Zigu (), also known as Maogu, is a goddess representing toilets in

Chinese folk religion Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...

. She was believed to be the spirit of a

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

who had been physically abused by a vengeful wife and died in the latrine. It is believed that her cult originated in the

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

region and spread across China by the

Tang period The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. According to the legend, the true identity of Zigu is

Consort Qi Consort Qi may refer to: Consorts with the surname Qi *Consort Qi (Han dynasty) (224–194 BC), concubine of Emperor Gaozu of Han *Empress Qi ( 412), wife of Yao Xing (Emperor Wenhuan of Later Qin) Consorts with the title Consort Qi *Consort Qi (Y ...

of the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

, who was tortured and killed in the toilet by

Empress Lü Empress (Dowager) Lü Zhi (241–18 August 180 BC), commonly known as Empress Lü () and formally Empress Gao of Han (), was the empress consort of Gaozu, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty. They had two known children, Liu Ying (later Em ...

. The earliest record of Zigu is in the fifth volume of "Yiyuan" by Liu Jingshu or Liu Song of the

Southern Dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...

(420-479). Other legends say that her real name is He Mingmei, and the word is Liqing, from

Laiyang Laiyang city () is a county-level city within Yantai bordering Qingdao, located in the middle of the Shandong Peninsula, in Shandong province, China. The majority (70%) of its population are farmers and it is famous for producing the Laiyang pear ...

, Shandong. During the period of Empress

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empres ...

, the governor of

Shouyang Shouyang County () is a county in the east-central part of Shanxi province, China. It is under the administration of Jinzhong Jinzhong, formerly Yuci, is a prefecture-level city in east central Shanxi province of the People's Republic of Chi ...

Li Jing killed He Mei's husband and regarded her as a concubine, which made He Mei jealous of Li Jing's chief wife. On the night of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month during the

Lantern Festival The Lantern Festival ( zh, t=元宵節, s=元宵节, first=t, hp=Yuánxiāo jié), also called Shangyuan Festival ( zh, t=上元節, s=上元节, first=t, hp=Shàngyuán jié), is a Chinese traditional festival celebrated on the fifteenth d ...

, Li Jing's legitimate wife killed her in the toilet. Because He Mei had resentment in her heart, Li Jing often heard crying when he visited the toilet. Later, this matter was learned by the Heavenly Court that "the

Jade Emperor The Jade Emperor or Yudi ( or , ') in Chinese culture, traditional religions and myth is one of the representations of the first god ( '). In Daoist theology he is the assistant of Yuanshi Tianzun, who is one of the Three Pure Ones, the three ...

is merciful" and established her as the god of toilets.

Worship

In Chinese mythology, there are six household deities. The two most notable categories of these are the "

door gods Menshen or door gods are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones. They began as the divine pair Shenshu ( ) and Yulü () under the H ...

" and the "toilet gods". Toilet gods have been worshipped since the

Six Dynasties Six Dynasties (; 220–589 or 222–589) is a collective term for six Han-ruled Chinese dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD. The Six Dynasties period overlapped with the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms, ...

period. The door gods and toilet gods were very popular during the Tang and Song Dynasties. Among the toilet gods, Zigu and Sanxiao Niangniang are particularly enshrined. Women worshipped her in the form of a homemade doll on the fifteenth day of the first month each year, when she was ritually summoned in the latrine during the night. Prayers were said to the doll, telling her that the husband and wife had gone and that she could come out safely. The motions of the doll – sometimes manifested as

automatic writing Automatic writing, also called psychography, is a claimed psychic ability allowing a person to produce written words without consciously writing. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged spiri ...

– were used for

fortune telling Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical w ...

by the worshippers. Another interpretation came from a popular novel of the

Ming period The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

, which portrayed the latrine deity as three sisters who were responsible for the Primeval Golden Dipper (''hunyuan jindou'') or celestial toilet bowl, from which all beings were born.

References

{{Reflist Chinese goddesses

Worship

See also

References