Wugu Shennong Dadi (Divine Farmer Emperor)

"Shennong tastes a hundred herbs" may be the most heroic and tragic tale in all of ancient Chinese myth.

Legend says Shennong was the Flame Emperor, Yandi — the "Yan" in the phrase "descendants of Yan and Huang" that Chinese people use for themselves. To teach people which plants were safe to eat and which could heal, he chose the most direct method there was: he ate them himself. The folk version says he was poisoned seventy-two times in a single day and cured himself with tea leaves — which is where tea's title, "King of a Hundred Herbs," comes from. He passed what he learned on to the people; farming and medicine became separate arts, and the foundations of Chinese medicine were laid.

The last time, he tasted a deadly plant (some say heartbreak grass) whose poison he could not undo, and he died for his calling. An emperor traded his own life for his people's dinner tables and medicine cabinets.

He is also said to have invented the leisi (an early plow), taught people to till the soil, and set up the system of "holding market at midday" — from eating to healing to trade, his hand is in all of it. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Shennong worship came to Taiwan with Hoklo and Hakka immigrants. For people who live off the land, no god is closer to home.

Offerings to Shennong are mainly flowers, fruit, cakes and tea. The most distinctive offering is the "five grains" — rice, wheat, beans, sesame and millet — symbolizing the abundance he grants. Some people also offer medicinal herbs in memory of his tasting a hundred plants.

Who comes to pray most? Farmers, around spring planting, sowing and harvest, asking for a good crop, protection from pests and escape from natural disasters. Chinese medicine doctors and herbal merchants come when opening a practice or furthering their training, praying for skill and for their patients' recovery. Each year on Shennong's birthday, herbal shops and Chinese medicine associations come to worship as a group — a highlight of the trade's calendar.

In Hakka villages such as those in Miaoli, the Shennong temple is the spiritual center of the community, and the birthday festival combines Hakka opera with traditional food. Worship the god, then watch the show — that's the most Hakka day of the year.

Shennong's Holy Birthday: the 26th day of the 4th lunar month. Shennong temples hold grand celebrations with sutra chanting, processions, banquets and Hakka opera performances.

Spring Planting Blessings: after Lunar New Year (around the 15th day of the 1st lunar month), farmers and people in farm-related trades come to Shennong temples to pray for a good year's harvest — one of the most important rites of Taiwan's traditional farming society.

Autumn Harvest Thanksgiving: around the autumn equinox (the 8th lunar month), farmers return to Shennong temples after the harvest to thank the god.

Herbal Medicine Trade Tradition: each year on Shennong's birthday, herbal medicine shops, Chinese medicine practitioners' associations and others visit Shennong temples together to worship — a key moment for seeing Taiwan's traditional medicine culture up close.