'Burning king's ship' ceremony held to ward off disasters

“Burning king's ship” is a centuries-old folk custom and sacrifice ceremony held annually in many coastal cities and townships around the nation.

The people in the Yonyan District of Kaohsiung said they live in a low-lying area, which is frequently plagued by floods during typhoon season and whenever there are heavy rains.

They prayed to the deities worshiped at Tianwen Temple in the district for instructions about their plan to hold the ceremony this year. The devotees said they were glad with the divine revelation that allowed them to go ahead with the plan. The last time the same ceremony was held in Yongan was in 2007.

When carrying out the ceremony, temple priests and residents paid respects to the “king of plagues” and prayed for peace and good luck for the Year of the Dragon and elimination of misfortunes like floods.

Due to the long distance from the temple to the sea coast, residents pulled the wooden ship of ancient style on the road to an open space. Many more lined up on the road to sprinkle water to symbolize the ship's sailing on the turbulent sea.

They finally set the highly decorated wooden ship on fire at an open land lot in the “sending off king” ritual to see the king off to the heaven.

Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu personally attended the ceremony. She promised to continue using the public budget to improve the anti-flood facilities in Yongan District while maintaining the ecological environment, including plans to develop a wetland park.

The city government will also join hands with the state-owned Taiwan Power Co. to develop an area of more than 100 hectares of land near Taipower's Xinda Power plant to improve the overall surroundings, Chen said.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

PrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email