What are the customs in Taiwan?

Taiwan is one of the most densely populated provinces in China, having reached more than 21.81 million people according to statistics as of August 1998, and with the addition of the populations of Kinmen and Matsu, the total is more than 21.86 million. The average annual population growth rate is about 7.31 per thousand. The average number of people per square kilometer is 586.83. The population density of Taipei City has reached 10,000 people per square kilometer. The population density exceeds that of provinces such as Guangdong and Sichuan.

The distribution of Taiwan's population is characterized by a dense west and a sparse east, with most of the island's population concentrated in the western plains. The Western Plain has 17 counties and cities (Taipei, Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taichung, Hsinchu, Chiayi, Tainan 7 cities and Taipei, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung 10 counties), with a total area of 18,710 square kilometers, which is 52% of the island's total area; and the population accounts for 86.1% of the island's total population.

The central and eastern parts of the island are mostly hilly and mountainous, and *** there are 5 counties (Nantou, Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, and Yilan), with an area of 17,063 square kilometers, which is about 48% of the island's area, and a population of only 13.9% of the island's population.

The vast majority of Taiwan compatriots are Han Chinese. About 98% of the province's population, before 1946, about 80% of them originated from Fujian, with Zhangzhou and Quanzhou being the most numerous; about 20% originated from Guangdong, with Mei (County) and Chaozhou being the most numerous. Southern Min dialects are spoken throughout the province, while those who went to Taiwan from the mainland around 1949 can be found in all provinces. Ethnic minorities account for 2% of the population, about 400,000 people.

The aborigines of Taiwan are divided into the Pingpu and Gaoshan tribes. Pingpu Tribe is further divided into clam Chai difficult, Ketagalan, Daokas, pat Zaihai, Baba Pula, Babuza, Hongya, Siraya and other eight tribes. They are distributed in the northern and western plains and along the coast. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Han Chinese from the mainland migrated to Taiwan and lived mostly in the western plains and the eastern, northern and southern coastal plains, intermingling with the Pingpu. The Pingpu have integrated with the Han Chinese, and their life and culture are close to that of the Han Chinese. According to statistics, there were 62,119 Pingpu in 1943 and about 100,000 in the 1980s.

Taiwan's minority compatriots have been subjected to discrimination and oppression by the ruling class over the ages, and their economic and cultural development has been stagnant for a long time. Up to now, the compatriots of the Gaoshan nationality in some areas still live a life of half plowing and half hunting. The Gaoshan compatriots are industrious, bold and capable of singing and dancing. The "Mortar and Pestle Dance", which has a unique national style, has resounding syllables and is beautiful and moving.

Religion is quite common among the residents of Taiwan, with Buddhism and Taoism having the largest number of adherents, accounting for about 1/3 of the province's population, and Catholicism and Christianity coming in second, accounting for about 3% of the province's population. In addition, there are also some residents practicing Islam, Tenrikyo, Regulus, Cosmos, and Ritualism. There are also White Lotus Sect, Salvation Sect, Consistency Sect, Vacuum Sect, and other kinds of organizations in the folklore. Some primitive religions remain among the Gaoshan people. There are many churches and temples in the province, with an average of 1 for every 4.5 square kilometers, nearly doubling the total number of schools.

Mandarin is very popular in Taiwan, not only as the official language, but also as a common language in the society. However, in the private sector, it is widely used as the "Fulao language", which is the Southern Fujianese language of Taiwan. Early immigrants from mainland China came mainly from southern Fujian, especially Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. After they intermingled in Taiwan, the Quanzhou and Zhangzhou sounds gradually formed a kind of Minnan dialect that is "neither Zhang nor Quan", i.e., Fuluo dialect. It absorbed some of the vocabulary and grammar of the Alpine languages and Japanese, and thus the Fulao dialect was already somewhat different from the Minnan dialect of Fujian.

The Hakka immigrants came from three regions in Guangdong Province, and there are three groups of Hakka dialects, namely, the "Four Counties" (the Hakka dialects spoken in Xingning, Wuhua, Pingyuan, and Jialing counties of the old Jiaying Prefecture), the "Rao Ping" (Rao Ping), the "Rao Ping" (Rao Ping), and the "Rao Ping" (Rao Ping). "Rao Ping" (the Hakka language spoken in the Rao Ping area of the old Chaozhou Prefecture).

The Gaoshan ethnic group has its own language, but no ethnic script. Some of the ethnic groups have a similar basic vocabulary but do not communicate with each other. Their language belongs to the South Island language family, also known as the Indonesian language family. It can be divided into three major language groups, namely

(1) Atayal group: including Atayal and Sedek.

(2) Cao language group: including Cao and Kanabu.

(3) Paiwan language group: including Paiwan, Rukai, Peinan, Amis, Bunun, Saisiat, and Yami. The phonetic system of the Alpine speech has five vowels а, i, u, e, o, and consonants ranging from 20-23 in each group.

Featured Ethnic Performing Arts in Taiwan

(1) Nan Guan Opera and Nan Guan Music

Broadly speaking, "Nan Guan" refers to the music of the southern Chinese language family. However, the nanpipe opera preserved in Taiwan today refers specifically to the oldest type of opera in the Southern Fujian language family, the "Liyuan Opera". It is mainly popular in the area of Quanzhou and Xiamen, and later spread to Taiwan and Nanyang, where there are many overseas Chinese in southern Fujian, with a history of nearly 500 years. The roles are divided into seven lines: Sheng, Dan, Jing, Wu, Chou, Paste, and Outside, so it is also called the Seven Children's Classes, or Seven Colors and Seven Feet Opera. Those played by adults are called Da Li Yuan, and those played by children are called Xiao Li Yuan. The basic tune is the southern pipe music, which is melodious, and the names of the songs are mostly the same as those of the northern and southern songs, so it is recognized as the legacy of the southern opera of the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty. The instruments used for accompaniment can be divided into three parts: strings, pipes and percussion.

Nanpipe music, also known as wuyin, nanyin, stringed pipe, langjun music, is divided into: (1) finger - is a singable suite, with pipa fingering sheet attached to the lyrics. However, nowadays it is only for playing but not singing, and there are 48 sets of set pieces in existence. (2) Songs - Songs that are loose compositions, with the sheet music of the southern pipa, of which there are more than a thousand in existence. The singing style adopts the upper four pipes (i.e., dongxiao, erxian, sanxian, pipa), with the singer in the center, and the rhythm (clapperboard) retains the legacy of the "Xianghe Song" of the Han Dynasty. (3) Score - the clear part of the instrumental music, 16 sets of which exist. The performance style is believed to have retained the legacy of the Tang Dynasty's "Daqu".

(2) Beiguan Opera and Beiguan Music

Beiguan Opera and Beiguan Music refer to the theater of the northern Chinese language family, also known as "Zidi Opera" (so called because of the amateur troupes of mostly rural children), and also known as "Chaoban Opera" (from the "Huabe" opera of the Qianlong period). It is also known as the "messy play" (from the Qianlong period's "flower section" cadence). Its singing style is basically a "board cavity style", and most of the lyrics are sung in seven-character or cross sentence patterns, but there are two schools of thought: "Fulu" (or Fulu) is the old school, which preserves the system of the clapper chamber, and the main instrument is the shell string (coconut beard). The "Xipi" is the new school, which is a system of Pihuangqiang, and the main instrument is the Hanggizi (Jinghu).

(3) Mountain Folk Songs

From a folk musicological point of view, the folk songs of Taiwan's mountain people are a great treasure trove, not only in the history of human singing, providing concrete examples, but also the development of amazing polyphonic or harmonic choral techniques.

(4) Folk Songs of the Fukao Family

The singing style is monophonic and tuneful. Depending on the area of origin, there are different masterpieces, such as "Cao Toad Getting Cockerel" from the Western Plain, "Throwing Copper" from the Lan Yin Plain, and "Thinking" from the Hengchun area.

(5) Hakka Folk Songs

This refers to the folk songs of the Han Chinese immigrants, mainly from Guangdong and Jiaqing. The Hakka aborigines are mostly found in the hilly areas of Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, and Pingtung in Kaohsiung, and usually use mountain songs or tea-picking songs, which are more beautiful than the ditties of the Fukao lineage.

(F) Shadow play

The shadow play was created in the Song Dynasty, more than a thousand years ago, and has been passed down in Taiwan for two hundred years, originating in Kaohsiung County, and flourished in the early Qing Dynasty, and is commonly known as the "Monkey Show". The performance time is mostly at night, the stage is about ten feet high, the front stage is hung with white cloth as the curtain, and lights are placed at the back to project the shadow on the curtain. Leather statue about a foot high to a foot and a half or so, is kneaded with animal skin into a translucent shape, and then carve the human figure, color, coated with tung oil to increase its transparency, and then smoothed into. The heads are interchangeable, the shadow people are finely carved, and the figures themselves are a craft. The troupe's composition is lean, with one main actor, one assistant actor, one singer, and about four musicians.

(VII) 布袋戏

布袋戏 also known as the palm theater, also imported from Fujian. By the main actor dancing puppet, for dramatic performances, the stage, such as a niche, called "color building", in order to transport the convenience of decomposition. The traditional stage is about 5 feet high and 1 foot deep, while the puppets are about 1 foot high, and the viewing area is about 20 feet in front of the stage. Later, it was reformed and the puppets were three times larger than the traditional Bu Dai Opera puppets. According to legend, there are three schools of Bu Bu Dai Opera: (1) Nan Guan Tun - taught by immigrants from Quanzhou, emphasizing literature and elegance. (2) North Pipe Tune - taught by immigrants from Zhangzhou, emphasizing on martial arts, magical. (3) Chao tune - taught by immigrants from Chaozhou, the singing voice is soaring, and the theater is the same as that of the southern pipe.

(H) Hanging Silk Puppetry

Hanging Silk Puppetry is said to have arisen in the Western Han Dynasty, to the Song Dynasty, the development of skills to the peak of the impact of the influence also extends to the future generations of theater played by people on the stage, their hands and feet, not unrelated. After this drama was introduced to Taiwan, it was divided into two schools (1) The northern school was centered in Yilan and seldom crossed south of Hsinchu. Most of the performances take place during the inauguration of temples, the opening of the village for earth sacrifices, the July Pudu, or in honor of heaven and thanksgiving to the gods after calamities have occurred. (2) The Southern School is centered in Tainan and rarely crosses north of Chiayi. The performances are seldom for entertainment, except for the "Birth of the God of Heaven" on the ninth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, and folk marriages or rewards to the gods. The puppets are about one foot seven inches long. A complete troupe should be equipped with 72 heads and 36 bodies, representing 72 earthly evils and 36 heavenly evils, which means that they contain all the elves in the universe. There are four boxes, two with puppets, two with musical instruments and tools, empty boxes can be filled with chairs. The "front stage" takes up a quarter of the performance area, and the "back stage" is the working area. Performers are also divided into front and back stages, with at least two to three people in the front stage responsible for carrying the show. The actors are all family members. The most important ceremony is to preside over the "out of death"; the main task of the back stage is to provide music, about 4 to 5 people, mostly non-family members. This kind of play is full of taboos and mystery.

(IX) Song Jiang Formation

Song Jiang Formation was originally a group performance for the national arts, with gongs and drums accompaniment, and later because of the local security situation is not good, the townships have self-defense organizations, the local local local gentry is the extension of the division of training son with 108 people, a metaphor for the 36 astral deities and 72 earthly demons. Now it has been narrowed down to a group of 36 people to perform in the welcome to the gods.

(10) Crafts

Taiwan has a wide variety of crafts, the characteristics of which are: (1) Practicality is the goal, and beauty is expressed in simplicity. (2) They may be the work of unknown craftsmen, and were not recognized as specialized studies at the time, but they are the product of rich experience and refined techniques. (3) Simple in form, but not monotonous. (4) It is a handicraft, but the production of the same item is not small. (6) It reflects the natural environment and the context of the times.

Traditional Folk Festivals

(1) Spring Festival

The first day of the first month of the lunar calendar is the Spring Festival, commonly known as the "Kaisheng", which is the first day of the year. Ancient legend has it that, with 12 kinds of animals with 60 a chronicle of the year, the opening of the first for the end of the son of Ohio at the beginning of the hour, the head of the family display incense tribute, worship heaven and earth and ancestor, open the front door, commonly known as "open the door of wealth," burning firecrackers, which means that in addition to the old and the new, and then "Hezheng," by the younger generation to the elders to pay congratulations, commonly known as the first day of the year, the first day of the Lunar New Year. To elders to congratulate, commonly known as "New Year's Eve", by the head of the family sub-grant year money, commonly known as "pressure money", after the ceremony the whole family *** into breakfast, young and old all wearing new clothes, towards the auspicious side, said "traveling ". And bring incense and candles gifts, to the temple incense, seek peace and happiness.

