New Year Temple-Goers in Taiwan Rush To Be First To Present Incense

TaiwanPlus News

Temple-goers in central Taiwan have kicked off the Lunar New Year with a recent tradition, where participants rush to be the first to present incense. This year's winner is the younger brother of last year's champion.

Transcript

00:00Five, four, three, two, one.

00:05Kicking off the Lunar New Year,

00:06temple-goers at the Fuxing Temple in central Taiwan

00:09race to be the first to release incense.

00:12Customarily, it's used to pray to the gods for good luck.

00:15And at this temple, that would be the sea goddess Mazu.

00:18But this rush to be first has morphed

00:20into its own unique tradition.

00:22This year's winner says he gave it his all

00:25to come out on top.

00:26I don't want to regret it when I'm old, so I came.

00:30When I'm young and have the strength, I can rush.

00:35Gao Mengxuan is following in his older brother's footsteps,

00:38who won the same race last year.

00:40Hoping to continue their family's reign

00:42as incense race champions,

00:44they said they returned to this year's event,

00:46hoping to also walk away with good fortune.

00:49Last year, I won.

00:50This year, I came to see if I could win with my brother.

00:54Or if I could win again this year.

00:58Last year, I told Mazu that I wanted to have a baby dragon.

01:03He said, last week was the full moon,

01:06so I was very happy.

01:07And this year, I won with my brother.

01:12This temple has held this grand lunar new year celebration

01:15for the last six years.

01:17Organizers say it includes the wider community.

01:19Outside of the temple, on Fuxing Road,

01:23we've actually set up nearly 4,000 lanterns.

01:26They were presented by the children

01:28from nearly 80 schools

01:29on both sides of the river,

01:30in Yunlin and Zhanghua.

01:34They presented their works in Mazu Temple.

01:39This event at Fuxing Temple

01:41is an example of a new tradition

01:43to join the many ways lunar new year

01:45is celebrated in Taiwan,

01:47as people across the country

01:48ring in the year of the stink,

01:50with family, friends, food, and fun.

01:53Dong-Fen Chen and Wesley Lewis for Taiwan Plus.

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