Qing Dynasty-style Lantern Parade Returns/Part 2 on Feb. 23 in Huatan, Changhua

By MOOK Travel Life Network’s Chen Guanxin, compiled and reported

 

Jointly organized by the Changhua County Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Huatan Township Office, and the Wende Temple Management Committee, the "2013 Baishakeng Lantern Parade Cultural Festival" will be held from February 23 to 24 at Wende Temple in Huatan Township and other venues. On the evening of February 24, Lantern Festival at 7:00 PM, a lantern lighting ceremony will take place at Wende Temple, launching the lantern parade procession—a cultural event passed down since the Qing Dynasty.

This year’s event features themes including a creative lantern parade competition and exhibition, a sea of lights art zone, DIY lifestyle crafts, street performers and community talent shows, charity sales and local specialty product fairs, a thousand-lantern street parade, a lantern lighting ceremony, prayers for blessings from the God of Blessings (Fude Ye), the lantern parade procession, and a Lantern Festival riddle guessing party. On the evening of February 24, the lantern lighting ceremony will be held at Wende Temple to kick off the lantern parade, with Fude Ye’s “wealth-bringing cash” distributed on-site and a Fude Ye blessing bag activity where attendees can throw divining blocks to pray for good fortune. In addition, starting at 5:30 PM that afternoon, the Huatan Township Office will offer free mini lanterns for the public to take and join the lantern parade.

The origin of the Huatan Wende Temple Lantern Parade dates back to the 25th year of the Daoguang Emperor’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1845). During that Lantern Festival, Zeng Weizhen, a Hanlin scholar who helped open Taiwan, accompanied Emperor Daoguang on a tour of the heavenly street to admire lantern displays. Moved by the scene, Zeng lamented that his uncle and aunt back home could not enjoy such splendor and considered resigning from his post to return to his hometown to care for them. Touched by Zeng’s filial piety, Emperor Daoguang issued an edict decreeing that every Lantern Festival in Baishakeng, centered around the Hanlin official deity, a grand lantern parade should be held to entertain Zeng’s uncle and aunt.

Lin Tianfu, Deputy Magistrate of Changhua County, pointed out that the "Huatan Wende Temple Baishakeng Lantern Parade" has two major features: first, it boasts the longest history of any lantern parade in Taiwan, having continued for 168 years. It preserves the traditional style inherited from the Qing Dynasty while incorporating new creative elements each year. Second, Wende Temple in Huatan enshrines the founding God of Wealth (Fude Zheng Shen), whose statue wears a black official hat—an extremely rare sight nationwide and the only officially titled Earth God, making it a highly popular temple.

 

 

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