Tag: Taiwan Culture

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Halloween party ends in exorcism for 12 students – Taipei Times

Catherine Lee

Pray for Taiwan…. After hosting a haunted-house party for Halloween on Thursday, a dozen students from Tainan’s Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science experienced acute discomfort that some attributed to possession by malicious spirits, and the students were subsequently rushed to a nearby temple to undergo a mass exorcism. Source: Halloween party ends in exorcism for 12 students – Taipei Times Continue reading Halloween party ends in exorcism for 12 students – Taipei Times

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中元普渡 Climax of Ghost Month

Catherine Lee

中元普渡 (Jung Yuan Pu Du) is the climax of Ghost Month… The actual day was last Friday, but many have been busy all weekend making offerings of food and drink and burning ghost money.  That includes my neighbours in Sanzhi 三芝. Taken from an article in the China Post of this subject: Jung Yuan Pu Du – The China Post Pu Du (universal salvation) are sacrificial rites with the intention of appeasing ghosts with no heirs to care for them. Jung Yuan Pu Du falls on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Similar to lunar fifteenth … Continue reading 中元普渡 Climax of Ghost Month

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Top 10 taboos to avoid during Ghost Month in Taiwan | Culture | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS

Catherine Lee

Taiwan’s Ghost Month starts today.  Everyone is busy making offerings to the ghosts and burning ghost money.  From now on, for a whole month, people are generally fearful, expecting the worst in every bad situation.  A lot of prayer is needed. This article is very clear, explaining the taboos… Top 10 taboos to avoid during Ghost Month in Taiwan | Culture | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS. Continue reading Top 10 taboos to avoid during Ghost Month in Taiwan | Culture | FOCUS TAIWAN – CNA ENGLISH NEWS

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Typhoon Soudelor’s Tilting Postboxes!

Catherine Lee

Until last weekend, these 2 postboxes were just ordinary postboxes on an ordinary street in ‪Taipei‬ City.  But then a signboard crashed down on them during Typhoon ‪‎Soudelor‬ and changed them forever. They were bent over, but not broken.  Tilting together in the same direction, 好可愛, so sweet, so lovely! Now they have become icons, almost memorials to the typhoon, symbols of resilience and togetherness, and a place of pilgrimage for people from all walks of life, including artists, TV crews, pet dogs, and yes, even snakes… ha ha, it’s a great place to visit!  I went there on Wednesday, … Continue reading Typhoon Soudelor’s Tilting Postboxes!

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Taipei Streets and Alleys…

Catherine Lee

This week I’m in Taipei, staying at the Diocese of Taiwan office building, right in the central area of the city.  Within walking distance of most of the national government buildings.  Unlike most capital cities in the world, the centre of Taipei is also home to lots of ordinary Taiwan people.  There’s primary schools, street markets, local shops, health and community centres all there for local people.  I like it! During the Japanese colonial era, 1895-1945, this area of Taipei was home to many Japanese living in one-storey Japanese-style homes, mostly wood, with heavy tiled roofs. Only a few such … Continue reading Taipei Streets and Alleys…