The Confucius Temple in southern Tainan, Taiwan’s first temple dedicated to Confucius, held a ceremony to celebrate the birthday of the Chinese politician and philosopher yesterday, which was Teacher’s Day in Taiwan.
The ceremony, which began at 5am and is held every year, marked the birth of Confucius 2,569 years ago and followed an ancient tradition that has remained unchanged for more than 2,000 years, the temple’s cultural foundation said.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) presided over the ritual while hundreds of people looked on.
Photo: CNA
One of the rites was a formation dance in which 36 children lined up in six rows and six columns to pay respect to Confucius.
The Confucius Temple in Tainan is the only institution in Taiwan that still practices the tradition of offering three animal sacrifices — a goat, a pig and an ox — to worship Confucius, the foundation said, adding that other Confucius temples present the three sacrifices, but replace the animals with pastry in animal shapes.
However, the practice of plucking the hair around the eyes and ears of the sacrificed ox, a folk custom thought to provide wisdom, was canceled, it said.
Photo: Courtesy of the Pingtung County Government
It is not safe for visitors to enter the building where the sacrifices were held, because it suffered structural damage in an earthquake three years ago, the foundation said, adding that maintenance on the building is expected to be completed next year.
Confucius is regarded as a role model for teachers.
Tainan’s Confucius Temple, built in 1666, is the first temple dedicated to Confucius in Taiwan and has been restored more than 30 times because of damage caused by wars or natural disasters, according to the Tourism Bureau.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS