ThePurpleLadyandBlessingsofFertility.docVIP

The Purple Lady and Blessings of Fertility Ying Qin University of Wisconsin-Madison The custom for women and children to invoke the goddess Zigu 紫姑 (The Purple Lady) around the time of the Lantern Festival has been a common folk practice for a long time. Scholarly attention has mainly focused on the origins and variations of the practice, the social and economic reasons for the rises and falls of the popular belief, the social status of women as reflected in the custom, the role of shamanism, drama and performance in the rituals involving the Purple Lady. This paper, however, focuses on the