Taipei, 28 Sep (Xinhua) -- The morning light is faint and the drums and bells are ringing. From 6:00 a.m. on the morning of the 28th, the Confucius Temple in Taipei held a solemn ceremony to commemorate the 2569th anniversary of Confucius's birth and commemorate this "Most Holy Ancestor" who has been respected by the Chinese nation for generations.
Taipei resident Liu Guanyi set off from his home at 4:30 a.m. and arrived at the Confucius Temple before 5:30 a.m. "This is my first time to participate in the Matsuri Kong Ceremony, and it is very shocking." He said that every step of the ceremony follows the ancient ritual and is a historical witness handed down by Chinese culture.
As in previous years, the confucius temple in Taipei completed 37 rituals according to the "three ancient offerings", including opening the door, fistula blood, greeting the gods, entering the feast, offering incense, performing gifts, reading the blessings, bowing the whole, drinking blessings, withdrawing food, sending gods, burning the blessing silk veil, closing the door, and withdrawing the class, which is also the most complete preserved "three ancient gifts" in Taiwan.
"The overall ritual is very complete, with a beauty of order and order." Liu Guanyi said that participating in this activity made him more grateful for life and more humble.
More than a thousand people attended the ceremony and surrounded the Dacheng Hall. When the ceremony was held, raindrops fell from the sky, but the people watching the ceremony were orderly and solemn. The ceremony was attended by both devout teachers and students, as well as many blonde-haired and blue-eyed foreigners, who gathered together to experience the profundity of Confucian culture.
According to the organizers, the ceremony adheres to the tradition of respecting teachers and re-teaching, and the vast majority of the deacons, music students and tenants participating in the ceremony are primary and secondary school students. The deacons are mainly composed of gentry and Minglun High School students from Dalong pass, where the Confucius Temple is located, and many of them have been performing ceremonies for more than 20 years. Students from Chongqing Junior High School in Taipei City served as music students and played eight notes of ancient music on the spot. Taipei Dalong Primary School has inherited the 88-year-old dance team, using ancient dance postures to express the reverence and praise of Confucius. Teachers and students of Kaiping Catering School carefully produced 187 dishes for the ceremony.
The Tainan Confucius Temple also held a grand confucius ceremony on the same day, using pigs, cattle, sheep and other animal rituals in the traditional way of more than 300 years. People from all walks of life gathered in the Dacheng Hall, and primary school students danced the Six-Fold Dance Festival, and the scene was grand and orderly. At the end of the sacrifice hole, the people entered the scene in order to snatch the "wisdom hair" on the head of the sacrificial cattle, taking a good omen of academic success.
New Taipei, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung and other places also held festivals on the same day. (End)