Maonan

The folk religion of the Maonan, the Kam-Sui-speaking people of northwestern Guangxi, is animist and polytheistic, with heavy Taoist influence and many gods and rites from Chinese folk religion. Among its powers are the Kitchen God and the Earth God, who keeps outdoor work peaceful.

Every household keeps a shrine, a wooden plate on the wall bearing the names of the gods and ancestors. The birth goddess, called Wansui Niangniang in Chinese, is asked for children at weddings, and a couple who have had a child thank her with a ritual of twenty-six sacrificial animals.

In the fifth month the Maonan keep the Fenlong festival, when whole villages sacrifice to the gods and ancestors. At a funeral the children buy river water to wash the body, and chicken blood is poured on the grave ground.