Radio Taiwan International
Date: 30 August, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

In Taiwan, the annual period known as “ghost month” is coming to a close. Many believe that after weeks of freely roaming the earth, spirits will return to the underworld, and the door separating our world from theirs will shut once more.

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Though people all over Taiwan appease these spirits with offerings, the people of one town go above and beyond, turning their offering ritual into one of Taiwan’s greatest spectacles.

The town of Toucheng in Yilan County is often fairly quiet. But not when ghost month comes around. It’s said that spirits are let loose from the underworld late every summer. After a month, they go back, and around this time each year Toucheng erupts into a frenzy.

The reason is a dizzying ritual that’s long been a hallmark of local culture. Townspeople build a wooden platform that reaches 15 meters off the ground, set atop spindly stilts. On top of that, they raise spiky towers made by lashing together bamboo poles. Each is 21 meters high and topped with a flag.The result looks a strange oil rig.    [FULL  STORY8]