The Rabbit God: Hu Tianbao

Hey guys, welcome to Learn Feng Shui, where you'll learn Feng Shui from a classical point of view, taken out the myth and superstition. If you like weekly tips as well as fun folklore tales, you'll enjoy learning Feng Shui with me. Hey guys, welcome back to Folklore Friday, today I'm re-broadcasting and adding a little bit of extra audio and information on a gentleman called Tu Ershan or sometimes referred to as Yutian Bo. So this is the Chinese deity who manages love and relationships between same-sex couples. So in order to honor those who are in different relationships, I identify in all different ways and to celebrate the month of pride here is today's Folklore Friday episode.

Be sure to visit the website at Feng Shui by Candice.com or follow the link below so you can get registered for one of the classes I have going on this summer. I am teaching just a basic series of Feng Shui for different parts of your home and the foremost important parts, which are your favorite. Your front door, your kitchen, your bedroom and your workspace or study desk. So if you're interested in learning a little bit more, attend a free Feng Shui workshop with me this summer. The next one is coming up on June 27th.

So you still have time to get registered. I look forward to seeing you there. So a while back I was doing some research on the symbolism of rabbits in Chinese culture. And I came across this reference of a rabbit god. And this isn't really to be confused with the rabbit that lives in the moon.

That's a different sort of rabbit. So apparently a slang term for homosexuals in the late Imperial China was called rabbits. And that's why Yutian Bo was actually referred to as a rabbit deity. So in fact, of course, has nothing to do with rabbits. And it shouldn't be confused with the rabbit moon.

And the source for this is Wikipedia. They have a pretty cool article on, you know, everything that kind of goes along with this gentleman called to our shin or Huyu Tiam Bo. According to one account, a man named Huyu Tiam Bo fell in love with a very handsome imperial inspector of the fuzheng province. But one day he was caught peeping the inspector through the bathroom walls. And he at that point confessed his affections for the other man.

And the imperial inspector actually had him sentenced to death by beating. So one month after Huyu Tiam Bo's death, he appeared to a man from his hometown in a dream. And he claimed that since his crime was one of love, the underworld officials decided to write the injustice by appointing him the god and safeguard of homosexual affections. After his dream, the man erected a shrine to Huyu Tiam Bo, which became very popular in fuzheng. So much that occult as it were of Huyu Tiam Bo was targeted for extermination by the government.

And so just like, you know, even here in America, you know, it was illegal to be homosexual. And in some cases in different countries, it was punishable by death. And it seems to be the case, you know, these, this following as it were was related to homosexual relationships. And I guess if it was found out they were practicing where they were worshiping this deity that that they would be punished. In the 18th century, around 1700s in the fuzheng province, there was a main temple shrine that was dedicated to Huyu Tiam Bo.

And this was presumably his home village. It says the instances of male marriages in the province were known and written about an imperial China, but not officially approved or documented. Doesn't that sound familiar? The imperial authorities tried to crack down on the practices and one imperial official called Zu Kui wrote about the cult of Huyu Tiam Bo and was pointed to the province in 1765. He put himself forward as a champion of people's morals, and he prohibited the worship of Huyu Tiam Bo, saying that they prayed to him for a list of intercourse.

And they were, of course, harassed and driven underground because of course you can't stop with people from being who they are. So after this, the cult of Huyu Tiam Bo went underground, it was forgotten and kind of ignored. And a new legend arose saying that the villagers who actually built a Huyu Tiam Bo's shrine were sworn to secrecy and they couldn't tell anyone about it. Or where the shrine was except for the people who knew they specifically wanted Huyu Tiam Bo's help and I would assume it's probably spread through a word of mouth. The Winnanolish Shrine and Temple that remained at this day is located in Taipei and Taiwan.

And so roughly 9,000 people a year go to visit the temple to be pray for to find a suitable partner. And the temple also performs love ceremonies for gay couples and it's the world's only religious shrine for homosexuals as of 2020. The temple remains the only one still dedicated to this deity. So you can still have the ceremony performed and you can get a blessing for, you know, to, you know, find your perfect partner. So I do want to point out that a lot of times in Asian cultures, some of the deities are depicted as either, you know, androgynous or hermathodai, you know, just non-gender specific and sometimes are depicted as men and sometimes are depicted as women.

And so I really just think it's not a new concept. And, you know, Chinese and East Asian cultures are not the only ones that depict deities in this fashion. A lot of times deities that are said to be sent, you know, from other worlds sometimes are very androgynous. And, you know, so it's just nothing new under the sun, you know, and just something that should be addressed and talked about. So again, if you're celebrating pride this month, happy pride.

And I'm happy that you can be who you want to be in this day and age. Just know that here at Feng Shui by Candace and the Learned Feng Shui podcast, we support and honor those who are just different in every way. So happy pride month. To support the podcast, be sure to subscribe, we review and share with your family and friends who you think may be interested, especially if you found this content useful. To learn more about Feng Shui and Chinese metaphysics, follow the link to the website below.