Thousands of people lit small paper homes and scattered them onto the placid waters near Keelung’s Badouzih early yesterday, part of an annual rite meant to placate the souls of the dead during the colorful Ghost Month observances.
Every year Taiwanese honor wandering ghosts in the hope they will cease to haunt the living. The Chinese tradition — embraced by many Taiwanese — holds that the gates of the netherworld open once every 12 months and ghosts walk the earth freely for 30 days.
Those who treat them well — showing their obeisance by burning models of items the ghosts might covet — are assured a year of peace and prosperity.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
This year’s ceremony in Keelung began with a three-hour parade featuring lion dances and traditional music.
Thousands of people marched through the city streets, holding banners aloft with elaborately written family names and chanting ritual prayers.
Wu Hou-jing, a representative of the Wu family association, said the event was meant to bring peace to the souls of people who had perished in battles in the area.
“People from southeast China immigrated to Taiwan,” he said.
“Sometimes they would become casualties in land battles and sometimes in sea battles, like when the Dutch invaded the region. We are holding a ceremony for all of them, to help bring them peace,” he said.
Shortly after midnight, parade participants launched dozens of elaborately painted paper houses onto the sea, setting them alight amid a cacophony of exploding firecrackers and ritual chants.
“We are lighting these water lanterns to give some light to the wandering souls,” Taoist priest Lee Wu-chi said. “The lanterns will lead the souls of the ghosts safely back to shore.”
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
Ninth graders were asked to define “trolling” on this year’s standardized exam, reflecting efforts to make the test better reflect real-life situations. Adjustments to this year’s Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students were revealed on Sunday, after the last cohort of students completed the test over the weekend. The Ministry of Education solicited feedback about the test from teachers, who approved of the new question in the English portion. Not only was question No. 20 “very much in line with real-life situations,” but it also used a new style in which students were asked to ascertain the correct dictionary definition based
Taiwan is on alert for monkeypox, a rare viral disease that has caused 87 infections in 11 countries over the past three weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Saturday. The WHO on Friday convened an emergency session to discuss a sudden outbreak of monkeypox in North America and Europe. Since the beginning of this month, 87 confirmed cases and 28 possible cases have been identified in 11 countries. The countries with the highest case counts are England with 29 cases, and Portugal and Spain with 23 each. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease occurring primarily in the tropical rainforest areas
ADAPTING: The CECC said the policy change would happen this week at the earliest, while PCR testing stations would be used to diagnose people and prescribe drugs The general public would be able to use a positive rapid test result that has been confirmed by a doctor for COVID-19 diagnosis starting later this week at the soonest, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 79,441 new local infections and 53 deaths. The center on Saturday announced that it was expanding the rapid test diagnosis policy to people living in indigenous townships and outlying islands, starting today. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, yesterday said the policy might be further expanded to include “all people” this week, at the soonest. He
RSS