like Qing empire propaganda than actual reality, he states later himself that remarrying was connected with significant downsides for the widow in question.
I wouldn't have compared western ghosts with these familial ghosts in the way he has. He claims that unlike western ghosts these familial ghosts attack out of necessity and not pure devilishness and malice. That might be true for familial ghosts but not ghosts in general, neither to western ghosts simply attack, in fact, usually they don't attack at all.
Finally there was something, even something that made me curious: The Po Soul is associated not just with earth and darkness but also femaleness? It is necessary to life but unimportant in the greater scheme of things, tends to linger in coffins or around graves and eventually burn itself out and expire. That sounds a bit misogynistic. And it really sounds as if the hungry ghosts/good brethren are to be worshipped/sacrificed to, for fear of pissing them off.
Interestingly, in the book one guy stated that animals can be immortals but not gods, but I do know stories where animals did become gods. Granted that was from the Qing empire and the republic of China in the 1920s, not Taiwan.
And at the time of this research some Taiwanese considered the gods to resemble the Republican government? Hm, that could look interesting in a movie. Sadly, when it came to the focus on specific ritual details... I will never be able to remember that.
The whater ghost (a drowned child) was the first truly interesting thing here for me. I am not interested in all these details about rituals or families. The exorcism ritual with its gods was kind of interesting, but not much. The chapter on gods, ghosts and ancestors was sooooo boring. And apparently the chinese ancestors don't do much in regard to revenge, they just get worshipped and help their descendents as much as they can (ghosts bring disease but ancestors don't). I hoped the chapter on divine guardians would be better than the ones before, sadly, it was not.
The memorable stuff was sadly the negative stuff about the customs presented: There is really no justification here for having dead sons having adopted sons but not women, even quotes only state that this is the proper way. What he quotes here about chinese people honoring the widow sounds like Qing empire propaganda than actual reality, he states later himself that remarrying was connected with significant downsides for the widow in question.
I wouldn't have compared western ghosts with these familial ghosts in the way he has. He claims that unlike western ghosts these familial ghosts attack out of necessity and not pure devilishness and malice. That might be true for familial ghosts but not ghosts in general, neither to western ghosts simply attack, in fact, usually they don't attack at all.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews