Ba Jia Jiang-Part 1 Origins 八家將的由來–白龍庵

什役

Following, I will write several articles about different aspects of Bajiajiang, beginning here with their origins. I will also include a list of further reading for anyone who has an interest. My primary source is still this excellent online pdf.

I wrote about Bajiajiang for Xpat a few years ago. Like much of my writing, the article was pretty much a quick collection of internet information to accompany some photos that I wanted to publish. While not horribly erroneous, and in fairness I did begin with a caveat lector, the original article could do with some updating. Especially the origin section.

That article whet my appetite for bajiajiang and I have since become a bajiajiang fan. The Eight Generals are visually appealing and, for the most part, interesting characters in and out of role.

The earliest Bajiajiang in Taiwan were from Tainan, which were in turn imported from China’s Quanzhou(Fuzhou?) in Fujian, specifically the Bailong Temple (白龍庵, Katz colorfully translates this as Abbey of the White Dragon). The Bailong Temples’ principle deities are Wufudadi (五福大帝). Wufudadi are (Wang Yeh) or plague gods. In Chinese the five are:
青袍顯靈公春瘟張元伯
紅袍宣靈公夏瘟劉元達
白袍振靈公秋瘟趙公明
黑袍應靈公冬瘟鍾仕貴
黃袍揚靈公中瘟史文業

Very loosely translated:  Green Zhang, Red Liu, White Zhao, Black Zhong and Yellow Shih.

It’s worth delving into the history of this important but now backstreet Tainan temple. I dug around a bit for info on this temple and found it has a very interesting history. It was once one of Tainan’s largest and most popular temples. The tradition of Northern Fujian’s popular Bailong An was brought across the straight by Qing Dynasty military and a temple was established next to Tainan’s military headquarters. This temple’s fame grew with it’s popular annual plague festival and it’s  Bajiajiang troupes.

The Bailong temple had a sister temple, The Xilai An. The Xilai An was on today’s Chingnian road and, being a branch temple, it’s principle deities were also WuLingGong (五靈公) which, for reasons we will see, became today’s Wufudadi. This is the very Xilai that gave the ‘Xilai Incident’ it’s name (also called Jiaobanian or Tapani Incident). During the Japanese era, the noise from the temple bothered the Japanese military that were housed in the old Qing military barracks and some rites were moved to Xilai An. It seems Xilai An surpassed the Bailong An in importance before it was destroyed by the Japanese for it’s significant role in both recruiting rebels for the uprising and their beliefs and even formations in battle.

Although Katz doesn’t actually say it in his exhaustive study of the Tapani Incident, I would be surprised if there were not some sort of bajiajiang troupes going into battle. Given that Song Jiang Battle Troupes and Boxers were known to be recruited (Katz, Paul R. 2005, 143) and the actual troops looked much like Song Jiang Battle Arrays, armed with spears, knives,  poles and carrying banners and beating drums (Katz, Paul R. 2005, 158), and further Bajiajiang were an important part of Xilai temple celebrations (Katz, Paul R. 2005, 96). It isn’t difficult to imagine fierce banner carrying bajiajiang troupes marching into battle against Japanese rifles and cannons, confident in their millenarian beliefs, sacred oaths, and protected by their amulets.

Presumably to draw attention away from the fact that Xilai An is a branch temple with similar practices, Wulinggong became Wufudadi.

Bailong An was never destroyed and bajiajiang troupes continued their traditions.

From Tainan they spread first south, to Kaohsiung and Pingtung, and north to Chiayi and Yunlin, then gradually spread around the rest of the island. With the gradual spread there were also transformations. Different areas developed local customs and clothing and face paint giving rise to Shenjiajiang (什家將), Guanjiangshou (官將首 whose origin is not really from Bajiajiang, but because of what Bajiajiang had become) etc. All may be called Jiajiangtuan (家將團).

Historically, troupes would be temple-goers participating for religious kudos and would only receive a towel or some such sundry as payment. Nowadays there are many professional troupes, therefore traditions and religious taboos are less strictly observed and creative professional performances are evolving Bajiajiang.

The Jiabanian Incident is interesting to me  because I drive through the main areas of the rebellion every week, namely; Shinhua, Jiashian, Yujin and Nanhua.

Sadly most of this info about Bailong An is from books. I have visited Bailong An several times, but haven’t found anyone to talk to. It is generally deserted and the old people pottering around who I would love to chat with don’t speak Chinese well enough to understand me. I’ll find someone one of these days.

my sources are: (I do realize this is silly for a blog, but…)

KATZ, Paul R.
2005 When Valleys Turned Blood Red: the Ta-pa-ni incident in colonial Taiwan. University of Hawai’i Press.

