The Study Of Lady Linshui Cult From The Female Folk Perspective

Lady Linshui is famous as a protective God of women and children.The cult of Lady Linshui is related to women closely in natural,the core issues of it are womens’, and women are the main force of the worshippers. This paper take the female worshipers of the cult to proceed, using anthropological fieldwork law, historical documents and other research way to reveal the special connection between Lady Linshui cult and the woman. With the development of Lady Linshui cult,it became to be another religious form that called"Fu-ren"cult with great female characteristics, Lady Linshui also became more powerful,she was said to be a patron saint of women into an omnipotent female god. The cult was marked female characteristics deeply. Although the female worshipers accounted for the majority of the worshipers, their life of faith and the role of status is quite different with this. Women have been excluded from the core power scope of the faith,they are just participants and practitioners in their belief life. Differences between male and female worshipers, the status of male and female gods in Linshui Palace shows the gender stereotyping still exists in the temples. The investigated places are the core distribution area of Lady Linshui cult which is around Gutian Luinshui palace, named Gutian, Pingnan. This paper focuses the Lady Linshui cult and the female folk culture its associated with, trying to provide a new perspective for the study of Lady Linshui cult.