Starting next Friday, Tainan City will host the 10-day International Chihsi Arts Festival alongside the "coming-of-sixteen" ceremony -- a tradition unique to Tainan -- to be performed at various temples which will in the city on Aug. 18.
Chihsi (
legend
PHOTO: HSU MIN-JUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Legend has it that once a cowherder married a weaver girl from Heaven and had children.
But a goddess was upset that a fairy maiden had married a human and recalled the weaver girl.
The couple, standing on each side of the Milky Way, could only meet each other on Chihsi when magpies started forming a bridge between them.
In the modern age, Chihsi is celebrated as Lovers' Day in Taiwan.
However, Chihsi has another special meaning for the people of Tainan -- it's the traditional day for the "coming-of-sixteen" ceremony, Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (
"Coming-of-sixteen" (zuo shiliusui,
"Most people have only heard half of the Chihsi story, but we know the full story in Tainan," he said. "After the weaver girl was recalled to Heaven, six other fairy maidens -- sisters of the weaver girl -- came down to take care of her children; therefore, children who become adults would show their appreciation to the qiniangma (seven fairy maidens, 七娘媽)."
A table with offerings arranged on it was set up at the news conference to demonstrate the coming-of-age rituals.
offerings
All the offerings -- including tea, pastries, fruits and noodles -- came in sevens, "so that the qiniangma may each get a share," Hsu Keng-hsiu (許耿修), director-general of the Tainan City Cultural Affairs Bureau, told reporters.
"The makeup and perfumes on the table are to tell the girls that they may start using those items now that they are adults. The betel nuts and cigarettes serve the same purpose for the boys," he said.
teenagers
Two teenagers crawled out from under the table, which "symbolizes that they've come out of the qiniangma's palace," he said.
"During the Qing Dynasty, workers at Tainan's Wutiao Harbor (五條港) were paid as child laborers if they were under 16, but would be paid full wages when they turned 16. That's why we celebrate the coming-of-sixteen," Hsu Tain-tsair said.
"The coming-of-sixteen celebration tells our young adults to be grateful to their parents, to be independent and to be responsible," he said, "while the celebration also preserves a unique Taiwanese tradition," he said.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS