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.
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