CHEN Yanzhong 陳彦仲 & HUANG Liru 黃麗如
2003 Taiwan de Yizhen (台灣的藝陣). Taiwan dili Baike #35 (台灣地理百科#35). Walkers Cultural Print in Taiwan.

LIN Yixian 林益賢 & CHIU Jianhao 邱建豪
2006 Bajiajiang (八家將). <http://www.shs.edu.tw/works/essay/2006/10/2006103008322129.pdf>

YE Lunhui 葉倫會
2007 Taiwan Shenming de Gushi (台灣神明的故事). Literary Times.

Wufudadi (五福大帝) <http://maxt.myweb.hinet.net/fiveluck.htm>

Generals Fan and Hsieh 謝將軍和范將軍 or Chi Yeh and Ba Yeh七爺和八爺

A work in progress……….any suggestions, corrections or questions, please leave a comment.

Chi Yeh and Ba Yeh are possibly the most easily identifiable gods in Taiwanese folk parades. They are the two oversized parade effigies (神將or將爺)*, always together, one tall and white; one short (relative) and black; with arms that pendulum wildly from their shoulders. Taiwanese folk religion has it that General Fan and Hsieh are the most important of the ghost escorts (鬼差). Subordinate to the City God(城隍爺), they take human form and patrol the city at night (暗訪), capturing criminals and taking their souls to the courts of hell for judgment.

They are also present in the Jia Jiang troupes and their names Seventh and Eighth Lord signify their positions in the group of eight. It is said that to judge a Bajiajiang troupe’s training, one need only look at these two gods’ performance.

Curiously, when I was at the Jade Emperor’s Temple during the final day of  Bei Ji Dian’s Jian Jiaow (The final part of jian jiaow is “song Tian Shih“, or return the heavenly teacher home after he has finished overseeing that proper rites have been observed, in the south, anyway), I noticed the jiajiang troupes were scurrying past the temple with heads bowed and fans shielding their faces. A caretaker told me this was because the Jade Emperor was so great that the lowly jiajiang were humbled before him.

It wasn’t this that I found curious though, but rather the same god in the oversized puppet form (jiang yeh) would proudly stride up the temple and bow before the altar.

Most people I asked didn’t see a problem with this, one was a Jiang Yeh and the other was the lowly Bajiajiang, they are different levels. Although when I dug a little some would concede that this was strange. I still don’t have a satisfactory answer.

Identifying Generals Fan and Hsieh

General Hsieh holds a fan in his left hand, shackles for criminals (枷鎖)  and/or fire bamboo stick(火籤)  in his right, has long white robes and a tall four-sided hat often inscribed with the words “Once seen, luck will follow”(一見大吉). His distinctive high-stepping walk is called the “white crane fist walk”(行白鶴拳).

In Jiang Tuan formation, the fans will be held on the outside of the formation and tools on the inside, ie. Hsieh’s fan is held in left and Fan’s fan is in his right.pic Robes will be more elaborate, not simple white like the parade effigies and face paint is 大蝙蝠臉 a stylized bat with wings covering both eyes.

General Fan holds a placard reading “distinction of good and evil” (善惡分明)pic with a chain (方牌加鎖鏈) pic in his right hand and a fan in his left. He wears black robes and a round,square or six-sided black hat. pic His walk is called the “monkey boxing walk”(行猴拳).His face paint has a black base with symmetrical circular or S patterns and flames around forehead, eyes or cheeks due to his especially fierce nature.

*As with all Taiwanese folk religion, customs vary from troupe to troupe and region to region. Some troupes nowadays will have modern interpretations of the traditional designs and decorate with aesthetics in mind as well as tradition. Parade effigies are easier to distinguish as they are more traditional. Being large wooden carvings, they are harder to change.

Origin Myths:

There are many myths explaining the origin of these two gods with many shared elements. One of the most common myths has Fan and Hsieh, sworn blood brothers, while on a mission for historical Tang Dynasty’s Chang Hsun during the An Lu Shan rebellion, take shelter under a bridge during a rain. For various reasons (one of the most common has Hsieh, the taller faster brother, improbably fetching an umbrella), Fan is left alone under the bridge. A flash flood drowns this short general and Hsieh, upon his return, is struck with grief at finding his sworn blood brother drowned. He hangs himself from the bridge, some fanciful variations have Hsieh wallowing in the water but being to tall to drown is only able to commit suicide by hanging. This tale neatly explains Fan’s black face from time spent under water and Hsieh’s long tongue hanging from his mouth, whereas some variations have Fan killing himself by smashing his head against a pillar or wall less adequately explain his black face. The Jade Emperor noticed this extreme example of brotherly love and sacrifice and appointed them positions in the celestial bureaucracy similar to their earthly positions.

