[玄天上帝]
玄天上帝為台灣常見的道教神明之一。玄天上帝是中國明朝的護國神明，也是中國武當山上的主神。他被視為北極星的化身，是屬於自然崇拜演變出來的神祇，也是統理北方的神明。北方在五行中屬水，所以也能管理海上的事務。北方代表星宿為玄武，玄武的形象為龜和蛇，正是玄上帝腳下所踩踏的生物。
另外在民間傳說中，玄天上帝原本是個屠夫，因為受到觀世音菩薩的指點，深覺自己因屠宰動物罪孽深重，所以切腹取出腸胃丟入河中洗滌自己的罪孽，因此而得道升天成為玄天上帝。但之後在河中的腸和胃分別變成龜精和蛇精，並在人間作亂，於是玄天上帝向呂洞賓借劍，收伏二精並踩踏於腳底。也因為這則民間傳說玄天上帝又被視為屠宰業的守護神。
關於這個傳說另外一種揣測是因為玄天上帝是明朝的守護神，清朝為了將玄天上帝信仰淡化所以才有了屠夫化身的說法。
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[Xuántiān Shàngdì]
Xuántiān Shàngdì is one of the most commonly seen Taoist deities in Taiwan. Since the usurping Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty claimed to receive the divine assistance of Xuanwu during his successful Jingnan Campaign against his nephew, he had a number of Taoist monasteries constructed in the Wudang Mountains of Hubei, where Xuanwu allegedly attained immortality.
He is also treated as the metaphor of the North Star as the deity of natural worshipping. Great Deity of the Northern Peak, one of the cosmological "Five Forms of the Highest Deity"
As one of the five forms of cosmological representations, north significance water, therefore it makes Xuántiān Shàngdì capable of being in charge of sea affairs. Also, the representations of the north constellation happen to be the black tortoise or black turtle. As one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It is usually depicted as a turtle entwined together with a snake, and these animals happen to be the ones Xuántiān Shàngdì is stepping on.
In folklore tail, Xuántiān Shàngdì was originally a butcher and the goddess Guanyin showed him his sins. To redeem his sins, he dug out his own stomach and intestines and washed them in the river. Because of that, he then became immortal ascended to heaven with the title of Xuántiān Shàngdì.
After he became an immortal, his stomach and intestines absorbed the essence of the earth. His viscera transformed into a demonic turtle and a demonic snake, who started to hurt people. No one could subdue the demonic animals. Eventually, Xuanwu returned to earth and he borrowed the sword from Lü Dongbin to subdue them. After defeating them, he later used them as his subordinates. Due to this folklore tail, Xuántiān Shàngdì is also treated as a patron god of slaughter industry.
Another speculation about this folklore tail is that because Xuántiān Shàngdì is the guardian god of Ming dynasty, and Ching dynasty wanted to weaken the gasp of the Xuántiān Shàngdì belief so had the story of the butcher transform made up.
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