The eve of the Spring Festival is known as New Year's Eve, folk are also very important. Family reunion **** enjoy good food and wine, have a long night sleepless habits, known as the "old age". At the same time, there are also posting spring couplets, drinking spring wine, welcome spring and other customs.

(2) Festival of Lights

The 15th day of the first month of the lunar calendar for the Festival of Lights, commonly known as the "Lantern Festival", slang: "thirteen lights up, fifteen on the Yuan meditation". The first few days of the Festival of Lights called "put lights", the last day called "thank you lights", also known as the "three lanterns". On this day, every family hangs lanterns and colors, competes to put flowers and fireworks, and tributes to the Lantern Festival fruits, set up incense, the family pilgrimage. At night, a lantern festival is held, with dragons and lions dancing together, which is really lively. In recent years, more than 30 years in Taiwan, more than in the temple held lanterns exhibition, light type production, competition, more electric lanterns, characters lifelike, especially good-looking.

(C) Qingming

The ancient Qingming Festival is called "cold food". The festival originated in the Spring and Autumn Period (650 B.C.) to commemorate the burning of Jie Zi Tui, a meritorious official at the time of Duke Wen of Jin, on the fifth day of the third month. On this day, the people missed Jie Zi Tui, who died in the fire, and could not bear to raise the fire, so they ate cold food for one month, which was gradually reduced to three days later. So far, 105 days after the winter solstice, pre-dried powder for cold food, called the ban on fire, because the cold food day for the Qingming Festival. Qingming Tomb-sweeping custom has been passed down for a long time. 1927 Nanjing Nationalist Government set the Qingming Festival as the National Tomb-sweeping Festival to commemorate the ancestor of the nation, the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan.

(4) Dragon Boat Festival

The fifth day of the fifth lunar month for the Dragon Boat Festival, commonly known as the "May Festival", also known as the "Poet's Day", originated in May 5, 229 BC for the great poet Qu Yuan threw himself into the river and the so-called soul. Folk in the midday offering zongzi sweet wine worship ancestors, with mugwort, calamus inserted in the door, or boiled water bathing body can be said to ward off evil spirits and drive away the summer heat, and held a dragon boat race on the riverfront, elegant people hire boats to put on rows in the stream, poetry and wine, watching the dragon boat, commonly known as "swim in the river", as a way of mourning the Qu Yuan.

(E) Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, commonly known as the August Festival, in which every family pays tribute to the fruits and mooncakes in the courtyard and pays homage to the empty sky, which is commonly known as "Worshiping the Moon Maiden". After the sacrifice, the whole family share the moon cake, enjoy the moon and cool. Theaters also performed plays such as "Chang'e Runs to the Moon". Elegant people gather together to guess and shoot tigers, talk about art and poetry, and drink wine for fun, called the "Moon Appreciation Party". Friends and neighbors give moon cakes to each other, so called to send "send gifts".

The Mid-Autumn Festival is known as the Autumn Festival, when the three autumns, so the name of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The name of the Mid-Autumn Festival since the Zhou Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival to play with the moon, starting in the Tang Dynasty, and food cakes to enjoy the moon, began in the Song Dynasty.

(F) Chrysanthemum Festival

The first nine days of September in the lunar calendar for the Chrysanthemum Festival, the ancient custom of eating cake, drinking wine, climbing high, chrysanthemums, In 1966, the Taiwan authorities announced that every year, September 9 of the Lunar Calendar for the "Elderly Day".

Taiwan's customs and habits, food, clothing, housing and transportation

Taiwan since the end of the Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Fujian, Guangdong people moved to large-scale reclamation, only gradually developed. Although the Japanese colonialists dug into the implementation of national assimilation, but by the compatriots of Taiwan's tenacious resistance. The Kuomintang moved to Taiwan and a large number of mainlanders came to Taiwan, so many of the living habits and social customs of Taiwan's Han Chinese compatriots are basically the same as those on the mainland, generally maintaining the characteristics of the Fujian and Guangdong regions.

(I) Clothing, food, housing and transportation

1, clothing. In the past, men and women in the countryside mostly wore Chinese clothing. Women above middle age like to wear long shirts, or short shorts; the elderly like to wear green and black shirts or Xiang Yunsa; Japanese rule period suits began to spread to the countryside, over the decades has been quite popular. Some urban women wear cheongsams and other national costumes. At present, young people mostly wear suits or port shirts and pants. In the countryside, men and women often wear hats or wrapped in towels to protect themselves from the wind and sun.

