Robert wrote two interesting articles on this festival:
1. Taiwan Today
2. Wall Street Journal
We drove down south and overnighted in the city of Pingdong. The next morning we drove to Donggang, where the festival takes place.
Wang Yeh (wang ye, Royal Lords) are an aspect of Chinese folk religion. They are the spirits of what were once real, historical people, who centuries after their deaths have been elevated to divine status. Representatives from Wang Yeh temples all over Taiwan converge on Donggang for the festival, carrying their local gods in sedan chairs.
The festivities focus on Donglong Temple, with much of the activities happening in the temple square. On the first day, Wen Hong, the god of Donglong Temple, is carried outside and the doors to the inner sanctuary are ceremonially sealed during his absence.
Here's a scene from the ceremony in which the god is brought out. You can see, on the right, under the twin paper lanterns, the sanctuary door is open in the background.
The characters on the two lanterns above the doorway read "Inspection tour on behalf of Heaven," which is what is about to happen during the week: the gods go around on an inspection tour of the area, and will report their findings to Heaven.
A palanquin bearer, wearing the characteristic hat, inspects the sedan chair in which the temple god will be carried.
Music fills the air. Inside the temple, a group of young musicians play the suona, a double-reeded horn which sounds somewhat like a bagpipe.
Next, the gods are carried in their palanquins across the temple square, past the Wang Yeh boat still waiting in its "garage," through the golden arch on the far end of the square, and into the city streets.
The temple square is jam-packed with palanquin bearers, devotees and tourists. During this festival, Donglong Temple has been designated daitianfu: "Temple in Lieu of Heaven."
Make way for the King! Temple god Wen Hong is carried in his sedan chair.
Along the way, there are drums, gongs, fireworks along the pilgrimage to the beach. Finally, we approach the seaside.
A palanquin bearer cools down with a refreshing Taiwan Beer.
Dozens of palanquins are lined up on the sandy shore.
Lots of colorful characters can be seen here.
One of the gods arrives by sea.
Just beyond the lined up sedan chairs is a stretch of open sand in front of a stage, where another ceremony takes place. At this ceremony, the presiding Wang Yeh is chosen.
We had been told that the name is chosen by spirit mediums who write characters in the sand. We saw them carrying sticks presumably for that purpose, but either there were too many people or we were looking in the wrong place because we didn't see the sand-writing taking place. In any case, the name was chosen: with fanfare, firecrackers, cheers and a release of balloons, it was announced that the presiding Wang Yeh was named Luo.
Afterwards, the procession started in earnest, with all the sedan chairs being carried to another temple in the city, the first in a tour of many temples in the area.
We decided to go have dinner while we waited for the next major act of the day: the firewalk. On their return to the temple, the sedan-chair bearers walk barefoot through coals to purify themselves.
At around 7:00pm, the coals were burning with fierce heat.
The coals are smoothed out, and rice is tossed onto the coals as an offering. It bursts into a blaze with plumes of smoke rising into the night sky.
Next, salt is tossed on the coals, which lowers the temperature "so they don't get barbecued," the announcer said.
And across they go.
After crossing the coals, they left the temple grounds, went onto the street, and came back, forming a continuous loop of people streaming across the coals. I don;t know how many times they had to make the circuit.
Even SpongeBob was there to witness the festivities.
At night, the palanquins are lit up with colorful lights.
Festive fireworks enliven an already intense evening.
And this is only the first day!
On Friday the 16th, we go back down to Donglong Temple for the culmination of the festival: the Boat Burning!!
To get an idea of what it's like, check out the video I made for the last festival. Just click on the following YouTube link:
2006 Wang Yeh Boat Burning Festival
