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Festivals in Taiwan
Lunar New Year
Also known as the Spring Festival, the Lunar New Year is the most important traditional festival in Taiwan and is so marked with a national holiday of several days. While New Year's Day itself falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice each year (in either January or February of the Gregorian calendar), celebrations are a fifteen-day affair and preparations often start with people cleaning their houses and pasting strips of red paper adorned with blessings on the doorframes of their homes and businesses.
New Year's Eve marks the beginning of festivities and is a time for family reunion where children are given hongbao (gifts of money in red envelopes) by elder family members and New Year's Day is ushered in with fireworks and firecrackers. On New Year's Day, candles, incense, and mock paper money are burnt and people visit temples to pay respect to the gods before calling on relatives and friends. It is custom for married women to return to their parents' home on the second day of the New Year.
Lantern Festival
Lunar New Year celebrations culminate with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Temples are illuminated by colorful lanterns and yuansiao (sweet dumplings made from glutinous rice flour) are eaten. Celebrations include the launching of thousands of sky lanterns in Pingsi Township, Taipei County, the setting off of beehive rockets in Yanshuei Township, Tainan County, and shooting Han Dan, the God of Wealth, with fireworks in Taitung.
Tomb-sweeping Day
On April 5 families clean and touch up the graves of their ancestors, and also make offerings of meats, fruits, and wine.
Dragon Boat Festival
It is custom to pay tribute to Cyu Yuan, a famous scholar-statesman from the state of Chu in the Warring States Period, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the anniversary of his death. When Cyu Yuan committed suicide by jumping into a river after the capture of his nation's capital, fishermen rowed frantically to save him and threw zongzih (a snack of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves) into the water to prevent fish from eating his corpse. Today, dragon boat races are held and zongzih eaten in his memory. Worshipers run over a lane of fire while carrying the statue of a revered deity in an ornately decorated palanquin. The ceremony, which can be seen throughout Taiwan, is believed to give the deity special powers to help its worshipers avoid misfortune. (Chi Jing-ho, courtesy of the Tourism Bureau)
Ghost Festival
It is believed that the gates of hell are opened on the first day of the seventh lunar month, known as Ghost Month, to allow spirits a month of feasting and revelry in the land of the living. The month reaches a climax on the 15th day, when sacrificial feasts are laid out at temples and in front of homes to appease wandering souls.
A pole-climbing event known as cianggu (grappling with ghosts that do not have descendents making regular offerings to them) is held in Yilan County's Toucheng Township prior to the "closing of hell's gates." Whoever is first to seize the gold plate and flag at the top of a greased pole is said to be blessed with safety and prosperity for the coming year.
Mid-Autumn Festival
On the evening of the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, families gather to eat moon cakes under the full moon. Since the 1980s, it has also been popular to hold a barbecue on this day. This holiday celebrates the legend of the moon goddess, Chang E, who is said to have floated up to the moon after swallowing an elixir stolen from her husband.
Other Festivals
Traditional religion in Taiwan consists of deep-rooted folk beliefs that combine aspects of pantheism, polytheism, ancestor-worship, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. These find practical expression in the numerous activities held on special occasions, such as celebrations and parades for the birthdays of different deities or the two-month-long Baosheng Cultural Festival at Taipei's Dalongdong Baoan Temple.
Religious celebrations popular among tourists include burning Wang Ye's Boat; the colorful 300-mile Ma Zu pilgrimage from Taichung County's Dajia Township to Chiayi County's Singang Township and back; temple activities in Tainan on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month when Cisi (Taiwanese Lovers' Day) and a coming-of-age celebration for sixteen-year-olds are marked; and the Fish-calling Festival held between March and July on Orchid Island that remembers a flying fish deity who taught the island's indigenous Yami group how to cook fish.
Also known as the Spring Festival, the Lunar New Year is the most important traditional festival in Taiwan and is so marked with a national holiday of several days. While New Year's Day itself falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice each year (in either January or February of the Gregorian calendar), celebrations are a fifteen-day affair and preparations often start with people cleaning their houses and pasting strips of red paper adorned with blessings on the doorframes of their homes and businesses.
New Year's Eve marks the beginning of festivities and is a time for family reunion where children are given hongbao (gifts of money in red envelopes) by elder family members and New Year's Day is ushered in with fireworks and firecrackers. On New Year's Day, candles, incense, and mock paper money are burnt and people visit temples to pay respect to the gods before calling on relatives and friends. It is custom for married women to return to their parents' home on the second day of the New Year.
Lantern Festival
Lunar New Year celebrations culminate with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Temples are illuminated by colorful lanterns and yuansiao (sweet dumplings made from glutinous rice flour) are eaten. Celebrations include the launching of thousands of sky lanterns in Pingsi Township, Taipei County, the setting off of beehive rockets in Yanshuei Township, Tainan County, and shooting Han Dan, the God of Wealth, with fireworks in Taitung.
Tomb-sweeping Day
On April 5 families clean and touch up the graves of their ancestors, and also make offerings of meats, fruits, and wine.
Dragon Boat Festival
It is custom to pay tribute to Cyu Yuan, a famous scholar-statesman from the state of Chu in the Warring States Period, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the anniversary of his death. When Cyu Yuan committed suicide by jumping into a river after the capture of his nation's capital, fishermen rowed frantically to save him and threw zongzih (a snack of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves) into the water to prevent fish from eating his corpse. Today, dragon boat races are held and zongzih eaten in his memory. Worshipers run over a lane of fire while carrying the statue of a revered deity in an ornately decorated palanquin. The ceremony, which can be seen throughout Taiwan, is believed to give the deity special powers to help its worshipers avoid misfortune. (Chi Jing-ho, courtesy of the Tourism Bureau)
Ghost Festival
It is believed that the gates of hell are opened on the first day of the seventh lunar month, known as Ghost Month, to allow spirits a month of feasting and revelry in the land of the living. The month reaches a climax on the 15th day, when sacrificial feasts are laid out at temples and in front of homes to appease wandering souls.
A pole-climbing event known as cianggu (grappling with ghosts that do not have descendents making regular offerings to them) is held in Yilan County's Toucheng Township prior to the "closing of hell's gates." Whoever is first to seize the gold plate and flag at the top of a greased pole is said to be blessed with safety and prosperity for the coming year.
Mid-Autumn Festival
On the evening of the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, families gather to eat moon cakes under the full moon. Since the 1980s, it has also been popular to hold a barbecue on this day. This holiday celebrates the legend of the moon goddess, Chang E, who is said to have floated up to the moon after swallowing an elixir stolen from her husband.
Other Festivals
Traditional religion in Taiwan consists of deep-rooted folk beliefs that combine aspects of pantheism, polytheism, ancestor-worship, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. These find practical expression in the numerous activities held on special occasions, such as celebrations and parades for the birthdays of different deities or the two-month-long Baosheng Cultural Festival at Taipei's Dalongdong Baoan Temple.
Religious celebrations popular among tourists include burning Wang Ye's Boat; the colorful 300-mile Ma Zu pilgrimage from Taichung County's Dajia Township to Chiayi County's Singang Township and back; temple activities in Tainan on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month when Cisi (Taiwanese Lovers' Day) and a coming-of-age celebration for sixteen-year-olds are marked; and the Fish-calling Festival held between March and July on Orchid Island that remembers a flying fish deity who taught the island's indigenous Yami group how to cook fish.
Taiwan Tourism: National Park in Taiwan » Culture in Taiwan » Festivals in Taiwan » Health Tourism » Tourist Travel Services » Other Attractions
