A traditional ceremony marking the transition to adulthood was celebrated at the Taipei Confucius Temple yesterday.
The ceremony included around 30 foreign exchange students and diplomats' children for the first time, according to Pyramid Tsai (蔡松棋), Chief Ceremony Officer and the head of the Rotary International district which hosted the event yesterday.
The ceremony originates from the Confucian Book of Rites, which dictates that "men at age of 20 shall be hatted, women at age of 15 shall wear hair pins."
PHOTO: CHENG HSUEH-YUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Before the ceremony, participants, called lisheng (
The names of the two gates, li and yi, make up the Mandarin term for "manners", liyi (
Immediately before they step into the courtyard, lisheng have to dip their hands into a golden bowl filled with water.
The gesture signifies that the participants have washed away old habits to embrace their new lives as adults, according to the organizer.
Participants were welcomed by a 70-strong Chinese orchestra, and a traditional drum performance.
Although usually only performed in ceremonies celebrating Confucius' birthday, the eight-fold formation dance, called biyi wu (
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (
Carole de Fransu, an exchange student from France, said of the ceremony: "It makes me think a bit about my future, about the future of all of us."
The culmination of the ceremony came when parents and guardians of the participants placed hats and hair pins on them, formally declaring them adults.
"It's fabulous, impressive, instructive, and inspiring," said Ephraim Einhorn, honorary representative of the Polish Chamber of Commerce, when asked to comment on the ceremony. "If Confucius were here, he would be proud."
"The whole ceremony was awesome, the music, the dances, all came together to create a great ceremony," Lisa Rappold, a German exchange student, said.
However, the ceremony was not perfect, according to some participants.
"They made us come here," Ben Endicott, an exchange student from the US said. "I don't know [if I'd be interested], but I'd be more interested if I knew more about it."
Helen McQuillan, another exchange student from the US agreed. "I didn't really have any expectations because no one really told me anything about it beforehand."
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