Donggang’s Wangye Festival:

Donggang’s triennial Wangye Festival kicks off this year on September 28 and continues for eight days. First timers should be sure to watch the firewalking and the beach ceremony to welcome the deities arriving from Heaven. Another highlight is when the deities lead the procession past Donglong Temple’s golden gate, which cost around NT$100 million. More than 100 Daoist performance troupes follow behind in an incredible spectacle. At dawn on the final day, the Kings’ Boat is ritually burned, sending the Wangye back to Heaven. It is a solemn conclusion to the festival, with flags lowered and drums silenced.

Foreign visitors can experience rituals aimed at changing one’s fortune, and they can join in the incense procession and help to carry a ceremonial palanquin.

Dating to the Qing Dynasty, the jinbiao ceremony is held to respectfully invite the Wangye deities to descend from Heaven to Donggang and conduct tours of inspection. (courtesy of Donglong Temple)

A cultural legacy

The ancient rituals of Donggang’s Wangye Festival echo the grandeur of the ceremonies observed when imperial envoys would travel the land on the emperor’s behalf. The rites are conducted with strict adherence to tradition.

“The triennial Wangye festival is a major event for Donggang people,” says Pan Qingshi, chairman of Donglong Temple’s board of directors. This year, 168 performance troupes and 246 palanquins from temples all over Taiwan will take part in the deities’ tour of the area. The temple will provide at least 8,000 boxed meals on the first day, and seafood porridge on subsequent days, to ensure that devotees are well fed. These meals require about 500 kilograms of rice. The porridge includes tuna (one of Donggang’s “three treasures”) as well as mud shrimp. Sometimes, a banquet-style dinner is also prepared in the evening.

The large quantities of complex ingredients used for the banquets are all painstakingly planned by Pan Qingshi. But what most impresses devotees is Pan’s skill in designing the “108 Banquet” menu.

Comprising 108 dishes, this exclusive event is not open to the public. Taking place at 11 p.m. on the seventh day of the festival, it serves as a farewell feast for the deities before they return to Heaven. The banquet is funded and organized by the festival’s master of ceremonies, who leads 36 ritual attendants in offering sacrifices at Daitian Temple. Not even Pan Qingshi, who creates the menu, may witness that ceremony. But Pan says that the 108 Banquet is essentially a “Manchu‡Han Imperial Feast.”

At the Wangye welcoming ceremony (qingshui), the “Thousand-Year Lords” arriving by boat are invited to grace the devotees with their presence. (courtesy of Donglong Temple)

During the qingshui ceremony, the faithful go down to the seashore to welcome the arriving Thousand-Year Lords. (photo by Kent Chuang)

Solemn and meticulous

Aside from that banquet, many other ancient rituals are also closed to the public—most notably the process to decide which of the lords of Heaven will be the festival’s leading Wangye. On the night before the reception ceremony, the master of ceremonies, the Donglong Temple chairman, and the festival’s chief of rituals cast divination blocks to make that crucial decision.

Su Huangwen, founder of the Donggang Cultural and Historical Space, explains that palanquin bearers must proceed to “sense” which of the Wangye in the Heavenly court has been chosen to lead, and then write out his name. “In one instance, the divination had indicated the surname ‘Luo,’” he recalls. “It was a Wangye that hadn’t appeared in recent memory. The chief of rituals was worried that the bearers might not be able to write it correctly and would thereby delay the subsequent ceremony. Out of concern, he privately consulted Wen Wangye, who reassured him that there was no need to worry.” Sure enough, the next day the palanquin bearers miraculously wrote the correct surname “Luo” on their second attempt. On the other hand, the frequently appearing surname “Feng” took 13 tries to get right one year.

Teams of palanquin bearers from seven areas of Donggang are each tasked with carrying one of the seven Wangye deities on their inspection tours. These teams are called the seven jiaotou. The bearers wearing blue are responsible for carrying Wen Wangye. (photo by Kent Chuang)

Over 100 Daoist performance troupes accompany the deities on their tour, making for an impressive sight. (photo by Kent Chuang)

Moving with the times

Membership in the seven palanquin groups representing areas of Donggang settled centuries ago by immigrants from Fujian, as well as the ritualists (scribes and patrollers) in the Zhenwen and Zhenwu halls (the groups responsible for meeting the needs of the Heavenly deities while in Donggang) were traditionally hereditary positions, passed down from father to son. From a young age, individuals would begin taking part in the festival, becoming immersed in this local cultural milieu. They came to see their participation as a duty.

Although young people from Donggang now often seek education or employment elsewhere, they make a point of returning to join in the Wangye festival. Still, in light of the declining birthrate, previously hereditary positions have been opened up to relatives, friends, and transplants. These individuals cast divination blocks in front of Wen Wangye to see if they have the deity’s approval. Su believes the deity is thus adapting to the times in his own way.

Local residents love to tell the story of how one year, two typhoons had been forecasted to hit close to the days of the festival. The community sought guidance from Wen Wangye, who instructed them to proceed as planned. As if by divine intervention, the typhoons ended up veering from their originally predicted courses.

For questions related to Wangye Festival rituals and other matters small and large, the people of Donggang turn to Wen Wangye for guidance. Reflecting the deity’s stalwart guardianship of the town, the phrases “favorable weather” and “peace and prosperity for the nation” are inscribed on the archway of Donglong Temple.

The firewalking ceremony is aimed at purifying the surrounding area. (courtesy of the Donglong Temple)