General’s Fan and Hsieh can also be seen as puppet toys at traditional markets: and as two of the twenty four seasons’ door gods:

Names: as with all Taiwanese Gods, there are many names:
General Fan 范將軍:八爺,Eighth Lord, Ba Yeh or Eighth Master;黑無常,Hei Wu-chang, ;赤爺; Black(red) Lord; 范無救, Fan Wu-jiu, Fan who once you have seen him shall have no hope; hsiao yeh, short lord.
General Hsieh 范將軍:七爺,Seventh Lord, Chi Yeh or Seventh Master;白無常,Bai Wu-chang, 白爺, White Lord; 謝必安, Hsieh Bi-an, da yeh, tall lord.

*according to 台灣地理百科#35 台灣的藝陣, the large puppet parade gods have different names around the island. In central and  northern areas: 大仙尪仔陣, In the south: 神偶 or 神將, and also: 童陣. I’ve heard: 神將 or 將爺.

News

This Guan Jiang Shou from HsinYing was kind enough to move into the light and give me a nice pose.

I have re-organized this blog in the hopes of making it more useful.  The tabs on the top are pages with links to the corresponding subjects. I am going to move all my personal stuff to my blogger blog:

http://liefintaiwan.blogspot.com/

This way I can make silly posts for family and friends without worrying about scaring off potential clients.

Typhoon Morakot Links

My friend Richard from Barking Deer Tours has some nice posts and pictures that are worth checking out. I’m still trying to find time to write more about our last trip.

Pictures of Mingtzu, Mingchuan and Mingshen after Typhoon Morakot

I finally made it up to Namasia on Sunday and Monday with Richard from Barking Deer Tours. We were expecting to stay longer but both my sons came down with a fever so I returned to Tainan early. Actually it was depressing up there, it would have been hard to stay around up there much longer. The roads were way worse than I imagined (I wouldn’t have made it up in my 4X4 without help from a jeep club that were driving relief supplies into the village). And the devastation was worse than I expected.

Especially in MingTsu. I had seen aerial photos and photos from a distance, but being there, seeing it first-hand, smelling it first hand and being the only people in the whole village (It is off-limits to everybody but residents who want to look for possessions) was eerie.

But, as depressed as I was, the villagers who are still there (a hundred odd in Ming Chuan and two to three hundred in Ming Shen) somehow continue to be cheerful and optimistic.

Also of note, there is a brand new waterfall near my house. Ba Ba Waterfall (八八瀑布).

I will attach a gallery of 45 photos and in the following days I will post them into a blog with comments. Unless you are very familiar with the area, some of the photos will really need a description to understand.

I will also try to post some before and after photos and finally, I want to post some full size photos on flickr.

BTW, thumbnails look awful. If you click on the picture it should look ok.

Mala-ta-ngia: Bunun Coming of Age Festival 布農打耳祭

Here is an article about the Bunun Tribe’s coming of age ceremony that was originally published here.

A Bunun man from Taipei

This year I didn’t publish an article on the festival so all the pictures are new.

A Hsiaolin Pingpu Tribeswoman

by Rich Matheson

Taiwan has twelve remaining aboriginal groups of which the Bunun tribe ranks number four. Mala-ta-ngia or “shoot the ear festival” is the Bunun tribe’s largest and most important ceremony of the year. Similar to Chou tribes well known Mayasafi, it is a coming of age ceremony that focuses on hunting.

A Bunun Man

Hunting was the Bunun’s primary source of food but it was not seen solely as a source of food, to the Bunun, hunting also instilled life values and skills. Every Bunun tribe celebrates mala-ta-ngia and observes the festival at the same general time and way. It was traditionally held when the moon begins to wane around April or May, a time of rest when the fieldwork is done.

A Bunun Man

Moreover, this is the time when deer antlers begin to grow and are highly prized for their healing qualities. Now the Bunun Ear Festival is a festival for Bunun to celebrate and display their culture to the outside world.

A member of Taiwan’s Laluwan Tribe who are still not officially recognized as separate from the Chou

During the time of the Second World War, in order to accommodate outside influences (such as policies and regulations restricting hunting and protecting some animals), mala-ta-ngia rituals were not observed for a time. Then in 1984 in Kaohsiung’s Taoyuan Township, for the first time since the war, a festival commemorating age old traditions was held for Bunun and Taiwanese alike to enjoy.

A member of Taiwan’s Kanakanavu Tribe who are still not officially recognized as separate from the Chou

The festival has been held yearly since then both at the village level and the country level. This year (that was 2006 ) the festival for all of the Bunun of Taiwan was held in San Ming Township, Kaohsiung. The festival has dancing, sporting events and performances which explain the significance of mala-ta-ngia and other Bunun festivals.

Paiwan

In more traditional times, all the adult males of the village would go into the mountains to hunt when the moon began to wane. In order to cleanse their spirits and observe the hunting taboos, rituals were held the night before the hunt. In preparation for the ceremony all the necessary gear, such as bones and young deer antlers, were readied for the rituals.

Bunun Tribe

The village shaman presided over these ceremonies which began with bones and young deer antlers being hung above the doorway and everything needed for the hunt (rifles, sacks for carrying game, knives etc.) being laid on the ground in front of the congregated males as well as hunting dogs being rounded up and brought over. The kadavus ceremonies began with the shaman chanting while sprinkling millet wine dregs to bless the hunt.

Millet husking competition

The women who were left at home began to make rice wine and entreat the men’s safe return through their nightly dreams.

A member of Taiwan’s Laluwan Tribe who are still not officially recognized as separate from the Chou

When the actual mala-ta-ngia rites began all the deer and boar jaw bones from the hunt were hung up and the highest ranking village priest was invited to begin the ceremony to bless the hunt and give thanks.

Snare building competition

During the rites, tribesmen wore black clothing and the warriors wore their traditional black skirts, black apron and a red decorated belt. The rituals were necessarily solemn affairs and the warriors sang sincerely (pasibutbut) in order to procure their gods blessings for a successful future hunts.

Bunun Tribe

When the proceedings had finished, the whole village congregated at the field where archery and shooting skills were displayed and practiced. With the targets (the ears of muntjac, hornless river deer, mountain goat and boar) already in place one and a half meters away, the tribesmen began to shoot.

Spear toss competition

Beginning with the youngest boys and moving up in age, all the boys of the village took turns shooting, with special attention bestowed on the youngsters as the targets must be hit or it would bode poorly on the length of their lives.

Ming Chuan (now Maya) Elementary school students

The deer’s ear must be hit first, followed by the boar’s ear. The beliefs were that if the boar’s ear was mistakenly hit first, the child would be afraid of boars when hunting, if the mountain goat’s ear was mistakenly hit, the kid was destined to walk the precarious paths of the goat for his–likely–short hunting years.

Ada catches a chicken in the chicken catch contest

When the children had finished the adults lined up and took turns shooting at the ears with groups of one, two, four or five hunters shooting at the same time. For the adults the order of targets was unimportant, they chose which beast’s ear to hit first. The earliest hunters used bows and arrows, which over time slowly gave way to rifles.

Shiaolin Pingpu tribe dancers

The mala-ta-ngia ceremony was restricted to males only, females did not participate. After the ceremony finished, the deer’s ear was brought inside and the women, chickens and other household animals were put outside.

Mingshen (now Takanua) team carrying boar in the boar catch competition

Once everybody was inside the shaman would bless the ear by singing and waving a torch over it before sticking it in the ceiling. All the hunters would then give their spoils of the last two months to the shaman who would divide the meat out evenly to all the villagers. If any of the meat was dropped on the floor it was not to be eaten but was offered to the ancestors instead.

Bunun Dancers

Nowadays, the proceedings are of course very different from the rituals practiced hundreds of years ago, and most of the superstitions are useful only for scaring children. Sadly, one prevailing taboo is that women will bring bad luck to a hunt.

Schoolchildren load carrying competition

Although the women are now allowed to watch the shooting of the ear, and participate in all the other sporting events, they are still not permitted to participate in the actual shooting of the ear or go hunting.

Bunun woman carries boar onto festival field

The Bunun are spread out over a large area of Taiwan and every area has their own special way to celebrate their mala-ta-ngia. Next April or May head into the hills to look for a mala-ta-ngia festival and let the friendly tribesmen teach you about their culture.

Bunun man uses traditional husking method in  millet husking competition

–end–

Morakot Pictures with Comments

Didn’t have time to put comments with the photos last post, so will re-post with comments. If you don’t want comments and want quicker loading pictures, click here.