2. Diet. Taiwan residents eat three meals a day with rice as the main food. During festivals and celebrations, guests are entertained with chicken and duck and other sumptuous food and wine. Taiwan residents are addicted to alcohol, offering sacrifices to the gods, banquets, guests, must have a good wine. At the beginning of spring and summer, and during the fall and winter, animal foods are often stewed with Chinese herbs to refresh and replenish the body. Dishes are often flavored with monosodium glutamate and sugar. Restaurants operate in Sichuan and Guangdong, Beijing, Tianjin, Suzhou, Zhejiang, Hunan and Fujian. Alpine compatriots living standards are still relatively low, some still to taro, sweet potato as the main food.

3, living. Taiwan's housing modeling, can be roughly divided into Chinese, Western, Japanese-style three. Chinese-style for the bungalow, mostly Minnan style, there is a dragon, windlass handle, triple courtyard, quadrangle and so on. With Turbid Water Creek as the boundary, rural villages, the northern part of the scattered type, the southern part of the settlement type, most of them are built in the hollow of the mountain near the water, to avoid the wind and sand. Western-style buildings are mostly made of brick, but in recent years most of them are made of reinforced concrete. Japanese-style houses are built with tatami mats inside the bungalow. Most of the town houses are Western-style, but with the recent industrial and commercial development, the number of new apartment houses has increased rapidly, and high-rise buildings have been erected one after another. However, due to the rapid growth of the population, the housing problem has not yet been solved, and many people still live in poorly constructed rooms.

4. Walking. At present, the most popular means of transportation in Taiwan are bicycles and motorcycles. In recent years the number of cars, airplanes, ships, and trains has increased and become more convenient, and there has been a large increase in private automobiles. Rental cars are common in towns and cities. A number of buses are air-conditioned. However, most rural areas are still inaccessible, with sailboats and sampans needed where there are many rivers, and mountainous areas where there are no roads to climb and trek along mountain paths.

(2) Wedding and Funeral Celebrations

1, Wedding. Once upon a time, Taiwan's wedding rules are more, the same name is not married, the marriage has a big marriage (the matchmaker) and small marriage (son-in-law or half-recruitment of marriage) difference. Generally, there were four stages of marriage: negotiation, betrothal, completion of marriage, and welcoming the bride. The age of marriage is generally no more than 30 for men and 25 for women. At present, marriage has been changed from matchmaking to free love, and sedan chairs have been replaced by automobiles, and civil marriages have been performed in courts of law. However, the extravagance and wastefulness of weddings in Taiwan is very serious, causing many young people to carry heavy burdens. In the countryside, some people are happy to get married in groups. Alpine marriages are monogamous and are mostly decided by parents at an early age, so there are often divorces after marriage.

2. Funeral. Funeral with the mainland is similar, parents died, the night of the children's wake, the whole family mourned, a bowl of rice, burning paper money, and for the deceased to rush to make a life jacket, while going to friends and relatives, to buy into the coffin, and then sacrifices. Sacrifice, children help the body on the coffin, bier indoor, breakfast offerings "filial piety meal" and take turns crying, and then choose a day for the funeral, funeral procession such as a long dragon, family and friends sent to the outskirts of the countryside, the filial son kowtow thank you resignation. The coffin is then transported by truck to the cemetery for burial. At present, cremation is quite common. Some places in Taiwan have funeral parlors, crematoria and cemeteries, and some Buddhist temples and pagodas also worship the ashes.

3. Childbirth. When a woman gives birth to a child, she must tell her friends and relatives, which is called "Annunciation". When the full moon, the red egg to friends, relatives and neighbors, in order to show good luck. When a pregnant woman gives birth until the full moon, she is called "doing the moon", and within a month, she will often eat pork liver in sesame oil as a side dish. Grandparents are required to send clothes and gifts to their babies on the full moon, in April, and at the age of one. In Taiwan, the preference for male children is more serious. The birth of a man, regardless of the month, week, 16 years old, are held in a grand ceremony, while the birth of a woman is greatly simplified or even do not hold a ceremony. In the past 30 years, the Taiwan authorities have implemented the "Family Birth Control Program", with the slogans "two children are just right" and "girls and boys are just as good".

