Chinese New Year – Taiwan Style: Part 1 of more than one

I’ll admit. I’m not a huge fan of Asian countries. While I love to travel and have been many places Asian countries aren’t top on my list. The food, the smells and being beckoned “hey tall lady” all the time are some of the reasons Asia isn't high on my list. So, it’s rather ironic that I’m going to talk about a really cool Asian country – Taiwan, that my cousin, talked me into visiting (well, ok, actually it was to go visit him and his family and not so much the country). This is the first Asian country I’ve gone to because I wanted too, not because of work (maybe that’s part of it). My first post on Taiwan will be about the Chinese New Year – Taiwanese Style. Chinese New Year lasts several weeks and festivities are more at the beginning and end of the lunar cycle – which changes when the New Year occurs slightly every year (so check twice before going if you want to hit any of these festivals). Another major issue is that any really cool festival is most likely only going to have information in Chinese – and while Bing and Google have translators – they just don’t cut it. You have to be patient in trying to go to a ton of sites and youtube to mince some meaningful information together – and then just go and hope you got it right. Yes, you must be adventurous. The two festivals I hit were the Yanshui Beehive Firecracker Festival and then “just” a local firework festival.

Yanshui Beehive Firecracker Festival
In a quick thought this is analogous to the running of the bulls in Spain. In 1885 this festival began as a blessing to remove the cholera outbreak (see http://sinotour.com/news/2013-yanshui-beehive-firecrackers-festival.html – ps, this is a good site for a lot of Taiwan tourism information). It certainly scared the bejeebers out of me but I’m not so sure how it helps cholera. The basic idea is that someone lights off a ton of bottle rockets and you want, yes WANT, to get hit by them, as it brings good luck. The locals carry gods to various locations. First, fake money is burned for the ancestors. Then a firecracker round is set off near or under the god. Finally, the bottle rockets are set off. This lasts for about 5-10 minutes (but seems a lot longer when things are whizzing by you). The place is cleaned up and you move on. This goes on all night.

Yanshui is about a 3.5 hour drive south of Taipei on the freeway. It’s a relatively easy drive and near Tainan so you just follow the signs to Tainan and then to Yanshui. Be prepared for lots of tolls however. Once in town there are many vendors, booths and games set up throughout the city much like a fair in the US except you get stinky tofu and squid on a stick instead of corn on the cob and elephant ears for food. They also have cultural dancing and other activities until dark. We went on the night BEFORE the official closing of the New Year and I would estimate 100’s of thousands. Apparently the next night there were millions.

Aisles of typical "fair" food next to the games.

 

My cousin, his son, and I got geared up. You must be geared up. The bottle rockets are literally thrown at you or pointed at you so to avoid getting burned or an eye poked out you wear helmets, gloves, long sleeves and pants and towels around your neck. Some people were aspirators because the smoke gets pretty thick. I would suggest hearing protection as well because it is extremely loud as well. It’s a pretty crazy get-up but definitely needed. The first time a bottle rocket bounces off your helmet you are glad you have it. And yes, I did get a few burn holes in my clothes which I now wear with a badge of honor.

The funny part about this activity is that when we showed up at the temple (where the first fireworks are set off) I was immediately accosted by Taiwan National News. I was interviewed in depth. My cousin was astounded – I hadn’t been in the country for more than 24 hours and I was already famous. Later, I realized that I was the only cracker (white) woman there –and certainly the tallest so I was an easy target. Maybe that “hey tall lady” thing worked to my advantage. The festival was an amazing and unique experience. The Taiwanese people may be formal but they certainly know how to let loose.  And this is definitely an experience you won't get anywhere in the US, or the world for that matter.

 

Bottle rockets which will eventually be shot off and thrown at you!
 

Check Out the Linked Video of the Firecrackers Going Off!

Neighborhood Chinese New Year Festival
For the actual last day of the Chinese New Year my cousin’s family and I attended a local neighborhood fireworks festival. My quick synopsis of this is that I will never be the same. I live where one of the largest Fourth of July festivals are held in the US and let me tell…they are LAME compared to anything in Taiwan. Just as with the firecracker festival they move a god around the town. There is a bit more pageantry with a band, a snake puppet (for the year of the snake) and girls pole dancing before the fireworks are let off. Yes, I did just type girls pole dancing. When we found someone who spoke English and asked why I was listening to Flo Rida and watching this prior to the god coming along they said, “Well, the gods are men.” Nothing more needed to be said.

Yep, the pole dancers - I have proof.

This small neighborhood was amazing. First off, the fireworks at each house lasted approximately 20-40 minutes and you didn’t just let off some lame smoke bomb. Oh no…it was like a US finale for warm-ups. The Taiwanese would set up a bunch of fireworks and light them off as fast as they could, kick out the old ones and set up new fireworks and set them off - all with a blow torch and flip flops. It was a continual light up of fireworks. And of course, they would set up under the transformers/lights because that was easier to see. They would just have to stop once in a while when the electrical lines were on fire, put them out, and then start again. Let me tell you, it is a whole new experience to feel the boom of a huge firework goes off out of a cannon when you are 10 yards away and then feel the powder pellets hit you in the face.  Again, this would never happen in the US as OSHA might get in the way of a few fun things!

One of the many 100’ high fireworks.

The other cool part was that the neighborhood people was so accepting. Here we were, a bunch of crackers (as my cousin calls us white people) invading on this little local activity and they let us play in the band, set off some fireworks, and I even had the chance to let off a lantern and make a wish. It was a remarkable evening which everyone enjoyed.

The "cracker" jumping into celebrate the “year of the snake!"

If you go to Taiwan over the Chinese New Year be sure to look up any of these events and check them out. They are definitely worth it and give you a great perspective on a not so obvious side of the Taiwanese people.

Check out my new photos of Taiwan