Typically when the gods are invited to enjoy a show, performers go to the temple to perform, allowing the gods to enjoy the show in the comfort of their own home. But Wu Yuan Taiwanese Opera, a local Taiwanese opera troupe based in Yilan County, has invited deities to the concert hall to see their performance instead. The troupe is promoting the show as their biggest performance of the year, and the piece they are to perform is based on a local myth about Hsuan Wu, a Taoist incarnation of a mythological creature that was a cross between a serpent and a tortoise and is in charge of protecting estuaries. It not only adds something novel to the Taiwanese gezaixi opera repertoire, but also achieves something quite extraordinary — summoning a god from the temple to the opera house.
Wu Yuan Taiwanese Opera will be performing The Twin Guardians in three shows on March 17 and 18 at the Yilan Performance Hall. The piece is basically an adaptation of an ancient myth from the Lanyang Plain known as “Tortoise and Serpent protects the river mouth.”
Jietian Temple in Toucheng Township is devoted to the god Hsuan Wu and is located on Yilan County’s Lanyang Plain, which is shaped like the serpent found in the myth. The resemblance becomes even more apparent when looking across at Kueishan Island, or Turtle Island, from Jietian Temple. The temple is Taiwan’s main temple for contacting Hsuan Wu. In order to thank the god for protecting the area, Wu Yuan Taiwanese Opera has invited the god to their performance.
Photo: Hu Chien-sen, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者胡健森
Upon receiving an invitation from the theater troupe, people working at the temple immediately threw divination blocks to ask the gods if they wanted to see the performance. The temple’s main deity and second deity were apparently not interested, but the third deity, who had never left the temple, answered “yes.” Personnel from the temple and the theater troupe held a ceremony to invite the god in the morning of Feb. 23, and temporarily moved the temple’s number three deity to the home of the troupe’s honorary director Li Chao-chen. It will eventually be moved from his home to a VIP seat at the venue once the set is ready.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
一般請神明看戲,都是將戲團搬到廟埕演出,讓神明直接「在家」看表演;宜蘭地方歌仔戲團「悟遠劇坊」新推出的年度大戲「玄武雙驕」,卻特別將神明請至演藝廳內看表演,不只戲碼創新,請神明出廟看戲,也是一大創舉。此戲是根據關於玄武的地方神話改編,而玄武是道教神明形象的化身。
Photo: Hu Chien-sen, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者胡健森
「悟遠劇坊」將在三月十七、十八日兩天,在宜蘭演藝廳演出三場的年度大戲「玄武雙驕」,內容主要是演繹蘭陽平原「龜蛇護海口」神話故事。
由於頭城鄉「接天宮」玄天上帝廟,位於蘭陽平原沿海地帶,有如「龜蛇把海口」的蛇身,從「接天宮」眺望龜島山,更具有濃濃的「龜蛇把海口」意象,加上接天宮是台灣供奉玄天上帝同道的總連絡處,為感念玄天上帝對蘭陽平原的庇佑,悟遠劇坊特別迎請神明來欣賞這齣新戲。
廟方人員接到劇坊人員的邀請後,立即向神明擲筊請示,結果廟中供奉的「大帝」、「二帝」都「沒興趣」,從來不曾出過廟門的「三帝」卻聖杯同意。二月二十三日上午,廟方人員與劇組人員等舉行請神儀式,將「三帝」的玄天上帝神尊先暫時請至榮譽團長李照禎家中供奉,等劇組人員布置場地時,再將神尊請至宜蘭演藝廳的「專屬貴賓席」。(自由時報記者胡健森)
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