4, birthday celebration. Taiwanese like to celebrate birthdays. Men and women adult, every birthday, are prepared by the family of vegetarian noodles, incense and candles to hold a simple celebration ceremony. Generally from the age of 50 years old began to call life. 60 years old for the lower life, 70 years old for the middle life, 80 years old for the upper life, 90 years old for the senior life, 100 years old for the period of life. Whenever a birthday is celebrated, the children and grandchildren will initiate the celebration and invite their relatives and friends, which is quite grand.

(3) Taboos on Gifts

1. It is forbidden to give a handkerchief as a gift. Once upon a time, the Taiwanese folk mourners after the funeral to send a towel to the mourners, the intention is to let the mourners and the deceased to cut off contact. Therefore, Taiwan has "send towel, cut off the root" said, therefore, in general, if the gift of hand towels, that can not help but think of unlucky funeral and cut off, the meaning of goodbye.

2, forbidden to give a fan. Fans are cheap and fragile, used for summer fan cool, a cool day in the depths of autumn, that is, "autumn fan to see the broker", meaning that too desperate to be thrown off after use, ruthless abandonment. Taiwan folk saying: "send fan, no see", that is, based on this psychology. Young men and women in love with the gift of the fan that the meaning of the fast cold, indicating that the heart is not sincere, therefore, do not give a fan as a gift.

3, forbidden to scissors gift. Scissors is a sharp weapon to hurt people, which contains "a cut", "a cut" meaning. Gift scissors will make people have a sense of ill will. Therefore, do not give scissors to others.

4, forbidden to give umbrellas. Taiwanese "umbrella" and "scattered" the same sound, if you take the umbrella to give people, as expressed in the "scattered" to the other side of the meaning, and Taiwanese "rain" and "give" to the other side of the meaning. The Taiwanese word "rain" agrees with "give". "The umbrella" and "give scattered" is the same sound, will inevitably cause misunderstanding of the other side.

5, forbidden to give away mirrors. Because the mirror is easy to break, "broken mirror is difficult to round. There seems to be ugly, let people look in the mirror to see what they mean.

6, forbidden to send a clock. Because "bell" and "end" sound. Send the clock will make people think of "send the end", easy to cause friends to resent.

7, forbidden to send sweet fruit. Sweet fruit that is, rice cakes, is the Taiwanese folk New Year's worship of gods and ancestors of the necessary things, but in the mourning family mourning strictly prohibited steamed food. Therefore, such as sweet fruit to give people, will make the recipient think of the funeral happened at home. Naturally, it should be avoided.

8, forbidden to dumplings. Taiwan folk funeral home customary neither steamed sweet fruit, also not gift dumplings. If the dumplings to send people, will be misunderstood as the other party as a mourner, so also in the taboo.

9, forbidden to duck as a gift to the "meat of the month". "Month meat" refers to the delivery of a month within the women eat meat. They eat the "meat of the month" is usually duck in sesame oil, pork loin, pork liver and other "hot" food. Duck is "cold" and should not be eaten by them. And Taiwan has "dead duck hard mouth closed", "July half duck, do not know the date of death," and other sayings, if the duck as a congratulatory gift, will make people think of ominous omen.

Taiwanese Characteristics of Tribute Activities

As an immigrant society, the concept of ancestor worship and returning to the roots of one's ancestors is something that the Taiwanese **** have, and it is also an important aspect of Chinese culture. In Taiwan, every household enshrines the spirit tablets of their ancestors, and all major events or festivals must be preceded by ancestor worship to ask for peace. And the renewal of ancestral genealogy and traditional ancestor worship ceremonies are still being passed down from generation to generation in Taiwanese folklore.

Taiwan's folk in the years of festivals are generally held a variety of ceremonial activities, the number of really amazing. According to incomplete statistics, a variety of monthly ceremonies are more than 15 kinds, as many as 47 kinds of the first month of the lunar calendar. Taiwan's folklore in the festival activities are mainly Confucius, Mazu birth anniversary ceremony, on the White Reef to visit the ancestral festival, the City God out of the patrol ceremony, the festival of the Mid-Yuan Festival Pudu ceremony and Zheng Chenggong ceremony.

