ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the tradition related to the cult of Houtu, the temple-dwelling Daoists on the Houshan mountain in Yixian before the 1950s, and the plethora of amateur ritual groups in the vicinity. There are many old amateur ritual associations in the area of Yixian, Laishui, and Dingxing counties, as always transmitted from Daoist priests or Buddhist monks. Ritual activity in most villages was performed by the ritual specialists of public village-wide associations. The enduring popularity of the worship of Houtu today, like that of other fertility goddesses, may be related in good measure to the state birth-control policy since the early 1980s. The two main temples occupied by the Houshan Daoist priests were formally named Shouyangyuan or Shouyangguan. Matou village already had its own ritual association, also taught by the Houshan Daoists; this group was then a foshihui, performing only the vocal liturgy, not shengguan music.
