I decided early on that over my Asialink residency I would explore, experience and research the traditions, stories and myths that surround 'Hungry ghosts', and the Ghost Month Festival as it is celebrated in Taiwan. As well as the active veneration or worship of ancestors (敬祖; pinyin: jìngzǔ) there is a strong and active folk faith in ghosts, and ghostly beings and their capacity to have an influence and effect on the living. No matter whether people 'actually' believe in ghosts or not during Ghost Month few will get married, buy houses or cars, go for a swim, whistle, hand up wet clothes at night. The list is quite substantial...(who knows what might happen, so don't tempt fate..right?)
In Australia churches might be regarded by some as our temples and are locked up most of the time, and excepting Sundays, or wedding days not a hive of daily activity. Here in Taiwan temples are busy active places where the business of ancestor veneration and worship sees a constant flow of people and offerings. Apparently more people are actually returning to the 'older' folk religions, now they are not being actively stamped out by Authoritarian Chinese communist dictators! I find this interesting in this age of Asian economic expansion where there is a supposed process of becoming Westernised...but, as often in Asia, things are not quite as they might appear to be.
Mengjia Longshan Temple 艋舺龍山寺 was built in Taipei in 1738 by settlers from Fujian.
It served as a place of worship and a gathering place for the Chinese
settlers. Like most temples in Taiwan, the temple worships a mixture of
deities from Buddism and Chinese folk religion including Guanyin, Mazu & Guan Yu.It is one of the centres of temple activity in Taipei city.
 |
| Exterior - Main entrance |
 |
| Worship & offerings |
 |
| Incense always |
 |
| Flower offerings |
 |
| Stonework detail |
 |
| Worship activity |
 |
| Courtyard |
 |
| Candles |
 |
| Lanterns and gateways |
 |
| Water & stone |
Always there is a sense too of ancient meeting modern, of existing side by side. Here the goddess Kuan Yin gazes out across a busy street as modern women go about their day...
 |
| Scooter |
 |
| and again |
 |
Different accessories...
|
As you visit public temples you witness variations on this activity of worship and ancestor veneration in terms of size and scale.There are large temples, local community temples street temples, home temples...in fact there are over 15,000 registered public temples in Taiwan.
I sit in these spaces and places and watch the flow of people, and activity. I see compositional elements we might consider or suggest; tunnels and gateways, the overstep, objects such as lanterns and candles, the specific colour palettes, the flowers, fruit, rice..it is a sensual world where there is so much to take in...and here it is simply part of every day living.
 |
| Quingshan Temple - Red Gate |
 |
| Quingshan Temple - Ceiling detail |
 |
| Offerings |
 |
| Offerings |
 |
| Bao'an Temple |
 |
| Gateway detail | |
|
|
 |
| Tien-Ho Temple - Stairway to heaven or to hell...? |
 |
| Lots of candles |
 |
| Lanterns |
 |
| Lantern detail |
 |
| Signage |
 |
| Worship |
 |
| Burning spirit 'money' |
 |
| From the ornate... |
 |
| to the eloquently simple. |
 |
| Incense bowl with fan and bin |
 |
| Water garden & carp! |
 |
| Spooky |
 |
| Guanyin - major offering |
 |
| Food tables overflowing |
 |
| Food, money, messages etc. |
 |
| Lanterns + |
 |
| Entry |
 |
| Beuh - Yes or no or maybe? |
 |
| Bao'an Temple |
 |
| So many hopes. |
 |
| So many thoughts, so many wishes.. |
Temples are literally everywhere, but each has their own history, focus, and degree of importance..or potentially its a case of different temples for different 'needs'...I visited Xingtian Temple, which was built fairly recently in 1967 and is one of Taipei's main temples. Close by the street of 'fortune telling' it was a hive of activity with much 'cleansing', 'healing' and active worship going on.
 |
| Reading scriptures |
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| Waiting for one on one session |
 |
| Sharing & cleansing |
 |
| Sculptural detail |
 |
Temple entrance
Temples come in all shapes and all sizes......as do offerings |
 |
| Some with tigers... |
 |
| Or Buddhas.. |
 |
| Statues of Godesses |
 |
| art work |
 |
| or bunting... |
 |
| a single altar |
 |
| basic aesthetic.. |
 |
| or a Golden God.. |
 |
| or stone.. |
 |
| or many Gods of all kinds... |
 |
| Tucked in between.. |
 |
| and guarded by friends... |
 |
| Always an incense burner |
 |
| An entrance.. |
 |
| Grande |
 |
| or homely |
Ancestor veneration and worship if the focus of temple activity..along with fortune telling, burning of paper money and goods and various rites and rituals..Over Ghost month I visited many temples and came to love the energy and beauty of these buildings deeply embedded into the heart and soul of their community.
No comments:
Post a Comment