Cánshén (
Chinese: , "Silkworm God") or Cánwáng ( "Silkworm Ruler") is the
deity
A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...
of
silkworm
The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...
and
sericulture in
Chinese religion. There are two main Canshen, who are two deified mytho-historical personalities who contributed to the invention and diffusion of sericulture in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
* ''Cánmǔ'' (, the "Silkworm Mother"), is a goddess whose cult is related to that of
Houtu (the "Queen of the Earth") and to that of the Sanxiao ("Three Skies") goddesses. She is also called ''Cángū'' ( the "Silkworm Maiden
r Lady
R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irelan ...
), and is identified as ''
Léizǔ'' (), the wife of
Huangdi Huangdi () may refer to:
*Yellow Emperor (黃帝), a legendary Chinese monarch who supposedly ruled before the Xia dynasty
*Emperor of China (皇帝), the imperial title of Chinese monarchs; and the superlative monarchical title in the Sinosphere
...
, the deity of the centre of the cosmos and
god progenitor of all the Chinese. The worship of Canmu is typical of central-northern and eastern China.
* ''Qīngyīshén'' ( the "Bluegreen-Clad God") is the same as ''Cáncóng'' ( the "Silkworm Twig"), the first ruler and ancestor of the
Shu kingdom, and promoter of sericulture among his people. He was worshipped in
Sichuan, the modern Chinese province descending from the Shu kingdom.
See also
*
Chinese gods and immortals
*
Chinese folk religion
Citations
References
Sources
*
* {{cite journal , last = Fan , first = Lizhu , title = The Cult of the Silkworm Mother as a Core of Local Community Religion in a North China Village: Field Study in Zhiwuying, Boading, Hebei , journal = The China Quarterly , volume = 174 , pages = 359-372 , publisher = Cambridge University Press , date = 2003 , doi = 10.1017/S0009443903000226
Chinese deities
Sericulture
Silk production