Changhua’s historic Kaihua Temple has been attracting new worshipers by offering an unusual blessing: divine protection for people with pimples.
A county-level historical heritage, the small Buddhist temple was founded in 1724 and its main deity is Avalokitesvara bodhisattva, but at some point during the Qing Dynasty, it began to venerate Lord and Lady Pox (痘公痘婆), Changhua Mayor Chiu Chien-fu (邱建富) said.
According to folklore, Lord and Lady Pox were a physician couple who miraculously cured people with smallpox before vanishing from the area without a trace, Chiu said.
Photo: Liu Hsiao-hsin, Taipei Times
In gratitude, residents began worshiping the couple as gods at the temple and the belief that they would help people with acne developed later, he said.
While a majority of the temple’s visitors come to offer incense to the bodhisattva for other blessings, it has also received people seeking relief from pimples for themselves or their children, temple caretakers said.
Worshipers of Lord and Lady Pox typically bring offerings of lotions and makeup powders to their altar, while a bouquet of flowers is the customary token of gratitude for those who have recovered from acne, they said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
RSS