Fearing that his age and lack of students might cause the practice of fashioning the organs of sacrificial pigs into shapes during Pingtung’s Lantern Festival in the Liouduei region (六堆) to die out, 84 year-old Hsieh You-fa (謝有發) has commissioned the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology to document the practice.
Hsieh, from Sinpi Township (新埤), said that during the ceremony the intestines and inner organs of a sacrificed pig are molded into the shapes of a man or other animals. The practice, called Kan Wan (看碗), is aimed at propitiating the heavens and asking for a prosperous and peaceful year.
“I started learning the practice when I was 18,” Hsieh said, adding that he had been in charge of making Kan Wan for village ceremonies ever since.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
The practice sees a pig’s heart, liver, stomach, trachea and kidneys shaped into likenesses of familiar objects, such as pineapples, mountains, rabbits or rats, or into historical figures, such as Jiang Shang (姜尚) — more commonly known as Jiang Taigung (姜太公), Hsieh said.
Jiang was instrumental in aiding Ji Fa (姬發), also known as Zhou Wuwang (周武王), overthrow the Shang Dynasty and establish the Zhou Dynasty.
According to Hsieh, the Kan Wan ceremony reminds people to trust in life to provide their needs and the shapes were also didactic, reminding worshipers to be as smart as a rat, to be of good heart and loyal like a rabbit and to emulate Jiang Taigung’s philosophy that “those willing will bite” (願者上鉤).
The university said that Hsieh was the oldest Kan Wan master in the Liouduei area, adding that they first met Hsieh when the group visited Nanfeng Village (南豐) in September last year.
Hsieh told them that he was worried the practice would be forgotten and he was willing to teach anyone who was willing to learn, the group said, adding that they also hoped that by filming the process of making Kan Wan they would help the spread the practice, currently only seen in Hakka villages.
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