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Monday 22 August 2011

Saytaiwan Series 8~Walking with the Dead in Hsinchu City

14th August, day-3 in Taiwan. Traditionally, the Lunar Seventh Month of Chinese Calender is the Month of the Dead (literally: Ghost Month), starting from the first day of the Seventh Month, Chinese believes that the gates of the underworld will become wide open and the spirits are freely to roam the human world.

In the human world, they (the ghosts) seek food and entertainment. These ghosts are believed to be ancestors of those who forgot to pay tribute to them after they died, or those who were never given a proper ritual send-off. They have long needle-thin necks because they have not been fed by their family, or as a punishment so that they are unable to swallow. Family members offer prayers to their deceased relatives, offer food and drink and burn hell bank notes and other forms of joss paper for them.

Chinese believes that hell is just another material world which similar to a normal human life and due to this, people burn paper houses, cars, servants, televisions and joss paper (bank notes for the underworld) to please the ghosts.

Besides their ancestors, most people also pay tribute to other unknown wandering ghosts so that these homeless souls do not intrude on their lives and bring misfortune to them.

The fifteen day of the Ghost Month, marks the peak of the roaming of the ghosts. On the 15th, most numbers of ghosts will come to earth and visits their friends and relatives and even their enemies, so major events are held in all over Taiwan (and other Chinese societies) to calm and please the ghost, one of the main event held in Hsinchu is the Grand Parade, which people will dress like a ghost together with the statues of the gods from respective temples in Hsinchu (all temples in Hsinchu have to take part in this parade, moreover, there are temples from Tainan and Khaosiung too) . In short, it's walking with the dead!

Pictures speak louder than words, please enjoy the following pictures and video:



Old quarter of Hsinchu. In front of the Temple of the Guardian of the City (Cheng Huang Miao,城隍廟), the oldest temple in Hsinchu.


People gathered at here waithing for the statue of the Guardian of the City back to His temple.


Picture with the Mayor of Hsinchu City, Mr. Ming-Tsai Hsu (新竹市長-許明財先生).

Video of dancing "ghosts":

2 评论 Comments:

火星男 said...

兄弟,你需不需要跑到哪都替马大打广告喔!

ANG said...

沒辦法,窮啊,買不起衣服,只好這樣了!

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