(a) Confucius Birthday Ceremony

The most sacred teacher Confucius in Taiwan folk beliefs, the status is quite special. In the early days, the Confucius Ceremony was held in spring and autumn, but later it was changed to be held on the anniversary of the birth of Confucius on September 28th of the lunar calendar every year, and this day was established as Teachers' Day. There are twelve Confucius temples on the whole island of Taiwan***, the largest one being the "Taipei Confucius Temple" located in the west of Taipei Yuanshan Zoo. On the day of the Confucius Ceremony, a grand and solemn ceremony is held, in which not only the teachers and students of the school have to participate, but also all government officials at all levels have to be present to show that they respect teachers and teach them.

(B) Mazu Birthday Ceremony

Lunar March 23rd for the birth of Mazu, Mazu is the southeast coast of China residents believe in the God of the water. According to legend, Mazu often traveled to and from the sea, rescuing people in distress, so people who sailed the sea believed in her and called her the Goddess of Mercy. In the 33rd year of the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, a monk named Shubi came to Taiwan from Meizhou in Futian County, Fujian Province with a statue of A-Ma to build a small temple in Beigang to worship A-Ma, and from then on A-Ma made her "home" in Taiwan. Since Taiwan is surrounded by sea, mainlanders who immigrated to Taiwan felt sheltered by A-Ma, and many people in Taiwan are engaged in fishing, so there are many people who believe in A-Ma. There are now a total of 383 A-Ma temples throughout Taiwan, with the Chaotian Temple in Beigang being the most incense-rich. Every year, on March 23rd of the lunar calendar, A-Ma's birthday is celebrated, and from the first month of the lunar year onward, good men and women who believe in A-Ma flock to the Chaotian Temple in Beigang from all over the country to start a grand incense-praying activity for A-Ma's birthday.

The whole ceremony is solemn, grand and lively. The guests are full of piety, traveled a long way to incense, offerings piled up as high as a mountain, smoke, firecrackers, pay the gods play to dazzle people. The climax of the procession is the day of the A-Ma-Zu procession in Beigang on March 19 and 20 of the lunar calendar. At 9:00 a.m., people carry the A-Ma mikoshi (portable shrine) and begin the annual grand celebration of the A-Ma's circumambulation amidst the ear-splitting sound of firecrackers. A-Ma, escorted by Generals "Thousand Miles of Eyesight" and "Shun Feng Er," travels around the streets of Beigang Town, and wherever the mikoshi passes through, the doors of every house are opened wide, offerings are made, and firecrackers are lit to drive away evil spirits and monsters. In the procession, the Lion Formation, Song Jiang Formation, Drum Formation, and Eight Generals each set up their own formations and perform their specialty. Various arts pavilions leased by business groups and neighbors also parade through the streets, with a dazzling array of ancient costumes, fashions, and static arts pavilions. People into the incense, people watching the streets in front of the temple crowded.

Year after year, Mazu celebrates her birthday and prays for her safety. This ancient ritual has become an indispensable part of the lives of the people of Taiwan. In Taiwan, there are more than 300 temples dedicated to A-Mazu, and the deity is welcomed to Taiwan by the Fujian Province "incarnation". The main temples dedicated to A-Ma are the Chautian Palace in Beigang Township, Yunlin County, and the Magong Tianhou Palace. General families and imported households all pay tribute to A-Ma. In Taiwan, there is a folk proverb that says, "Worshiping Mazu makes you nostalgic for your homeland".

(C) on the White Reef ancestral festival

White Reef refers to Fujian Province, Quanchuan District, Tongan County, White Reef Township, on the White Reef is to come to the mainland White Reef of the meaning of the follow Zheng Chenggong recapture of Taiwan's military and civilian descendants, through the remote worship of Fujian White Reef Township Jigong Temple in order to remember the mainland generations of ancestors.

Every year on March 21 of the lunar calendar, is located in the town of Tainan Xuejia Ciqi Palace, are to be held on a grand scale on the White Reef to visit the ancestor ceremony. On the one hand, to memorialize the ancestors on the mainland; on the other hand, to pay homage to the ancestral temple of Ciji Palace in Baijiao Township, Tong'an County, Fujian Province. This festival from Zheng Chenggong to Taiwan to the present, more than 300 years in a row, without interruption, fully demonstrates the Chinese people drink water to think of the source of the spirit of not forgetting the original. Every year at this time, many incense burners, monks and tourists gather in this town, the number of people more than 200,000, it is really lively and prosperous. Especially on March 21, 1981 lunar calendar held Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan 320 anniversary of the grand ancestral festival, there are 100,000 people to participate.

