Ong Yah

What it is

Ong Yah, the Royal Lords, are gods of the Hokkien folk religion of Fujian and Taiwan, and many worshippers count them within the Taoist family of beliefs. Each lord is an individual with his own surname; some traditions claim 360 of them, bearing 132 surnames in all. Believers describe them as Divine Emissaries, officials dispatched by the Celestial Imperial Order to inspect the human world. Their rounds target sickness and misfortune among the people who honour them, and both are to be driven out. Temples raised to them usually carry the name Tāi-thian-hú, a palace acting for Heaven. The cult is strongest in southern Taiwan, and Hoklo communities keep it wherever they settle.

Where it comes from

Worship of the Royal Lords grew from two kinds of legend, and in both the gods began as living people of noble character. In one tale, a learned and kind-hearted man gave his life in a well whose water was poisoned, dying so that villagers would not drink from it and pestilence would not spread. Communities came to honour with offerings those who had sacrificed themselves for the public good, and with time these figures were revered as Ong Yah, local guardian gods able to drive off epidemics and grant good fortune. The second kind of legend raises national heroes to godhood by appointment of the Jade Emperor, in reward for heroic deeds and great sacrifice. Koxinga, honoured for shielding Han Chinese from the invading Qing in China and from the Dutch colonial power in Taiwan, is one example.

How it is done

The central rite is the inspection tour, Tāi-thian-sûn-siú. It runs on a fixed cycle of years, usually three, though the count differs from place to place. On the appointed occasion the gods are carried in procession through a whole district. What they inspect, in the telling of the faithful, is sickness and bad luck: the procession is meant to find evil presences and disease, drive them out, and leave blessings behind for the district's people. A festival ends in fire. A replica boat built for the rite is either burned or launched, and this sending-off is understood to carry the Divine Emissaries back to heaven once their visit is done.

Tools and materials

The object made for the gods is the boat itself. At Donggang in 2009 it was a wooden craft, hauled in procession through the district and then set alight on the beach, the flames marking the deities' homeward journey. Their temples share a name, Tāi-thian-hú, a title meaning a palace that stands in for the son of Heaven, which suits lords who travel under heaven's orders.

What it is for

People turn to the Royal Lords for shelter from sickness and evil. The point of an inspection tour is to sweep disease and bad luck out of a district, and those who worship the lords and seek their grace are counted among the protected. Honoured first for stopping plagues, the lords are held to dispel epidemics to this day, and to grant blessings and good fortune to those who make offerings. The festivals serve whole communities at once: the gods move through an entire region, warding it and blessing its inhabitants together.

Peoples and places

The Royal Lords belong first to the Hokkien people of Fujian, and crossed with them to Taiwan. The heart of the cult today is southern Taiwan, where the grandest festivals are held, though celebrations are held across the island as well. Hoklo communities, the same people under another name, keep the worship alive wherever they settle worldwide. Two noted centres both lie in the south: Donggang in Pingtung County, whose King Boat Festival ranks among the grandest, and Beimen in Tainan, home to the Nankunshen Daitian Temple, regarded as a founding temple of the faith.

What people believe

Heaven, in this view, is ruled like a state, and it keeps officials in the human world. The Royal Lords serve as those officials, Divine Emissaries sent out by the Celestial Imperial Order to inspect the living world. Their rounds have a target, sickness and bad luck, and their commission covers driving evil from a district and blessing its people. The lords are not outsiders to the human story: legend makes each one a person who once lived, whether a rescuer who died for the public good or a hero raised to godhood by the Jade Emperor, and some traditions count 360 of them bearing 132 surnames.

When it is done

The great festivals follow a cycle: each region holds its inspection after a set number of years, usually three, though regions differ. The Donggang King Boat Festival, held at Donglong Temple in the town of Donggang, Pingtung County, comes round once every three years. In 2009 it opened on October 10 and closed in the early hours of October 17, when the wooden boat was carried through the area and burned on the beach to end the gods' visit.

Today

The worship is alive and on a grand scale. Festivals fill many districts of Taiwan, above all the south, with processions of the gods through whole regions. The Nankunshen Daitian Temple at Beimen in Tainan, raised in 1817 and counted a founding temple of the faith, still anchors the tradition, and Hoklo communities worldwide keep the Royal Lords with them. The 2009 Donggang festival shows the scale: days of rites ending in fire on the beach.

Questions people ask about Ong Yah

Good reading and sources

• Ong Chun/Wangchuan/Wangkang Ceremony: rituals and related practices for maintaining the sustainable connection between man and the oceanUNESCO, Heritage listing

• Ong Yah on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data