Youth commission offers free ghost month activities

With the arrival of ghost month, the National Youth Commission is launching a series of Ilha Formosa Ghost Festival activities, offering local and foreign youths an opportunity to participate in various celebrations nationwide free of charge.

Though during ghost month, which runs from Tuesday to Aug. 23 this year, has traditionally been regarded as taboo, the commission has decided to offer bus tours to five different ghost festival celebrations, hoping to show the positive side of the events, said Hsieh Hsiao-ting (謝曉婷), a commission official in charge of the project.

The "Youth Exploration Bus" has five different themes, including the Keelung Mid-Summer Ghost Festival, Ghost Festival in Lugang (鹿港), Sacrificial Ceremony for the Underworld Deity in Minhsiung (民雄), Chiayi County, and the Ghost Grappling Contest in Hengchung (恆春), Hsieh said.

People the age of 15 to 30 may sign up for one or more of the five tours free of charge, but need to submit a report about the trip on their return, she said.

The festivals last one day each, she added.

Foreigners encouraged to participate, Hsieh said, and added that while the local festival guides would speak Mandarin, the commission would provide English translators.

The ghost festival activities were launched because the commission hoped to offer an opportunity for local and foreign youths to have a more in-depth understanding of traditional Taiwanese culture, instead of merely traveling and sightseeing, Hsieh said.

Another the "Youth Exploration Team," will recruit a maximum of 15 teams with at least three members in each team. Team members will propose an itinerary for a trip to explore the culture of the ghost festival, Hsieh said.

A maximum allowance of NT$15,000 will be given to the teams whose proposals are cleared by the commission, Hsieh said.

She said that although ghost month was traditionally thought to be a bad time to travel, the festival should be seen not as something that was frightening, but rather as an expression of sympathy.

It is a time when people provide feasts for ghosts so that they can find happiness, Hsieh said.

More on the activities can be found on the program's Web site at youthtravel.tw/2006ghost.