The folk belief systems of the Han people and the cosmology of their society are often differentiated into deities, ghosts, and ancestors. Among deities, Tsóo-Pu̍t (Lineage-Gods) are closely related to ancestors. These types of deities are also called “ancestral deities,” which could includ two types of beliefs: deities who possess or incline toward ancestral qualities, or deities who are intimately associated with ancestors.
This paper focuses on the Lineage-Gods beliefs of Han people society in the Taipei Basin. To explicate the historical origins of Tsóo-Pu̍t and rites, we also attempt to examine from the perspectives of the worshipers’ descriptions from stories, and the lineage knowledge of ancestors and “Lineage-Gods” treating the development processes of family histories and Lineage-Gods beliefs from a microcosmic perspective. On the other hand, among the patriarch-deity beliefs of the Taipei Basin, there are many who have adopted regular sacrificial ceremonies without temple erection. The Lineage-Gods belief groups of these local rites gather together lineages with the same surname within the Basin, and form regional surname group.
However, the Lineage-Gods beliefs of ancestral original place have been influenced or even interrupted by various factors such as the Cultural Revolution. After reform and opening-up in China, many of the Taiwanese and Southeast Asian Chinese returned to their ancestral villages, and they also rebuilt the temples of Tsóo-Pu̍t. This religious revival about Tsóo-Pu̍t belief is not only symbolic of lineage and kinship, but followed the propaganda intentions of political power. Tsóo-Pu̍t beliefs have also often generated several local interpretations in immigrant areas and ancestral original place ,especially in immigrant areas , even to the extent that the understanding of these Lineage-Gods differ from that of the ancestral homes. These Tsóo-Pu̍t with regional and the features of that lack records in official histories and local archives, resulting in ramifying stories behind these Tsóo-Pu̍t. Even produced the condiction about role confusion between deities and ancestors, so that the narrative of Lineage-Gods beliefs usually filled with eisegesis and representation.