Background to the book In Taiwan, older people believe that they need to ask for the protection of the land gods by worshipping in their local temples.

People also believe that all snakes around the temples should not be hurt because they are Daughters of the Land Gods, or the Belts of the Land Gods.

A Taiwanese proverb says, ‘Field head field tail land god’ which means land gods are everywhere.

The land gods are in the lowest rank of gods, like village officials who have small posts but who are very busy and important for the villagers.

The many land gods not only protect the fields, but they also look after jungles, rivers, hills and tombs where snakes are often seen.

Another Taiwanese proverb says, ‘Offend the land god, keep no chicken’, which means people cannot even keep a chicken if they offend a land god.

‘The land god makes no marks, tiger dares not bite people’, means that even a tiger dares not to hurt anyone unless a land god allows it.

Therefore, we can see how powerful the belief in the land gods is in Taiwan.

There is a two-part saying, ‘The land god is bitten by a snake; the land god is helpless’, which means that, since the land gods are the gods who control the snakes, if a land god is bitten by a snake he cannot even help himself, so how can he look after other people.

This saying tells us that sometimes it would be more useful to rely on ourselves rather than to expect other people to look after us.