An unmarked model boat apparently built to be used in religious rituals washed up at the Aogu Wetlands (鰲鼓濕地) in Chiayi County’s Dongshih Township (東石) earlier this month, with local residents saying that they are worried.
The 3m long model, resembling a Wang Ye ship that is usually burned as an offering to the Wang Ye gods of pestilence and military protection, is the first of its kind to wash up in the area, and is making the community uneasy, residents said.
The model is seemingly made of wood and has a palace-like superstructure, but contains no inscriptions or religious iconography.
Villagers said that no one wants to touch the boat and people prefer to observe it from a safe distance.
“I do not believe that the object in question is a Wang Ye boat,” said Lin Mao-hsien (林茂賢), an associate professor of Taiwanese languages and literature at National Taichung University of Education and a folklorist.
Modern devotees of Wang Ye almost always burn the ship to symbolically send the plague and martial gods to heaven, and while there is a historic ritual to set Wang Ye ships adrift, it is rarely practiced today, Lin said. Wang Ye ships should be lavishly decorated and provisioned for the gods, but the one that washed ashore is plain and lacks proper accommodations or iconography, he said.
Lin said the model boat is a so-called “Fa ship” built by Taoists engaged in Zoulingshan (走靈山) spiritualism in Hualien County to “banish spirits to whom bad karma is owed and bad qi (氣).” Fa ships are considered inauspicious and are typically burned to complete the ritual, but are sometimes set adrift, he added.
Lin said he would recommend people stay away from the ill-fated boat, adding that local residents should ask a temple or house of worship to dispose of it.
Dongshih Township Mayor Lin Chia-ying (林佳瑩) said that she would appeal to Dongshih’s Gangkou Temple for help in disposing of the boat.
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