Wen Wu Dazhong Ye

The story of Dazhong Ye is the story of the disasters of Taiwan's early migrants.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Han Chinese crossed the strait to Taiwan, only to lose their lives again and again to miasma, plague, armed clan feuds, pirates, and natural disasters. Many died far from home with no one to bury them. Partly out of humanity and partly out of awe (fearing the restless dead), local residents began to gather and bury the remains together and build temples to make offerings. This was the origin of Dazhong Ye temples.

Manka has a representative story. During the Xianfeng reign of the Qing (1854–1855), plague swept through Manka with terrible loss of life, and migrants from Hui'an in Quanzhou brought Lingan Zunwang, the Qingshan King, from their hometown to suppress it. Legend says that on the night the Qingshan King was carried in procession, the plague really did recede, and in 1856 the residents built a temple to him.

Dazhong Ye is not the legend of any one god, but the embodied collective memory of a whole migrant society: of death, of disaster, and of reconciliation.

Offerings to Dazhong Ye differ a little from those for other gods. The three sacrificial meats, rice cakes, fruit, and wine are all fine (meat is no problem), and many families prepare a whole chicken or pig's trotters. But one offering belongs to him alone: "water rice," white rice with water, meant to feed the good brothers. Some people also light Pudu lamps to light the way for wandering souls.

On ordinary days you can visit a Dazhong Ye temple on your own to pray for safety, release from trouble, and wealth. The seventh lunar month is the main event, the Ghost Festival's Pudu, held jointly by households and temples, the largest act of worship in Taiwan. Toucheng in Yilan also holds "Grappling with the Ghosts" (qianggu), where competitors climb tall greased towers to seize the offerings. It's a spectacular sight.

Remember the taboos: no frivolous talk or laughing during worship; during Pudu, don't step on offerings and don't say the word "ghost." Call them "good brothers." If you want to photograph the rites, ask the temple's permission first.

Ghost Festival (Dazhong Ye's Pudu): the 15th day of the 7th lunar month. This is the most important day in Dazhong Ye worship. Dazhong Ye temples and households all over Taiwan hold the "Ghost Festival Pudu," inviting the "good brothers" to enjoy the offerings. Pudu ranges in scale from individual families (an offering table at the front door) to township-level grand rites at the temples.

Manka Qingshan Temple's night patrol: Every year on the nights of the 20th and 21st of the 10th lunar month, the "Qingshan King's Night Patrol" is held; the formal daytime procession follows on the 22nd, and the 23rd is the Qingshan King's birthday. The procession winds through Manka at night, with firecrackers and drums and gongs going all night long. In 2010 it was registered as a folk cultural asset of Taipei City.

Grappling with the Ghosts in Toucheng, Yilan: Held every year at the end of the 7th lunar month (as the Ghost Festival Pudu draws to a close) in Toucheng, Yilan, it is Taiwan's most representative qianggu ritual. Competitors climb greased towers to seize the offerings at the top. Liu Mingchuan banned it in the Qing dynasty, and after the war it was interrupted again under martial law; only after martial law was lifted did it return as a regular event, and today it is an internationally known folk event.

The whole seventh lunar month is known in Taiwan as "Ghost Month," when Dazhong Ye worship is at its most active. The Pudu rites of temples and households everywhere form a complete folk system, an important field for studying how traditional Taiwanese society viewed life and death.