Vestiges of Kura-Kura: Chinese New Year's Eve at Longshan Temple (龍山寺)

新年快樂!

Since I'm trying to save up money for post-Taiwan travel, I decided to stay local for the six days I have off of work for Chinese New Year. I asked some of my Taiwanese co-workers for suggestions of what to do, but most of them just grumbled about going to visit their grandparents in the country, eating too much and getting fat. I didn't know Chinese New Year was a fifteen-day festival (or that it's called Spring Festival, 春節), until the first time I was in Asia during the holiday. (I was in Battambang, Cambodia and though Cambodians don't celebrate it, the Chinese immigrants that disproportionately own most all of the businesses do, so this second largest city was basically shut down for a week.) Growing up, my family would get together for a big dinner in Chinatown, say gong hey fat choy and pass around hóngbāo (red envelopes holding money), but that was about it.

I had planned to spend the first two days catching up on my Mandarin studies since most everything would be closed, but another English teacher friend told me that the temples are usually bustling with people coming to light the first incense of the year. So around 9 o'clock New Year's Eve evening, I rode my bike to Longshan Temple in Taipei's Wanhua District, the city's oldest district. The area is a bit shady, unlike any other area I've been to in Taipei, with the "park" (a large area of concrete) in front the temple filled with various aged men who seem to live there, chain-smoking, playing cards or the like, and eyeing the people that pass by. For such a densely populated city, it's surprising that this is the only area where I've ever seen homeless people, except for the few around Taipei Main Station. The area is also known for prostitution, and generally they're forty-plus in age (someone explained to me that when the government made prostitution illegal they allowed those currently in the profession to be grandfathered in, hence why it's mostly older women visibly waiting around the night market area for clients. I haven't really verified this reason though.)

I arrived as people were finishing up an impromptu fireworks show, lighting up a truckload's worth on the street in front of the temple. Cars were still using the road, so a self-appointed man with an air horn would warn traffic every time the next round was lit. The crowds stood closely by, and the sky would rain down bits of cardboard, paper, ash, and occasionally a piece that was still aflame. Some would malfunction a shoot horizontally into the crowd, one hitting the man with the air horn, catching his sleeve on fire. In that same round, a flaming bit dropped down on an unsuspecting woman's shoulder and the people around her patted her down until it stopped.

[Disclaimer: I took most all of these photos with my phone, so excuse the picture quality (not to imply that my nighttime photography skills otherwise are any good).]

firecrackers in front of Longshan Temple

the crowd hardly keeping a safe distance from the fireworks

the guy here would sound off his horn to warn traffic that the fireworks have been lit
(later he was hit by one that malfunctioned and his shirt sleeve momentarily caught fire)

the truck collecting the used fireworks boxes

I watched the fire spectacle until my friend arrived and then we entered the temple, walking around and catching up with each other. Two large lanterns (one of a horse, the zodiac animal for the new year, and the other of a traditional spherical lantern) were placed just inside the outer wall and people stood in line to stand under each one and say a prayer. Entering the inner wall crowds were reading prayer books, walking around with incense sticks praying to various gods, or just sitting along the steps lining the inside of wall talking with family or staring at their smartphone screens. Later, they started chanting and my friend and I sat along the wall listening. We decided to stay and wait for midnight.

Longshan Temple, view of inner wall gate

a lantern celebrating the Year of the Horse

lines of people waited to say a prayer under the lantern

inside Longshan Temple, crowds gathered to light the first incense

Longshan Temple, inside

At midnight the temple was packed, and the monks on the upper level began another chant that lasted maybe twenty minutes, ringing a large bell, and later hitting an equally large drum. (Video footage more for sound than picture is at the bottom.) Again, we stood and listened, watching a dense line of people with incense sticks snake their way through the crowd up to the main room and then on towards the back of the temple. After the chant, we bought some incense sticks (10NT) and followed the crowd, bowing and praying to each of the gods and dropping one of our six incense sticks into each of the six incense burners along the way. I'm not Buddhist, Taoist, or religious but a few years back I started mimicking religious customs at temples, wishing good health and happiness to my family and friends. Is that tacky? I don't know, but I do it with sincerity for whatever its worth.

It was around a quarter to one by the time we finished. The neighboring night market looked like it was still somewhat open, so we walked up and down the street, snacking on stinky tofu as we passed the various food, tchotchke, and porn vendors. Biking back home from Longshan only took about twenty minutes, as the roads were mostly empty, so I was able to run every red light. I plan on moving in a month, and I'm not looking forward to starting over, memorizing the timing of the lights of all the intersections in my new area so I know when I can and can't make it across.

As for the rest of my time off, I'll probably go hiking and hopefully post some more entries.