Serendipity

One of the things I enjoy most about traveling is how often one can just enjoy dumb luck at times . . . Moments where somehow the stars seem to align in your favor and you get to unexpectedly enjoy something rather unique and wonderful. Wednesday night was a good example of this. 

Every Wednesday and Thursday the big kids have only a half day of school, which presents the opportunity to go see something special. Benefitting from the marvelous hospitality of the Taiwanese, we went with a few of the kids' teachers to see some special things in a town about 20 minutes away. They'd hoped to see a traditional Chinese puppet museum, but it was closed for remodeling. We did, however, get to see another traditional home built during the Japanese occupation, which has since since been turned into a cultural storytelling/art center for children. 

An example of the artwork there. 

Here the kids sit out in front. 

While this made for a lovely afternoon, we wondered if in lieu of the puppet museum we ought to go visit a nearby town that has a 300+ year old temple. We thought, "Why not?" and headed out. Little did we know what awaited us. 

As it turns out, the months of March and April in Taiwan are special because this is when they celebrate the birth of Matzu, the patron goddess of Taiwan. During this time a huge pilgrimage to all of her respective temples takes place, and it results in all sorts of celebratory devotion and performances in her honor. 

While the main pilgrimage (which will pass by us in little YuanLin -- yay!) has not fully gotten underway, other performances and ceremonies have begun to warm up to the actual event. Lucky for us, the town we chose to visit last night--Beigang--has one of these aforementioned temples dedicated to Matzu, and apparently we hit it on one of the very best days of the year. In fact, as we were riding into town we drove past another miao we were intrigued by a gathering group of performers dressed in vivid ceremonial costumes.

So, of course we had to stop . . . And then the party really got going. It included traditional Chinese firecrackers:

Drums:

Dancing:

And we even got the most killer Chinese Lion Dance! 

Click on the link below so you can watch it. I promise it's awesome!

Click here to view the Lion Dance

They even had a baby Lion dancing, performed by what was likely a five-year-old child.

Then, as if that wasn't enough we also got fireworks -- in true Chinese fashion. Oh yeah!

But wait, this was just part of the night. We also got to see the amazing 17th century Chao-Tian Temple. (For more fascinating information about the temple, click on this link for a great article on the subject. It was published by the Huffington Post last year, and does a great job explaining part of the religious practices and significance.) 

View from above. 

View from the front . . . fuzzy, but still gives you a flavor. The next one shows you the gigantic statue of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy. 

We also saw some leftover lanterns from the Lantern festival. 

By the end, the kids were so acclimated to what was going on around them, they wanted to stay and watch the broadcasted Chinese opera. The locals didn't seem to mind. 

All in all, we went home exhausted, mystified, and grateful for our good fortune. Perhaps Matzu had been smiling down on us after all.