Signs are Pointing Toward a Propitious New Year

The New Year festivities keep marching along.  The last several days have been filled with the sounds and smells that go along with fire crackers and bonfires.  Shops that had been closed for the New Year holiday are now ready to reopen. Before reopening they display an altar with their god, fruits, flowers and incense.  They also provide burners for employees to burn paper money to send on to their deceased  relatives. However, the shop doesn't officially reopen until they set off firecrackers.  The air is filled with the sounds and scents of the New Year.

Early days in the New Year I noticed that several temples had buckets filled with rice and symbolic items on display.

These two photos are of the first two displays that I saw in small local temples.  Each bucket is filled with rice, a mirror, a sword, a ruler, a scale, a pair of scissors, and perhaps a dagger.  I don't think the buckets on the left were complete, because later I found the display on the right which has a banner, and an electric light.  Chia informed me that these are all part of a Taoist ritual.  In my imagination I pictured people marching along and chanting while holding the buckets.

Yesterday, when we walked by the small temple with the red bannered buckets, all the lights were ablaze.

The buckets are on the right and left of this display to the gods.  The women at the temple explained that everything here is in honor of the New Year and the god Tu Di Gong.  They encouraged us to come back at 2 p.m. for the chanting, but we never made it.

Today, however, as David, Taylor and I walked past the Citibank ATM from our first day in Taipei, we heard chanting in that very first temple we visited.

The courtyard leading in to the temple had this huge display of electrically lit rice buckets. There was no marching as I had imagined, but there was chanting.

This small altar is in the center of the rice buckets.  Looking closely we could see food products - rice, tea, apples, cakes, many fruits.  All provided to us on earth by the god Tu Di Gong - the god of the earth.

We walked through this colorful display, through the clouds of incense and into the main chamber where the chanting, accompanied by drumbeats filled the air.

I encourage you to listen to the following videos.  Each one is slightly different.  One is a very measured atonal chant, the other breaks into a more glorious sound with several instruments and differently pitched voices.

We aren't done with this temple yet.  When we left, we walked down the regular sidewalk next to the temple and discovered that the area had been made into a kitchen.

This area is normally a sidewalk next to the temple.  Today it is a kitchen and they plan to serve a lot of people.  We walked by stacks of  ham hocks and fresh vegetables.

These women are washing the dishes.  Have they already served a meal today?

The sidewalk that has been transformed into a kitchen is on the left. The passage on the right is the regular hallway leading into one side of the temple.

And this all happened on the way to the park.  I think it was a highlight of this visit to Taiwan for me.

On the way back from the park we walked by the temple again.  Food prep was still happening, but oh my...........................................a troop of volunteers was dismantling the fabulous display of rice buckets.

Can you see the people dismantling the display?

It looks like everything will be stored until next year.

We still have a few more days of the New Year celebration left.  I wonder what will be in store?  I certainly feel that what we saw today is a symbol that we will have a most propitious New Year.  What are the chances that we would stumble into the final chanting of the celebration, and that within two hours all would be disassembled?  It was all very fortunate in my mind.

Second Day of the New Year

The first day of the New Year, people go to the temple to honor the gods and their ancestors.  The second day is a day to go out in the country to hike and enjoy nature.  We did not go hiking.  We wanted to avoid the crowds, so we went to Coscto instead.

We had a short bus ride.  There's David standing with the yellow bag.

Next, we took a short walk.  On the way we found the "Solomon" sign.

Yes, there is a Costco in Taipei!

It's pretty much like an American Costco, except when entering you have to go up on an escalator to the appliances and impulse items.

We took the escalator back downstairs to get to the food.

We were surprised to find an entire section dedicated to Tillamook cheese, and ice cream.

When we arrived at Costco, it was pretty quiet.  However, as time passed the crowds arrived and we were only too happy to pay and get out.  Apparently, other people chose to avoid the holiday hikers and come to Costco.

Although we took the bus to Costco, we purchased a good size  load of groceries, so we took a cab back to the apartment.  Other people did the same.  There is a  convenient taxi queue right in front of the store.

And that is how we spent the second day of the New Year.

A Sweet Beginning to the New Year

People in Taipei have been preparing for the Chinese New Year for about a week. One day, after a walk, we returned to our apartment building to find that the front door and lobby were decorated for the holiday.

Each side of the front door has a string of red fire crackers.  They will ward off the monster Nian who likes to come around on New Years Eve.

Last night, the Chinese New Years Eve, was family night.  Families stay home to share a dinner together.

Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year. Most small restaurants and shops are closed, and people go to the temples to honor relatives who came before them.  We went to Xingtian Temple, which is one of the larger Taoist temples,  to join the throngs paying respect.

We found ourselves cheek to jowl with crowds of worshipers.  Most were concentrating on their prayers, and it was surprisingly calm.

Behind the center door is the main god of the temple,  Guan Yu, patron saint of businessmen.  The order of prayer is to pray to the god of the heavens, directly behind me, with my camera.  Then pray to Guan Yu at the center door. Next pray to the god in the right door, finally to the god in the left door.  Considering the masses of people this was all done in an orderly fashion.

When we managed to extricate ourselves from the temple, we found ourselves on the sidewalk filled with vendors.  It was a bit of a carnival atmosphere.  Chia treated Solomon to cotton candy - his first.

What a sweet beginning to the New Year.  Xin Nian Kuai Le!!!

Happy New Year Family Dinner

This is our sixth trip to Taipei. By the time we come home from this trip we will have spent 5 months and one week in Taipei (the first visit was a one week wedding extravaganza). Thanks to our lovely daughter in law, Chia, I now feel like I am part of this huge, fascinating city.  Last night she invited Taylor and me to have a dinner with her family to honor the New Year and the family.  We had a wonderful time with our Taipei family.

Taylor and I managed to take the 63 bus to the restaurant without incident.  Eleven of us met outside the Hong Yuan Seafood Restaurant on Minshen East Road.

The food was delicious and the company was charming.

Here we all are, after dinner.  The dirty dishes are a testament to a wonderful feast.

The three cousins, Junior, Sophie and Solomon Soup.  They really like each other.  I enjoyed speaking Mandarin to Junior and Sophie while they practiced their English with me.

After dinner, Chia's sister in law and I nipped into the boutique next door, where they were having a wonderful sale.  We only looked.  We did not buy.

This is a very soft leather jacket.

Fancy leather.

 While the two of us shopped, the rest of the group went next door to 7-Eleven for dessert.

I think Chia's father should be very proud to have 3 wonderful grandchildren.  Sophie and Junior are really enjoying their treats and their grandfather.

Solomon with his aunt, Chia's sister.

David, Chia's brother and Taylor supervise the fun from behind bars.

Here's the star of the evening - Chia.

Thank you Chia for a most wonderful family dinner.

Happy New Year of the Pig.

Adventures in Taiwan 2019

Here we are, back in Taiwan for a month.

We dragged ourselves off the plane last night, thinking we would never be able to function again. We were utterly exhausted as we made our way to our new apartment. Our lovely landlady Jennifer met us at the apartment to show us the ropes of the new digs. As she was demonstrating the ins and outs of the apartment, Taylor passed out on the couch. Nonetheless, Jennifer was determined to show me around the neighborhood. She and I strolled the neighboring streets so I could easily find the grocery store, dumpling stand and traditional market in the morning. We were out until 1 a.m. And this is after I had already been awake for more than 24 hours. Let me tell you, today has been more than a little challenging. I was able to lead Taylor to the grocery store, but have no idea where all the other places are. Not only am I not running on all cylinders, everything looks different in the daylight.

Here's what I know though:  Chinese New Year will be here on February 4.  It's the year of the pig.

Ｈａｐｐｙ　Ｎｅｗ　Ｙｅａｒｓ　ｅｖｅｒｙｏｎｅ！