Wang Yeh Boats Burning
Disease spreading ghosts, or Wang Yeh, are lead onto the boats by priests and mediums. The boat, sitting atop a mountain of ghost money (money burned by locals for the benefit of their dead ancestors) is then burned, sending the spirits back to their world, hopefully taking their plagues with them. A completely whole boat filled with replicas of houses, cars, clothes, horses or sacrificial offerings of food which took craftsmen to build over a year will burn down.
The main purpose of this festival is for blessing the people and asking for peace. Peace in their lives. The festival is held at the resplendent of Donglong Temple only every 3 year, last one was in 2006, dating over 1000 years ago. A lot of accessory events held place before actual burning - like following the boat in parades or ceremonies to invite gods.
I remember not sleeping whole night due to watching the boat burn. In the morning we just went to a black-sand beach in Kaoshung to take a rest. When we arrived back to Taichung at the end of the day we were completely tired but amazingly full of new incredible experiences.
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