Record-breaking Wang Yeh boat burning ceremony held in Tainan’s Jiali District

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/22
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Jiali Jintang Temple in Tainan’s Jiali District held the rare

Wanchuan boat being paraded through town (CNA photo)

Wang Yeh boat burning ceremony this morning at 10 a.m., breaking a record for the number of offerings given.

Once every three years, and after a few days of pilgrimage, a large boat, called a wangchuan (王船, king boat), is burned on a massive pyre of joss paper as an offering to Wen Shen (瘟神), a deity responsible for curing illness, plague and disease. Wen Shen is one of the large pantheon of spiritual emissaries known as Wang Ye (王爺信仰) worshiped in Chinese folk religion.

The vessel burned today was typical in size for a wangchuan at about 23 feet in length, 9 feet wide, and with a 25-foot-tall mast. However, the 11,000 packages donated by worshipers filled firewood, rice, oil, salt, and other offerings broke a local record, reported CNA.    [FULL  STORY]