Traditional Folk Religion Emphasizes Peace and Safety – Praying for Good Fortune

Enshrined within local temples are, commonly, Guanyin Pusa (觀音菩薩), Baosheng Dadi (保生大帝), Guansheng Dijun (關聖帝君), or Saintly Emperor Guan, Chenghuang Ye (城隍爺), and Tudi Gong (土地公), or Earth God. These deities were originally introduced to Taiwan during the close of the Ming dynasty (明朝) when the great Ming patriot Zheng Chenggong (鄭成功), commonly called Koxinga (國姓爺) in the West, established himself on the island in 1661. Han Chinese coming to Taiwan for trade and business, and to open land, also brought their patron deities from their home areas in China. During the Qing dynasty (清朝) the guardian goddess of the sea, Mazu (媽祖), became the mostly widely worshipped deity in Taiwan, and remains at the top of the local religious pantheon to this day. The rich religious culture here also embraces Islam, Protestantism, and Catholicism, but Buddhist and Daoism remain the most popular religions.

Devotees often go to a temple to pray to the enshrined deities and ask them for peace, safety, and good fortune. Temple activity is especially busy around Chinese New Year and other major festivals. At New Year many believers consider qiang tou xiang (搶頭香), which literally means to “compete to burn the first incense,” to be a key annual rite. This happens at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the first moment of the New Year. The doors of the temple are opened and worshippers rush inside to be the first to plunge incense sticks into censers. Those who succeed are believed to be guaranteed a year of good luck. Little wonder then that such a spectacle is created at Taiwan’s places of worship each year.

All temples feature a constant lineup of sacrificial rites and ceremonies, designed to save souls, prevent disasters, etc. These manifest the spiritual power of the gods, who provide direction and guidance for adherents, help to resolve difficulties, and offer spiritual comfort. One of the most unique is shoujing (收驚) or “recalling a frightened soul.” When a person has received a fright, their soul is believed to have left the body. It is recalled by conducting shoujing, after which the person will once more be at peace. Shoujing is conducted at a temple for the person himself, a child brought by an adult, or by a third party who has brought a piece of clothing or other personal item belonging to the sufferer. Xingtian Temple is regarded as a particularly effective place to receive shoujing, and each day from about noon to 9 pm a long lineup of people can be seen, awaiting help from matron volunteers waving incense and chanting scripture.

Traditional Religious Practice – Concentrating Believers’ Sincerity

According to an old saying, “Mazu madness in the third month, welcome Wangye (王爺) in the fourth, busy with Pudu (普渡) in the seventh” (三月瘋媽祖，四月迎王爺，七月忙普渡), which emphasizes the importance of three major events in Taiwan folk religion, and their times. Mazu, a key deity along China’s southeast coast, is said to have been born a mortal named Lin Moniang (林默娘), during the Song dynasty (宋朝) in Meizhou, Fujian (福建湄洲). In one version of the Mazu legend, she died while trying to save her fisherman father and brothers from drowning after their ship was caught in a typhoon. Unable to find her remains, relatives and other villagers believed she had been transformed into an immortal and had ascended to heaven. The first Mazu temple was erected to commemorate her, and with time, her influence spread far beyond Meizhou.

Mazu’s birthday is on the 23rd day of the 3rd lunar month, and devotees head to Mazu temples during this month to pay homage to the goddess. Taiwan has a great many Mazu temples, many of which are fenling (分靈; lit. “shared spirit/power”) temples, meaning the power of their enshrined icon was originally taken from a far more powerful icon in another temple. Each year at the time of Mazu’s birthday the fenling icons are taken to visit the original, called yezu (謁祖; “paying respects to the ancestors”). Pilgrims follow behind their respective icon during an elaborate procession, gongs and drums loudly sounding the way, in a scene of grand pageantry and hubbub.

Another of the three key religious events in the above-mentioned old saying, Zhongyuan Pudu (中元普渡), is centered on what are called “lonely souls” (孤魂) – the souls of individuals who have no living descendants carrying out sacrificial rites for them. Related activities are conducted throughout the 7th lunar month, with activities on an especially grand scale staged during the Zhongyuan Festival (中元節), on the 15th day.

