Baosheng Cultural Festival 2011: First Pics

So today was Baosheng Dadi's birthday (Baosheng Dadi is the god of medicine). Anyone who's lived in Taiwan for any length of time knows that god birthdays are generally celebrated with a lot of firecrackers and a parade in which that god - and some other ones who are along to pay respects - goes around town in a palanquin to the accompaniment of great cacaphony. Generally he's followed by dragon dancers, lion dancers, tall gods and sundry other awesome stuff that makes for great photo fodder.

Baosheng Dadi's temple, Bao'an Gong, is a UNESCO world heritage site in Dalongdong, and his birthday parade is one of the biggest - if not the biggest - in northern Taiwan. It was today (but there's firewalking tomorrow afternoon, and Shennong Dadi's birthday is coming up as well so you can still get in on the fun if you want).

Here are a few photos from our day of watching the festival go by (more to come later):

The Messenger - this comical guy walks in front of Baosheng Dadi's palanquin, giving out Ritz crackers and letting people know he's coming.

This is some sort of costume group - 11 of them look fairly similar, then there's a grandma (above) and one that looks like a young girl. I think the ones who look alike are meant to be sisters.

A martial artist in a troupe prepares for a match.

One of the "sisters".

A bajiajiang (array of eight generals) mid-performance

Dragon dancing was big this year.

I like how he looks like he's comin' to get me.

I try to show up early for these parades if I know they're happening so I can get good close-ups of the tall gods and other folks.

Like these women, who are in some sort of Yunlin-based dance-and-cymbal troupe.

The martial arts troupe was really spectacular. They were so fast that I didn't get a lot of non-blurry pictures.

Another close-up god.

Taipei Mooching

I thought bajiajiang could only be men, but this one looks female to me. Also, note the green colored contacts, making it extra cool.

I STILL have a bit of a headache so I'm not posting much in terms of writing today. Sorry!

Yesterday, Brendan and I went on a long walk around northwest Taipei - we started at Xingtian Temple, walked up Linsen to Chengde and up Chengde to Kulun and then Hami Street, where we stopped in at the Confucius Temple and Bao'an Temple. We also stopped in a few bookstores (Caves, the Hess bookstore) just for fun.

We then walked down Dihua Street for a stretch, then down Yanping to find a snack, then over to Anxi and back to Dihua where we had dinner. While having dinner, a group of bajiajiang unexpectedly came up on the City God Temple, so we took some photos of that before walking back to Zhongshan for coffee and then heading home.

I took this set of photos, despite the bad weather, while doing that walk, and posted the best ones end-to-beginning below.

Enjoy!

Another shot of the green-eyed bajiajiang (array of 8 martial guards found in Taiwanese temple parades, wearing face paint and other accoutrements)

Bajiajiang inside Xiahai City God Temple with the leader, who did a dance outside that involved kicking burning ghost money.

This troupe was friendly (as friendly as bajiajiang are allowed to be in costume/in part) and eager to be photographed. I suspect, with the age and the enthusiasm, that this is a new troupe.

I enjoyed the chance to take photos of them taking off their costumes - note weapons going down, makeup coming off, hats and wigs lifted off. Mircea Eliade would have called the bajiajiang, in costume, as being in a "sacred" act - that's why they can't speak, they will maul you if they are doing a martial demonstration and you are too close, they can't eat, talk or drink in sight and have to cover themselves with a fan if they do any of these things. To do those human things while acting as a non-human entity is forbidden.

But here, they're leaving that state and becoming young boys again, and it's interesting to see the transition between sacred and "profane" (normal life).

This well known old hospital building is on Yanping N. Road and is a fine example of Japanese-era architecture in Taiwan.

Recently restored windows at the Taipei Confucius Temple

A young girl at the Confucius Temple - just then I was hanging my little plaque, which you can buy in the gift shop, asking Confucius to help me get into and get through grad school successfully.

Temple decorations on a dreary day (it became sunnier later on) at Taipei's Confucius Temple

Handing out incense at Xingtian Temple

Prayer and offerings at Xingtian Temple on Tomb Sweeping Day

Picnicking family at Xingtian Temple's (Xingtian Gong or 星天宮) outer gate.

A Link For Thee

Some absolutely fascinating posts on the origins of Qi Ye and Ba Ye as well as the Biajiajiang - anyone who reads this thing has surely noticed how images of them at festivals make up a huge portion of the photos I post...but I know very little about them. That is, until now.

King Boat I Take II

Some more photos from the first weekend of King Boat. I promise later to sit down and spend some real time making captions and explaining things about the festival. It's really fascinating stuff, but I've just been really busy lately.

I'll also post photos of the second weekend, in which the boat is burned, soon. Tonight, even. I promise!

King Boat Festival (王船節) - First Weekend

So the first weekend of Donggang's triennial King Boat Festival was last weekend (the boat burning, by the way, is this Friday so if you are in the area, you should stop by. The processional with the boat starts Friday afternoon and the burning is at night. Late. Like 1am).

I'll edit and add captions later - for now, it's late so sit back and enjoy some photographs. More to come - I took over 700 pictures in 2 days! Stop by later if you want notes on what these things actually are.