Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Chinese Deities



"Chinese Deities" is the usual point of reference, but these guys should probably be referred to as "folk heroes," or maybe "saints." 

There are a bunch of them, a real Chinese temple will have alters to about twenty or so.  They all have stories that illustrate an aspect of human nature, and they are all fit for a certain kind of invocation, in the manner of a saint ("patron saint of travelers;" "patron of hopeless cases.") 

These paintings were on the underside of the roof of a pavilion in a park in Nakorn Sawan.  That's a river city, always a center of commerce and accessible by river from China.  So there are lots of Thai-Chinese families there.  

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