Calls to hold a traditional pudu (普渡) “universal salvation” ceremony outside the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system’s Jiangzicui Station (江子翠) to commemorate people slain in a knife attack on a MRT train car on May 21 have gathered public support, with the ceremony likely being held near the Ghost Festival.
Four passengers died and 22 were injured in the incident.
Suspect Cheng Chieh (鄭捷) was indicted by the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on July 22 on four counts of murder and 22 counts of attempted murder.
The memorial ceremony is to be held near Aug. 10, the day of the Chungyuan Festival (中元節, also known as the Ghost Festival), which falls on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month.
The seventh month of the lunar calendar is traditionally known as Ghost Month. This year, it began on July 27 and marks the opening of the gates of the underworld to let spirits loose for a month to be among the living, according to Taiwanese tradition.
Chen Hsing-ching (陳幸進), chief of a New Taipei City volunteer firefighter squad, said that some of the volunteer firefighters proposed holding the traditional ritual, as they felt it could comfort the public after the traumatic experience.
New Taipei City Councilor Lin Kuo-chuen (林國春) has also proposed holding a religious ceremony inside the station, and said he was discussing the idea with Chen and area residents.
Lin, who issued the apology to the public on behalf of Cheng’s parents after the incident, said that some residents in Jiangzicui have expressed a wish to hold a pudu ritual in the MRT station, which he said also was a viable proposal.
Lin added that the train cars on which the incident occurred have been ritually “cleansed” using Taoist and Christian rites.
However, no such ritual has been held on the platforms inside the Jiangzicui station, including Exit No. 3, which was used to take victims outside.
“Some feel scared walking past Exit No. 3,” Lin said.
“We are discussing ways to expand the Ghost Festival ceremony to make people feel peaceful again,” he said.
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