One of old Taipei’s most popular deities is going on a historic visit to Japan and he has an important mission — to help find love matches for single Japanese looking to get married.
Known as the “Old Man Under the Moon” (月下老人) or just the “Moon Elder” (月老), the legendary figure said to originate from the Tang Dynasty has been venerated at Taipei’s Xia Hai City God Temple (霞海城隍廟) in the Dadaocheng area (大稻埕) since his statue was consecrated at the temple in 1971.
It is the first time the deity is taking a trip overseas, a three-day tour of Okinawa starting on Friday, which is Valentine’s Day.
Photo: Shih Chih-ju, Taipei Times
A delegation from Okinawa visited the City God Temple on Saturday to present an official invitation. Unmarried members of the delegation gave offerings and conducted a ritual, seeking help to find their love matches.
Hsieh Cheng-chun (謝正君), administrator of Taipei’s Datong District (大同) where the temple is located, said the deity had agreed to the overseas trip.
“The ‘Moon Elder’ gave his consent. We did this using the divination ritual of Bua-buei (筊杯) [casting of two crescent-shaped paired wooden divination devices],” Hsieh said. “In the temple, we have several consecrated ‘Moon Elder’ deity statues. The one going to Japan is a ‘horcrux’ [a figure with magical powers that contains parts of the deity’s soul]. It will be taken aboard the plane as a piece of carry-on luggage by a temple official.”
He said the deity would travel to Okinawa so that Japanese single men and women could worship it.
“Taiwanese can still come to our temple on Valentine’s Day. We have the ‘Moon Elder’ main deity figure, who will provide his regular service,” Hsieh said.
The visit to Okinawa is a collaboration with the Okinawa Industry Promotion Public Corp, a government agency.
“Activities also include karaoke singing contests, along with the promotion of Taiwanese tea, braised pork rice and other Taiwanese products in Okinawa,” he said.
Although the City God Temple on Dihua Street (迪化街) is not big, it attracts large numbers of devotees at weekends and on holidays.
Single people worship the “Moon Elder” in an attempt to find a love match, while those who are married can seek to obtain a “Shoe of Happiness” from the wife of the deity, as many believe that placing the shoe inside a closet at home can ensure a harmonious relationship.
In recent years, increasing numbers of Japanese tourists have visited the temple.
On Saturday, a 26-year-old Japanese visitor with the surname Ishihara said it was his first visit to the temple.
“I wish to find a pretty girlfriend. We heard people can obtain red linen from the ‘Moon Elder,’ which can help find a person’s true love. If my wish comes true and I marry a good woman, then I shall bring my wife to Taiwan for our honeymoon and present offerings to thank the deity,” Ishihara said.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS