In the attached photo in this post, who are the face-painting-decorated persons? Why Dr.Chen was posting a photo with them?
This is a continuing story of the May 24 hike from the Two-River 二 水 town of the Chang-Hua county to the Ming-Jeng 名間 Village of the Nan-Tou county. After climbing almost 300 steps of very steep stairs called the Heaven Ladders 天梯, we arrived at a temple called 'Accepting Heavenly Divine' temple or 受天宫. There was a big festivity on May 24 because it is also the May 1 on the Lunar calendar. Aside from the drumming and firework display, there was a ritual of passing gods (in idol forms) over an incense furnace香爐 . Legend says that only after this ritual, idol gods then become real gods with divine power. There were also 7-8 tattooed man standing on the plaza. They said they were not the so-called 'Eight Private Generals' 八家將, but they were 'body guards' of some god. Later in the festivity, they said they would display their martial art skills on the plaza.
Getting curious, I did the google search on the so-called 'Eight Private Generals', or 八家將. These generals serve the 'god and Great Emperor of Five Happiness' 五福大帝. Two of the generals called Fan and Hsieh generals 范、謝將軍 are responsible for capturing (the prisoners or sinners); general Kan and general Liu 甘、柳 將軍 are responsible for torturing (the prisoners or sinners); the rest of the generals are responsible for interrogation of the prisoners or sinners.
About 6 months ago, I have posted a story describing hierarchy of gods in Taiwanese folk religion and I stated that the hierarchy of gods is parallel to that in the old authoritarian political system. It is not surprising that these temples look like old government reception and torturing places 衙門in the old Ching dynasty.
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