House and Home
Door gods
| PLACE | Sheung Shui Bou Sheung Tsuen |
| DATE | 1964-02-12 |
| OBSERVATIONS | At the lunar new year there is heightened ritual observance. My next door neighbour kindly wrote out a lucky couplet and pasted it at the sides of the doors, at the same time putting up the red Five Happiness slips on the lintel and new door gods on the double doors. The door gods are fierce military figures and defend the house against malign spirits, but the two must face each other - if they turn their backs on each other it is thought to presage marital strife. Above the lintel is a small multi-coloured baat-gua charm, a further guard against evil. |