Land God: the Folk Religion in Meinong

LiSheJhengGuan at Minung Village

As the main economy depends on agriculture, Meinong has a strong connection of the land. Therefore the God in charge of the land has become an important spiritual support to Meinong people, especially farmers in ancient time. The Land God is called as "Bakgung"(伯公) by Hakka people, meaning the elder brother of grandfather. The nickname represents the Land God is regarded as not only a protector, but also a close relative in the family.

Distributed in many corners in Meinong, there are nearly four hundreds of Bakgung able to be found within the fields, by the well, nearby the residential San-he Yuan and so on.  Where people locate always situate Bakgung. As agriculture relies on water a lot, there are three Bakguans called LiSheJhengGuan (里社真官) specialising in water resource, situating in the key locations that water pass by.

LiSheJhengGuan at Jioucyonglin (九芎林)

Different with Minnan Land Gods who are formed as human beings and worshiped inside a temple with roof, the unique appearance of traditional Bakgungs in Meinong look like a tomb. The basic way to tell from Bakgung and tomb is to read the words on the steles. Also, there are usually red cloth on the top of the steles of the Bakgung altar while the tomb has no. Moreover, Bakgung altar usually is accompanied with a tree. Only around 70 tomb-like Bakgungs are kept their original design while others were refurbished into Minnan style that was thought as modern and respectful to Bakgungs.

The close relationship with Bakgungs and Meinong area has developed various rites. Each Bakgung altar has its own rites based on its history and interaction with local residents. The main ceremonies for Bakgungs are the birthday, the new-year prayer ceremony  (新年福) to wish harvest in the coming year, and the year-end gratitude ceremony (滿年福) to thank god for the given crops.

Prepare offering for the birthday of Bakgung 

Take the earliest Bakgung altar, Founding Bakgung (開基伯公) as an example. The Founding Bakgung altar, settled under Mountain Lin (靈山) since the first coming pioneers Brothers Lin came to Meinong in 1736, still keeps the original rites in the beginning and the end of the year. A 4-member Hakka Bayin(八音) band is necessary in the ceremonies, rather than playing the music by radio. The rites are held at auspicious time at nights. The process of the worship starts from praying to the Gods and then worshiping to the Bakgung. In the afternoon of the next day, the lunch banquet hosted by "Bakgung," inviting  people who donate for the ceremony, calls the ceremony an end.

Hakka Bayin music band playing at the ceremony

At first, praying for the God

Later, worship the Bakgung

Same as other traditional custom, the belief in Bakgung and its original rites face the risks of fading as seniors get old but the young generation has no strong connection with it. Therefore, the local community has tried to bring Bakgung culture into the youth, including young people participating the ceremony by being members of Bakgung management committee, and inviting the nearby elementary school performing in the Bakgung banquet. All of those are expected to remind people the precious and particular faith in the Hakka village and hopefully it can be last forever.