Thirty-Six Wet Nurse Goddesses

The Thirty-Six Wet Nurse Goddesses—also called the Thirty-Six Po Zu or Niao Mu (Bird Mother)—form a cohort of thirty-six attendant deities within the cult of Linshui Furen (Chen Jinggu, Goddess of the Riverside). Legend holds they were either subdued or joined Chen Jinggu as sister deities when she studied Daoist arts on Lüshan Mountain. In the Tainan Linshui Furen Temple, their statues line both side halls in a circular arrangement, each cradling an infant, embodying their specific charge of safeguarding infants and young children. According to traditional custom, when an infant suffered from night crying, fright-induced convulsions (jing feng), or general frailty, parents would bring the child to the temple to pray before the Po Jie, performing rituals to calm the child’s spirit, bestow a protective new name, and obtain red thread and incense ash for talismanic protection. The Thirty-Six Wet Nurse Goddesses preside over soul-calming, spirit-anchoring, and breastfeeding rites, forming—alongside Linshui Furen and Zhu Sheng Niangniang (Goddess Who Records Births)—the most comprehensive divine pantheon in Fujian and Taiwan devoted exclusively to the protection of women and children.