It is not a
Chinese opera, but a performance of Taoism.
Religion
Buddhism is the most popular religion, practiced by around 35.1% of the whole population*, followed closely by Taoism (33.0%). Christianity and Yiguandao have their followers, 3.9% and 3.5% respectively. Nearly 18.7% are classified in a categorized of atheism or none of the above. The most interesting is that the members in a family honor their different gods. It might be weird for the foreigners but that is the way people live with it.
It’s very interesting that religious beliefs and practices of Taoism and Yiguandao have strongly related to Chinese culture and Confucianism. Besides, it is truly uneasy to distinguish between Buddhism and Taoism too, both of which have been intertwined with Confucianism and the folk religions of Chinese history. Therefore, many gods Taoists believe in were the heroes in Chinese history of thousands of years. One of the unique performances is held by the costumed team of eleven males of different ages.
The Taoist temple of importance in my life
I
couldn’t close my eyes without seeing my mother. I heard her voice even during
the day. Her image flashed in my head, and I was unable to shake it free. I was
caught in the stream of thoughts about her.
How
could my mother left me behind if she really loved me? I told myself I would
not love anyone anymore because it would hurt too much to go through twice.
Once
one of my teachers in junior high school tried to comfort me and said that
marriages were full of secrets others wouldn’t figure out. She also mentioned
it was hard to criticize but one should have sympathy for the ones who separate
for some reasons. I was unable to understand what she meant, but I asked no
more. I wasn’t convinced that my mother truly loved me.
I
wouldn’t forget the moment that engraved on my memory forever. It was my 14th
birthday. I was stunned when I heard my mother calling me across the street
after school and was frozen by the sight of her. In a split second, I ran to
her without hesitation. The euphoria touched me so deeply that the tears were running
down my cheeks without feeling embarrassment in front of others. I could not make
a word but busted into laughs instead.
I
was gripping her hand, as giddy as a five-year-old on the way she took me to
the only convenience store in the town. I was thrilled at breathing her scent, sealing
her familiar smiles in my memory, and couldn’t believe she was sitting in front
of me. My mother kept smiling but she stared into my soul through her restless
eyes. She mouthed the beautiful words -- I love you. I blushed and was thrilled.
I
was leading with emotion then but I knew right away she was never on the
outside of my life. She was with me all the time as she promised. I thought she
did accompany me even though I felt lonely most of the time. And I also
believed my wish to come true because of the gods in the Taoist temple where I
prayed for this whenever I got a time to go to.
Since
then, my mother would give me a regular visit once a month and my life seemed filled with happiness and I still went to the Taoist temple for asking the
gods to bless my mother and me too.
I
often ran into several dropouts* of my school, who I nodded to but I did not
speak to them. They were underage like me but they got the tattoos around the
arms, chewing the beetlenuts, smoking and drinking the rice wine even in the
morning if I went to the temple on Sunday. Sometimes they looked drunk and
grinned foolishly at me, and sometimes their laughter rang through the temple.
One of them I was told ran through the traffic light and was caught without a
motorcycle driving license because he didn’t reach 16 years old yet.
It
was uneasy to gauge their intentions why they wasted the days this way. I wondered
why the temple manager took those in, most of them were teenagers. There should
be an option for them to lead the life, which was always a fine thing to have.
I wouldn’t turn out to be one of them, which my mother was worried about and warned
me not to go to the temple. The only thing they did regularly and with efforts was practicing what they would perform for the special ritual of that temple.
I
hid myself from being seen when I spotted the fighting among them. I was so
surprised when I saw a couple of them were ignorant about their fellows raging
and blundering but gave it guffaws. I was confused.
They
glanced among themselves, and hunched down into their combat stances with feet
apart and hands holding wide and ready. In a couple minutes they all jerked
forward but suddenly they all tried very hard to stand up when the temple
manager blew a whistle. They looked terribly and bowed their head down without having an eye contact with the manager including the bystanders. It was
obviously that the temple manager was good at playing a kind of buffer when
this kind of conflict occurred.
One
day this master slapped his hand on his knee and then stood suddenly, smiled
into my eyes and said with sarcasm that I really needed friends behind me. He tried to
recruit me to be one of them as performers. I ran away without looking back.
The theatrical
performance in Taiwan
It
is said this kind of performance started eighty years ago in Taiwan. The aims
of the performance especially for a Taoist Wufu Emperor's temple show how
powerful and efficient it is to hunt down the evil outrageous criminals in the
hell.
The
number of the performers mostly is 11 but there might be 9 or 13 occasionally.
They present four generals and the gods of four seasons with two judges of the
hell and the executor of punishments. The date of the performance varies
depending on the decision of each temple.
Appearances of
the performers
Each
performer's facial makeup illustrates the character of who he presents. In general,
the facial makeup shows deep beliefs of religion. The nature of painting
relates what people think to the nature of the gods possessing divine power
beyond mortality. Each facial painting is unique different from the others. Before
performing, they have to wear the facial makeup in disguise like wearing a mask,
trying not to be identified who they really are. Therefore, the master who
draws the paintings should put efforts on designs and colors, which go with the
costumes of each performer. Again, no slight similarities can’t be spotted in
those costumes they wear either. The colors on the face or in each piece of the
costumes appear very bright and dramatic too.
Performances
The
movements of the performers are remarkable. They swing their arms fiercely and
take tiger-like steps with full energy. That delivers the beliefs about the
punishment valid and a non-stop even after death, which convinces people to
shield off committing a crime. That explains why the way they move and the
costumes they wear all demonstrate the almighty power they possess of.
Sometimes,
a couple of them have salty cookies tied with a string around their neck
loosely, which people are allowed to fetch and eat to gain blessing as they
wish.
Now
there is a national competition held in April in Kaohsiung city. More and more
university students join an extracurricular club for this special religious
tradition and attend the competition with great enthusiasm. The performances of
students show subtle but clear differences of interpretation for this ritual
from others. It’s a spectacular view indeed.
Before
performing
They
can only consume the food for the veggie. For the sake of purifying, they are
prohibited from having alcoholic beverage, smoking, chewing betel nuts,
gambling, and having sex. That symbolically aims to purify the performers
mentally and physically.
After
the facial painting is done, each of them has to keep quiet without make a
sound until they undress the costumes and their makeup is removed completely
after the performance is done successfully.
While
performing
They
have to hide their face with the fan they bring with from the sight of the
mourners if they unfortunately run into them on the way. It’s believed they are
pure and glorious, but the funeral service means sadness and loss. More than
that, pregnant women are not allowed to get close to them either*.
* The Taiwanese Ministry of the Interior carries out a
census-taking every ten years. According to the last census held in 2010, the
official population of 23,162,000 was recorded.
* There were 679,062 junior high school students in
2016, and the number of dropouts was 3,037 in the same academic year,
*You might be wondering why
pregnant women cannot because the traditions say so.
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