Yesterday we saw how a brand-new, not-yet-occupied hotel had been razed by fire in Beijing following a fireworks display. I'd known that the Chinese were almost obsessed with fireworks, but hadn't realized how truly national a phenomenon it is. It certainly makes most US small-town displays look tame by comparison!
Two more reports have roused my interest. The Taiwanese seem to share the mainland's fascination with things that go bang.
In one of Taiwan's wildest but least-known rituals to mark the Lunar New Year, five men in the southern city of Taitung asked to be showered with fireworks, and were burned by them.
Traditionally, the targets endure the pain to get rid of evil spirits and change their luck for the year ahead. Today, the men let themselves get burned to show strength and bring prosperity to the local merchant who hired them.
"I'm a thug, and I want to become an official," joked Chen Chin-yi about why he volunteered for a 25th year to get burned in the smoky annual Han Dan ritual. "I won't go to the hospital. I treat my wounds at friends' homes."
The ritual's namesake, Han Dan, is said to be a god of wealth who likes fire but fears the cold, so believers throw firecrackers to please him.
Chen emerged from the ritual with small burns all over his tattooed, largely unclothed body after letting about 30 men throw wads of firecrackers at him while he rode on a sedan carriage. About 1,000 people watched from the street.
This year, a local jeweler hired Chen and the other four men to improve its own fortunes.
"For us, this is to welcome more business," said Hu Dai-fen, 48, whose family runs the shop that requested the show, paying about T$70,000 ($2,100) for the fireworks and the gold medals given out to the wounded volunteers.
Taiwan is a hotbed of traditional Chinese culture, honoring the two-week festivities that mark the beginning of the Lunar New Year with mass displays of lanterns, a cow-themed light show for Year of the Ox and other fireworks displays.
I don't think you could pay me enough for me to stand there and be a helpless target! My religious sentiments operate along different lines, thank you very much.
Another report from mainland China shows a fascinating - and dying - art. This Reuters video illustrates it.
I wonder who first thought of molten metal as entertainment - and how many were injured, or even killed, over the centuries in providing it? I'm not surprised the younger generation aren't following in their elder's footsteps. Store-bought firecrackers seem an awful lot safer!
Peter
1 comment:
Looks like fun to me! Of course, one of my first thoughts was, "I wonder what would happen if you dumped some LOX in that crucible of moletn metal?"
Yes I know, there's something seriously wrong with me.
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