Eric, Richard and Wanee with a truck of supplies for Namasia. We took three truck loads up from Tainan and still have lots of stuff to bring up. Access is limited so it is now being stored in Jiashen. A jeep club from Taipei or blue trucks will take it the rest of the way.This is number 21 coming into Jiashen. I only drive this route when my preferred #20 from Tainan is typhoon damaged, so don’t really know what it should be like. It seems to me it was trashed much the same by Kalmaegi.Typhoon Sinlaku knocked out the Jiashen bridge in September last year and the Baolung Bridge provided the only access to Jiashen via the Baolung Temple road. A makeshift pipe bridge was built, which was later replaced by what is left of the bridge above. Now we are back to a pipe bridge.  Strange the much longer Baolung bridge doesn’t wash out. I’ve heard the Jiashen bridge was shoddily built and lots of money was skimmed during that project. Nothing new here.This is the second bridge out of Jiashen, the first is still out. This bridge was fairly new and looking at the height of the typhoon wash (just out of the picture), I am amazed it is still standing. The part that was washed away wasn’t bridge but just elevated land. From where they have started piling dirt to fix the bridge used to be banana fields on the close side and mangos on the far side. A big chunk of orchard was washed away there and there are remnants of a farmshed in the near left. We are up above on the old road which had been closed for a number of years.I had been lulled by the relatively small amount of damage I had seen in the day. This view of the Hsiaolin slide from Wulipu made my stomach turn. There used to be a nice green mountainside. There is a lot of mountain missing here.Soggy ghost money smoulders for the approximately424 villagers of Hsiaolin Village that are buried under five stories of mud and rock. There were about 200 houses here before Typhoon Morakot.I had been hearing about the stench of death in the slide areas and on the drive from Chishan had smelt patches of death here and there. Was expecting to smell it here, but instead there was a fresh ‘Kuai Mu‘(can’t remember the tree’s name offhand) smell.New life on the riverbed.Looks like lots of new slides in the left background.Looking up the valley towards Namasia. The Hsiaolin Tunnel seems to be intactAn enlargement to show the tunnel and part of the road. It’s hard to get bearings in this wasteland but my guess is the pipeline was in front of the hump on the left.There were very few remnants of the village. Here is part of an urn. There was a quaint temple dedicated to the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven(玄天上帝) in the middle of town. Maybe it is from there.Another view of the slide.The end of the road. From here the road used to continue downhill for a bit, cross a bridge over a small river with remnants of an older bridge upriver (which was washed away earlier this year by Kalmaegi). The road continued downhill and towards the river before winding around a hill and a small earth god temple and levelling out into the main drag. Now it is all buried beneath five stories of mud and rock.looking up at the road from below.Locals burn ghost money.The worst damage between Yushan Village and Jiashen was at the turnoff to Guanshan village at the Tainan-Kaohsiung border. Route 179, now the only route to Namasia, can be seen top right. Jianghuangken Village’s Chingshan temple behind a condemned house.Jianghuangken Village was badly buried by mud and rock slides. Fortunately the village was largely evacuated beforehand.

Tainan Foreigner Assistance Center Grand Opening

I attended the Tainan Foreigner Assistance Center’s grand opening last Monday. Wasn’t expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised with the lovely space provided for the office headquarters. They must have some cash behind them. Let’s see what they can do.

Worth checking out for the free publications, I was particularly pleased with ‘The Splendor of an Old City.’ Sumptuous pictures and good English text.

Here is their website: Amazing Tainan It’s rough but there is some info there.

Pulling down the red paper. Robert Dawson-Tainan Bulletin Chief- far left and Mayor center.ConfettiRobert holds his audience captive while delivering a moving speechNot related to the post, but I like the picture. My wife visiting displaced family in Ren Mei Military Barracks refugee center. We bring them soup and stuff every few days.

Pictures of Morakot Aftermath

Jiashen to Shiaolin

We drove into Jiashen with some food for the villagers who are still in Namasia  today. The road is rough from Jiashen to Namasia, so the supplies will be carried the rest of the way on Friday. It will be transported by blue truck convoy or, possibly, a jeep club from Taipei who volunteered for the job.

We dropped the stuff off quite early in the day, so had some time to drive in to Shiaolin.

I was struck by two things. One, how good shape the road was in.

Most of the repairs of damage caused by Typhoon Kalmaegi earlier this year were still intact.

The second thing that struck me was how horrible Hsiaolin was.

It was a very large landslide.

Having driven that road regularly for ten odd years and nearly weekly for the past three, I have never seen one quite that big. Up the South Cross Island Highway however, there have been a number of that magnitude.

But nothing compares to this as it landed right on top of a village causing massive loss of life.

Will post some pictures soon.