Two 9,600kg “turtles” — one made of more than 15,000 packs of handmade noodles and another made of bags of rice — will be inaugurated on Friday on Penghu in conjunction with a series of celebrations to mark Lantern Festival on Sunday.
Turtles are believed to bring good luck because of their longevity.
Some temples in Taiwan prepare small figurines of turtles — made of gold, flour or rice — on special occasions, such as deities’ birthdays, the Lunar New Year or the Lantern Festival.
PHOTO: LOA IOK-SIN, TAIPEI TIMES.
Those who wish to take a turtle figurine home for luck may do so if they receive permission from the temple deity by throwing divination blocks.
Those who take the turtle figurines home must come back to the temple the following year with a bigger turtle figurine to show their appreciation.
The “qigui (乞龜)” practice in Penghu — which takes place around the Lantern Festival — is slightly different from practices in other parts of the country.
Penghu residents don’t just bring back a slightly larger turtle figurine; they like to bring back one that is hundreds or thousands times bigger.
Since the Penghu Matsu Temple (澎湖天后宮) piled up bags of rice to create a 7,200kg “rice turtle” (米龜) in 1989, it has become a tradition for the temple hosting the year’s “qigui” event to erect their own rice turtle and distribute the bags of rice to disadvantaged families or welfare institutions in the county.
The largest rice turtle was erected last year by the Hailing Temple (海靈殿) in Magong City (馬公). It was 18m long, 12m wide, and weighed 216,000kg.
This year, the Chenwei Temple (宸威殿) in Magong City is hosting the “qigui” event.
Temple leaders made their giant turtle using handmade noodles, a local specialty.
“We’ve made a [9,600kg] noodle turtle 12m in length, 8m wide and 2m high on the square in front of the temple to pray for peace and prosperity in the new year,” Chenwei Temple president Wu Wen-hsiang (吳文相) said. “The noodle turtle was erected by the same team that completed the [216,000kg] rice turtle last year by stacking up more than 15,000 packs of locally handmade noodles.”
Although this year’s noodle turtle is smaller than last year’s rice turtle, Wu said it was more difficult to make because workers had to avoid crushing the dried noodles when stacking them.
Behind the noodle turtle is a 9,600kg turtle made of bags of rice by Chenwei Temple devotee Wu Tien-lin (吳天琳) to return favor to the deity for granting him a small turtle figurine last year, which he believed helped him fulfill his dreams.
“A ritual to empower the giant rice turtle will take place on Friday, with a parade that follows in the afternoon and in the evening around the city,” Wu Wen-hsiang said. “On Saturday, we will host a local specialty noodle feast that begins at 5pm.”
“Performances and other festivities will take place daily all the way until the 20th day of the first lunar month [Mar. 5] here,” he said.
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