The belief that offering bananas, plums, pears and pineapples for the dead would invite more ghosts is a superstition that should be abandoned, an Agriculture and Food Agency official said yesterday.
The nation’s biggest fruit market in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) yesterday held a ritual to honor the dead following the Ghost Festival on Tuesday, the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar.
The seventh month of the lunar calendar is called Ghost Month, when the gate of the underworld is said to open and people prepare offerings for the dead.
People have refrained from offering bananas, plums, pears and pineapples, because the fruits’ names sound like they are inviting ghosts in Hoklo (also known as Taiwanese), the market’s Fu-te Temple (福德宮) chairman Lin Lai-fa (林來發) said.
In Hoklo pronunciation, banana sounds like “inviting” (tsio), plum like “you” (li), pear like “come” (lai) and pineapple like “prosperity” or “more” (ong), the combination of which sounds like an invitation for ghosts to stay in someone’s home.
Some so-called folklore experts kept spreading the belief, but it is actually a superstition that has cost fruit sellers serious losses, Lin said.
The superstition is capricious given that the names sound different in Hakka or Aboriginal languages, the agency’s deputy director Chuang Lao-ta (莊老達) said.
The agency did not estimate the amount fruit sellers have lost, he added.
Banana have been one of the nation’s best-selling fruits since the Japanese colonial period, but sales slow down in summer as they contain less water, he said, adding that Council of Agriculture officials are slated to visit Japan next month to promote Taiwanese fruits such as bananas, lychees and dragon fruit.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
Passengers on Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) will be required to use headphones and make phone calls in gangways under new “quiet travel” rules starting Sept. 22. THSR Chairman Shih Che (史哲) told media that THSR will run a three-month promotional campaign to ensure widespread adoption of the new rules. Those repeatedly ignoring the guidance face the potential termination of their transport contract, which can result in them getting escorted off the train, according to THSR. Shih shared his hope to cultivate an environment conducive to rest and reading for the train’s passengers, stating that these changes aim to “promote self-discipline” among passengers