Who are the folk guards and the prayer guards?

Civil servants' door gods and praying door gods have placed people's desire for promotion, wealth and longevity.

The door gods of civil servants are mostly celestial officials. This kind of door god wears a gauze hat, embroidered crane robe, milky white water board, or auspicious things, with a beautiful white face and elegance. Tianguan is the first of the three officials (Tianguan, local official and water official), nicknamed "Fudi Wei Zi", so it is also called "Futianguan". The folk regard Tianguan as a blessed god, sometimes juxtaposed with Lu and Shou, the so-called Shou Sanxian. Most of the celestial door gods are posted on the doors of the halls in the courtyard, which is different from the samurai door gods who exorcise ghosts at the door, but contains the meaning of welcoming blessings and making money into treasures.

Among the door gods of civil servants, there is also a pair of white-bearded civil servants, who are said to be Liang Hao of the Song Dynasty. "Wandering in Dunzhai" said that Liang Hao didn't win the first prize until he was 82 years old, so he painted Liang Hao as the "grandfather of the first prize" with a white beard. Actually, this is a misunderstanding. Historically, Liang Hao was a scholar during the reign of Emperor Taizong in the Northern Song Dynasty. When he graduated, he was 23 years old and a young man. When the Liao army attacked Hebei, he went to the army to ask for rewards and punishments, cut down cowards, and bravely employed people. Later, Liang Haozhi opened Fengfu and died of sudden illness at the age of 42. People don't pay attention to it, but they often use the expression "Dunzhai leisure tour". There is a sentence "If Liang Hao is eighty-two" in Sanzi Jing, a very popular enlightenment book in the old days, which shows its great influence. Liang Hao became a typical "late bloomer". Taking him as a door god painting is obviously encouraging the elderly to make progress. There are also literati immortal paintings based on the "five sons entering the topic". There are five boys with lanterns, halberds and cassia twigs in their hands, which means "five boys have been admitted to this subject". This allusion comes from the story that Dou Yanshan (Dou) educated the fifth son and even went to Ke Di in the Five Dynasties.

Most of the door gods are related to promotion and wealth, while praying for the door gods is related to having more children and more happiness and longevity. Sometimes the two are also in pairs. Such as Tianguan (or champion) door god, often paired with Songzi Niangniang. In addition, there are XiShen and He Erxian (symbolizing love and harmony between husband and wife). There are also Liu Hai and the lucky boy, both of whom are little gods of wealth and are especially worshipped by businessmen. This door god of blessing contains many meanings. For example, one day, an official held a plate in his left hand and put a Shoushan stone in it. The stone rises and the pen falls, which means "Shoubi (pen) is in the East China Sea". On the other hand, the official holds red bats and sea water, which means "Fu (bat) is like the East China Sea". Interestingly, Zhong Kui, a ghost fairy, sometimes appears as a keeper to pray. He was dressed in a red official uniform, wearing a gauze cap and holding a pen with a peach symbol on it, which means "a pen will set a life."

Blessing door gods often add some mascots to take their own luck and use homophonic puns. As the "General December Order of the Month" said, the door gods went to "future generations to draw various styles of generals and officials, plus titles, deer, bats, happiness, horses, treasures, bottles and saddles, and all took good names to welcome good luck." The eight meanings of Jue, deer, bat, hi, horse, treasure, bottle and saddle are: Jue Zun refers to the rank and official position of Jue; Deer refers to Rong Lu; Bats refer to Jingfu; Magpie means celebration; Horse, borrow refers to the post horse; Yuanbao, homophonic "red treasure"; Bottle, saddle, homophonic "peace". Painting these eight things means "Jue Lufu Xi, Ma Bao is safe".