For many Donggang (東港) residents, the 300-year-old Wangyeh festival, held every three years, is a family event, with many of the official positions in the eight-day temple ceremony passed down from father to son.
For this reason, many children and teens can be observed participating in the blessing procession of the deity Wen Wangyeh (溫王爺), which began on Sunday at the Donggang fishing port in Pingtung County, dressed either as bantou (班頭) — public officials responsible for maintaining order — or jiaoban (轎班) — sedan carriers.
The young bantou and jiaoban have inherited the “male-only” positions from their fathers or another family elder and are initiated through a ritual, said 41-year-old Su Po-wen (蘇博文), who has taken part in the festival with his bantou father since he was five years old.
Su said that if a bantou had no son, he could pass on the post to the children of his sisters, but the succession must be approved by Wangyeh.
Applicants have to ask for permission in a ritual that involves throwing two divining crescents on the ground, he said.
The applicants must promise to serve until they hand it to their next generation, Su said.
Asked why he would want to be a bantou, Su said that “it is a kind of drive to serve Wangyeh whenever the festival is held. Particularly at the time of greeting and bidding farewell to the god, I would feel bad if I did not come.”
The traditional temple ceremony to honor Wen Wangyeh began at Jhenhai Park in Donggang last Saturday with a complicated welcoming ritual before the launch of a four-day blessing procession. The ceremony culminates on the last day of sumptuous rituals with the ceremonial burning of an elaborately carved wooden boat.
More than 10,000 Wangyeh believers from outside the township, as well as tourists, have flocked to Donggang to see the festival.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS