Gou-Mang: The Bad Witch's God of the Week

We are in the middle of the Chinese New Year festivities and spring is just around the corner, so I have chosen the Chinese deity Gou-Mang as The Bad Witch's God of the Week.

Sent by the Chinese sky god Tai Yi, the green dragon Gou-Mang comes from the east, bringing spring and happiness.

The popular Gou-Mang is the twin brother of the feared brown dragon Ru-Shou, who comes from the west in the autumn and is a harbinger of bad luck.

According to the Handbook of Chinese Mythology by Lihui Yang, Deming An and Jessica Anderson Turner, Gou-Mang, is also associated with woodcraft and invented a net for catching birds called the luo, which was widely used in China. In some legends, Gou-Mang is said to have the body of a bird, the face of a man and rides two dragons rather than being a dragon himself.

I find dragons the most fascinating of mythological creatures. Despite the fact that they never actually existed, they appear in folk tales and mythology all over the world, often with some spiritual significance.

I certainly hope to write more about dragon legends in the future on A Bad Witch's Blog.

Links
Handbook of Chinese Mythology (World Mythology)
http://www.theserenedragon.net/Tales/china-goumang.html
http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/chinese-mythology.php?deity=GOU-MANG
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2009/01/year-of-ox.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2008/02/trousers-of-change.html