DongGang King Boat Burning Festival

DongGang Fishery Port

DongGang is located in PingTung, the southest county in Taiwan. Not only its seafood but Wang Yeh worship and its king boat burning festival once every three years are famous. The festival is held on 4 to 11 October 2015, so the next one will be in Autumn, 2018.

The festival is based on the "Wang Yeh(王爺, similar with Lord in western culture) worship. It is believed the God assigns his 5 delegates, called "Thousand Years*"(千歲)  to DongGang to look after his people by hunting bad lucks and disease every 3 years. 

*Chinese Emperor was also called "Ten Thousand Years" that his people wish him to live longer for ten thousand years. It is used among God world too. Since "Ten Thousand Years" is reserved for the God with the great power, the "Thousand Years" here is the delegate of the God here. 

The representing tour lasts for 8 days, and I joined the first day, welcome the Lord.

The welcome ceremony was in the afternoon at the beach where the Lord would arrive. The delegate Lord is different, but most of the people do not know in advance until the Lord has come. The welcome team would go into the water, conducting some special ceremony, and then go to the stage showing who they welcome. The team member would write the surname on the sand and the rare people who know who the Lord is would confirm the correctness. If the surname is wrong, the Lord has not come so the ceremony repeats until the correct one appears. The time the Lord comes is not certain every time, sometimes soon and sometimes late, like this year. The Lord of this year 2015 has arrived in the 13th time of the welcome ceremony. When the Lord is announced come, colourful balloons are released to celebrate the good news.

In early times, local people used to kneel to show their great respect for the Lord. Also, women were not allowed to join the ceremony. Nowadays, the welcome ceremony not only is a local religion event but also transfer to a countywide or even countrywide festival, attracting people everywhere participating together.

Balloons released after the Lord of this year has come.

Residents regard the festival much important than the traditional new year. They also welcome people from other places joining the activity, so many booths like below show their hospitality by inviting people to have free drinks or food.

"Free water for everyone joining the festival"

DongLong Temple, where the chief Lord Wen lives, is not only the religion centre of DongGang but also the host of this festival. The King Boat for the event locates here as well. The boat for each event is different too. The size, shape and so on must base on the God's requirements to build. After the ship is finished, the place the boat stands is another small temple where people can pray for peace or make wishes.

It's part of the first-day festival. There are more things to do at night and the following days.

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