Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/07
By Huang Kuo-fang and William Yen 

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) A traditional high swing festival, which dates back more than 200 years, was held in front of a Taoist temple in the southern Taiwan city of Chiayi Sunday.

The festival, which invites participants to take a ride one at a time on a 12-meter bamboo swing frame, is believed to have originated during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722) in the Qing dynasty.

According to legend, the swing was built by locals in Chiayi as a part of a ceremony to ask for blessings from Xuanwu, one of the higher-ranking deities in Taoism and an end to plague in the area.

The festival was conducted every leap year until 2008, since when it has been an annual event. It was also registered as an intangible cultural asset by the city’s cultural bureau in December the same year.    [FULL  STORY]