Special Religious Activities in Taipei – Culture and Faith Merged

Most Taipei temples have an active schedule of activities to serve devotees. Festive temple fairs are staged on and around the birthdays of the main enshrined deities each year, and in addition to attending the grand ceremonies involved, followers and visitors can enjoy the varied program of activities staged in temple squares to honor and thank the gods. Dalongdong Baoan Temple, Songshan Ciyou Temple (松山慈祐宮), Taipei Xia-Hai City God Temple (台北霞海城隍廟), and other major temples offer a combination of traditional temple fair, guided heritage tours, cultural studies, aesthetics competitions, and many other activities, showcasing the unique charms of Taiwanese folk beliefs and local culture.

One of the main gods at Dalongdong Baoan Temple is Baosheng Dadi, often called the God of Medicine (醫神). The temple’s annual Baosheng Cultural Festival (保生文化祭) is centered around his birthday on the 15th day of the 3rd month. The festival combines modern art and cultural elements with the ceremonies and activities of a traditional temple festival, in a unique combination of religion, folk-custom, arts and culture, and tourism. Each year, in an effort to promote transnational interchange, representatives from 13 temples around the region where Baosheng Dadi is worshiped are invited to come to Taipei for the grand celebrations, with participants from Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

Taipei’s Songshan area, originally called Xikou (錫口), was given its present name in 1920. Songshan Ciyou Temple, one of the most important Mazu temples in north Taiwan, hosts the Xikou Cultural Festival (錫口文化節) from the 15th day of the 1st lunar month to the 26th day of the 3rd month, just after Mazu’s birthday. Taiwanese opera and worship rites and ceremonies are staged in the temple square, expressing birthday wishes to the goddess. Other celebratory activities include Mazu neighborhood inspection processions and traditional folk-arts performances. There are also guided culture tours and historical-drama performances. The Mazu procession is an event of especially splendid pomp and pageantry, heading from Ciyou Temple through Raohe Street Tourist Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市) and Minsheng Community, along the Keelung River, and past Songshan Station (松山車站). Each year a great many foreign visitors make a special trip to witness the spectacle, reveling in the experience of a grand Taipei temple-festival celebration.

The birthday of Chenghuang Ye (城隍爺) or the City God, who is the patron saint of the city and is in charge of the spirits of the netherworld, falls on the 13th day of the 5th month. Each year Taipei Xia-Hai City God Temple stages the grand City God Birthday Parade (五月十三迎城隍), in which the City God goes on an inspection procession around the temple area, protected by Song Jiang Battle Array Troupes (宋江陣團體), which combine traditional martial arts and folk arts. About 10 years ago the scale of the celebrations was expanded and named the Taipei Xia-Hai City God Cultural Festival (台北霞海城隍文化季), with a program featuring shows by Taiwanese opera and glove-puppet theater troupes, lion dance troupes performing at fixed locations, and both storytelling and artifact displays explaining the history of the event. The expansion and upgrading of the temple fair into a full cultural season of activities, in addition to promoting the economy of the district, also serves as a powerful educational tool. Also enshrined within this temple is a famously efficacious Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人; also known as the Chinese Cupid) icon, making the temple a very popular destination with those looking for help in finding their true love.

The incense has been burning at these Taipei temples for many, many decades, while the city’s unique cultural blend has in turn shaped its special religious culture. A visit to one or all provides rewarding insight for the traveler trying to understand the richness of the local living experience.

Information

Dalongdong Baoan Temple 大龍峒保安宮

Add: 61, Hami St. (哈密街61號)

Tel: (02)2595-1676

Website: www.baoan.org.tw

Songshan Ciyou Temple 松山慈祐宮

Add: 761, Sec. 4, Bade Rd. (八德路4段761號)

Tel: (02)2765-9017

Website: www.facebook.com/SONGSHANCIYOU

Taipei Xia-Hai City God Temple 台北霞海城隍廟

Add: 61, Sec. 1, Dihua St. (迪化街1段61號)

Tel: (02)2558-0346

Website: www.tpecitygod.org