Every day of the festival, outside the work or study of the Xuejia people, try to rush back to the town, will be Ciji Palace Bao Sheng Da Di's statue of the gods welcome to the General Creek landing site, the remote sacrifice of the mainland homeland. The people of Xuejia regard this ceremony as a very important event, and followers of Bao Sheng Da Di from all over Taiwan come from far and wide to Xuejia Town to participate in the ceremony, carrying palanquins and umbrellas and beating gongs and drums.

Now, the Taiwan authorities, in order to cooperate with this festival, to preserve the folkloric skills in the folk god-welcoming competitions, and to attract tourists, have held a Taiwan-wide art contest, which has made this event even more grand in scale, and has become one of the most spectacular and eye-catching ceremonies in the whole of Taiwan.

(4) The City God Parade Ceremony

Sacrificing the City God is one of the traditional Chinese folk belief activities. Every year, on May 13 of the lunar calendar, which is the birth anniversary of the City God of Taipei Xiahai, there is a grand City God out of the parade, commonly known as the May 13th Great Worship.

Taipei Xiahai City God is the county city god of Danshui Hall in the Qing Dynasty, and was invited to Taiwan from Tongan, Fujian Province in the first year of the Daoguang period, with many followers and a particularly grand festival. When the city god goes out on patrol, he first holds the ceremony of inviting the gods, that is, he invites the city god and the statues of the deities to be worshiped and places them in the god's carriage, and then departs. In the parade queue, there are north and south pipe bands, lion dancers, art galleries, believers, and hundreds of thousands of visitors, surpassing other festival events in Taiwan. Therefore, there is a saying in Taiwan: "May 13th people see people".

Taiwanese people believe that sacrificing to Chenghuang is as effective as other folk beliefs in stabilizing people's minds, persuading them to do good deeds, and promoting tourism, so this kind of hundreds of thousands of people gathering and entertaining folk activities are still in full bloom.

(E) in the Yuan Festival Pudu Festival

July 15 of the lunar calendar, commonly known as "in the Yuan Festival", also known as "Yu Lan Festival", "Ghost Festival", is a folk festival to commemorate the souls of ancestors. It is also an extremely important festival for followers of Taoism and Buddhism. During this festival, every family in rural Taiwan kills pigs and goats, and prepares sumptuous offerings of meat and wine, to pay homage to ancestors and ghosts in the underworld, in the hope of "universalizing" all living beings and the spirits of the dead.

In Taiwan, the most common legend is: every year in the early hours of July 1 on the lunar calendar, the hell open the ghost gate, so that all the ghosts suffering in the underworld, can go back to the Yangwang world to visit the old home and the descendants of the next generation, the Yangwang people united in the July 15, for all the ghosts to hold a big worship, so that the ghosts to enjoy a feast. By July 30, the holiday ends and these ghosts return to the underworld.

On the day of the Pudu, lanterns are lit and hung high in order to guide the ghosts who have traveled to the yang world to come and gather. To invite the ghosts in the water, you have to "release the water lanterns". In Taiwan, water lanterns are usually made in the shape of a hut, nailed to the stem of a banana leaf, and a candle is inserted inside. The activity of releasing water lanterns used to be extremely common in Taiwan, and the scale of the event was also very large. But now the only ones who keep this ritual are Keelung, Hsinchu Hsinpu and Taoyuan, and its scale and momentum are not as big as before. In the past, every family killed pigs and slaughtered goats, but nowadays a lot of livestock rituals have been replaced by flowers and fruits. Today, only in a few villages and towns can you see a more complete worship ceremony.

The villagers who still maintain the Midwinter festival say the "Pudu" festival will not disappear from their area, believing that: honoring ghosts and gods and sacrificing to ancestors were originally Chinese traditions, and that the big worship also gives busy relatives, friends and townspeople a chance to get together. Therefore, the Zhongyuan Pudu, with its unique folklore of Chinese peasants combined with the religious activities of Buddhism and Taoism, still continues in Taiwan in the midst of the smoke and the worship of the lamps.

In addition, Taiwan compatriots have many traditional festivals that are basically the same as those on the mainland. Some festivals that are still prevalent, such as the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Qingming Tomb Sweeping and Ancestor Worship, Dragon Boat Racing and Eating Zongzi in Duanyang, and Mid-Autumn Moon Appreciation and Eating Moon Cake, have never been interrupted even during the period of Japan's domination, and they still maintain the traditional customs of the Chinese nation.