Sunday 5 October 2008
Our kong fu group was asked to do a demo today at a couple of temples - sure! we said, delighted. We had done one other demo that went great, and were excited about an all-day affair. So, we met the other kong fu school early in the morning at a temple in Kaohsiung. Right off the bat, they asked us to hold flags for a small procession just to get things started. Sure! we said, delighted. We could help them out, hold flags, see one of these religious processions from the inside. It was fun, a bit noisy, and then we were off.
We hopped on a bus that would take us to a giant temple (the biggest I've ever seen, actually) a couple hours north of here, where the kong fu school again needed us to hold the flags. Okay, we said. It was a HUGE temple holding a HUGE celebration, with enough firecrackers piled up to make mushroom clouds, screaming fireworks, people in costumes, lion dances, drums, gongs, whistles, dances, people doing kong fu on stilts, you name it, they had it. Including this guy, who would inhale incense, welcome a god into his body, and then walk around "possessed," hitting himself on the back and the head with a sword. It was very very noisy and we stood in the sun for an awfully long time, holding the flags, but we were overall happy to have seen such a unique event.
When we got back to Kaohsiung we were tired and happy and ready to go home. That was not to be! We had to hold the flags for another, much longer procession around the city, through narrow alleys reverberating with the firecrackers, fireworks, drums, and gongs. It was noisy, hot, and smokey, and we were all ready to be done. Finally, we arrived back at the original temple, where there were two more hours of noise and smoke. Then, THEN, twelve hours after we had arrived in the morning, we were asked to perform our TWO MINUTE kong fu demo. What a day.
Our kong fu group was asked to do a demo today at a couple of temples - sure! we said, delighted. We had done one other demo that went great, and were excited about an all-day affair. So, we met the other kong fu school early in the morning at a temple in Kaohsiung. Right off the bat, they asked us to hold flags for a small procession just to get things started. Sure! we said, delighted. We could help them out, hold flags, see one of these religious processions from the inside. It was fun, a bit noisy, and then we were off.
We hopped on a bus that would take us to a giant temple (the biggest I've ever seen, actually) a couple hours north of here, where the kong fu school again needed us to hold the flags. Okay, we said. It was a HUGE temple holding a HUGE celebration, with enough firecrackers piled up to make mushroom clouds, screaming fireworks, people in costumes, lion dances, drums, gongs, whistles, dances, people doing kong fu on stilts, you name it, they had it. Including this guy, who would inhale incense, welcome a god into his body, and then walk around "possessed," hitting himself on the back and the head with a sword. It was very very noisy and we stood in the sun for an awfully long time, holding the flags, but we were overall happy to have seen such a unique event.
When we got back to Kaohsiung we were tired and happy and ready to go home. That was not to be! We had to hold the flags for another, much longer procession around the city, through narrow alleys reverberating with the firecrackers, fireworks, drums, and gongs. It was noisy, hot, and smokey, and we were all ready to be done. Finally, we arrived back at the original temple, where there were two more hours of noise and smoke. Then, THEN, twelve hours after we had arrived in the morning, we were asked to perform our TWO MINUTE kong fu demo. What a day.
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