Mazu (Matsu), literally means Mother Ancestor, is the goddess of the sea. She is widely worshipped in all the coastal areas of mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, etc. According to legends, over a 1,000 years ago, a beautiful girl named Lin Moniang devoted all her life rescuing and helping fisherman in distress at sea.

Therefore, the statues and the temples for the goddess can be found in many places. Each year, on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, the birthday of Mazu, there will be a festival held to worship the goddess.

Door gods are quite popular in China. Among all the door gods, the most commonly seen are Qin Qiong and Weichi Jingde.

According to legends, in Tang dynasty, the emperor could not have a good sleep at night because of a ghost’s harassing. Qin and Weichi were assigned to guard the emperor’s door to ward off the ghost. They did a very good job and from the next day, the emperor, who didn’t want to trouble his two generals every night, asked his men to hang portraits of the two men on either side of his door to protect him.

From then on, they were regarded as the door gods. People believed that they were the guardians warding off evil spirits in the homes of earthly beings. Till today, door god portraits are posted on doors during Chinese New Year.