By Liu Jiawen, compiled and reported
Want to experience the delicious food and fun, distinctive culture of Taichung’s various communities all in one go? The “2011 Taichung City Community Culture Festival & Treasure Mobilization” event is being held from now until December 10th (Saturday), featuring community static achievement exhibitions, theater tour performances, cultural and creative product exhibitions, and community documentary film screenings. The main activities will grandly kick off tomorrow (the 3rd) at the Taichung Cultural and Creative Industries Park (former Taichung Winery), where energetic stage performances by various communities will be staged, along with free creative interactive experiences such as unique community crafts and cuisine. Examples include rush-weaved dolls, mouth harp making, experiencing the ancient wedding custom of wearing bridal phoenix coronets and robes, DIY city god figurines, tasting bitter tea oil noodles, traditional Hakka cuisine, and a sweet persimmon feast—giving participants a chance to discover the diversity of cultural charm.
The main events of the Taichung Community Culture Festival will take place tomorrow at the Taichung Cultural and Creative Industries Park, featuring free interactive experiences such as ancient wedding customs and rush weaving. (Photo provided by Taichung City Government Cultural Affairs Bureau)
Additionally, the “Treasure” exhibitions from various communities are also a highlight of this cultural festival. For instance, the nearly lost traditional craft of the “Millet Dragon,” where master Chen Mingchang uses rice as the material and sculpts the entire dragon shape entirely by hand. The Millet Dragon symbolizes the “Calming the Dragon and Thanking the Gods” ritual during rural groundbreaking ceremonies to protect the locality. The difficulty of the Millet Dragon lies in the fact that the technique cannot be recorded via images and can only be passed down orally from master to apprentice, making it an extremely precious traditional folk art of Taiwan. Meanwhile, Chen Lianyuan, the sponge gourd scrub master from the Xizhou Community in Shengang, uses creative ingenuity to cut and mend dried loofah sponges into vivid works such as the 12 zodiac animals, hats, and lampshades. There are also the high-legged granaries of the Atayal people and the traditional straw weaving of Baoshan Community.
The rarely seen traditional Taiwanese folk art, the “Millet Dragon,” will be displayed at this event. (Photo provided by Taichung City Government Cultural Affairs Bureau)
This event combines the diverse cultural characteristics of Taichung’s mountainous, coastal, urban, and metropolitan areas, bringing together a rich array of unique treasures from various communities—totaling 45 types and 2,300 pieces of community crafts and food on display. Through these warm old memories, it offers the public a new sense of inspiration.