Dragon Boats in Taipei. The Dragon Boat festival takes place on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month in the Chinese calndar. In 2011 that falls on June 6th.

Happy Dragon Boat Festival.

Today is the dragon boat festival, a traditional Chinese festival that is celebrated in Chinese communities and countries throughout the world. Occurring annually on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, the dragon boat festival features dragon boat races and the eating of rice dumplings. It originates from the story of Qu Yuan, a poet in the warring states period who lived from 340 BCE until 278 BCE. It’s said that he was banished and accused of treason following the king of the Chu state’s alliance with the Qin state. In exile, he compiled a lot of poetry and upon the Qin’s conquering of the Chu, he drowned himself in despair. Local people are said to have paddled out on boats to either scare away the fish or to retrieve is body, and it’s from this that dragon boat racing has its origin.

If you ever get an opportunity to participate or be a spectator, it’s a colorful and exciting holiday. Below is a compilation of photographs from dragon boat festivals in previous years.

Dragon Boat Races in Taipei

Reaching for the flag to win at Dragon Boat Races in Taipei

Dragon Boat Races in Taipei

Dragon Boat Races in Taipei

I’m currently on the road on an assignment and as such don’t have time for any long blog posts. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this gallery from the Thaipusam festival in Malaysia. I photographed this last year, and the 2011 festival begins this week. If you’re in the Kuala Lumpur area, I highly recommend you head out to Batu Caves and witness the spectacle. It’s a fast-paced, photogenic festival. Here’s a slideshow from the 2010 festival, and I will hopefully have a new blog up later in the week.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance.

A few months ago, the IOC-sanctioned Deaflympics made its first trip to Asia with Taipei hosting the 2009 summer games. Excluding the Olympics themselves, the Deaflympics are the longest running multi-sport event in the world, having been held every four years since 1924 when the first games were held in Paris. For Taiwan, it marked the largest international sporting event to be held here, and the games were widely considered to be a success for Taipei.

In the lead up to the games, various promotional events were held, both in Taiwan and abroad. I was commissioned to shoot one of them and present a few highlights here today. This featured a UK based multi nation production company putting on an aerial type display featuring lots of acrobats and breathtaking stunts. You can see the rest of the photos after the jump.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance. Dancer / acrobat suspended from helium balloon above the audience. Taipei 101 and city in the background.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance. Dancer / acrobat suspended from helium balloon above the audience. Taipei 101 and city in the background.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance. Dancer / acrobat suspended from helium balloon above the audience. Taipei 101 and city in the background.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance. Dancer / acrobat suspended from helium balloon above the audience. Taipei 101 and city in the background.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance.

Taiwan Deaflypmics pre-opening show featuring performance by New Substance.

That’s probably enough pictures for one post. If you have any thoughts, comments or favorites, drop me a note in the comments below. Don’t forget to check out some of the related posts as well, and feel free to share this with your friends and social media buddies. Thank you.

The Dragon Boat Festival is held on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. The festival memorializes the Chinese poet Qu Yuan (c. 340 BC-278 BC) of the Warring States Period. He committed suicide by drowning himself in a river because he was disgusted by the corruption of the Chu government. The local people, knowing him to be a good man, decided to throw zhongzi , glutinous rice wrapped in corn leaves into the river to feed the fish so they would not eat Qu Yuan’s body. They also sat on long, narrow paddle boats called dragon boats, and tried to scare the fish away by the thundering sound of drums aboard the boat and the fierce looking carved dragon head on the boat’s prow.

Today, people still follow the tradition by eating zhongzi and participating in dragon boat races in honor of Qu Yuan’s spirit. In Taipei, dragon boat races take place at Dajia Riverside Park . This years festival features 125 dragon boat teams of all ages from all over the world.

Safety and rescue services are provided by the Taipei Fire Department, the police and the Taiwan Red Cross. All perform a great service. Bouyancy vests are mandatory, with teams penalized 5 seconds for the failure of any crew member to wear a vest when in the boat.

Before a race can take place, teams have to check their scheduled times and move to the registration area.

Check-in procedures complete, there is time for some last minute exercise and pep-talks.

Participants make their way to the boats and climb aboard.

Once set, the boats move over to the start line and wait for the flag to drop.

Racing.

The goal is to be first to grab the flag at the other end of the course.

Boats then return to the river bank, acknowledging the judges, timekeepers, media and spectators.

While the racing boats return, the flags must be recovered from the water and put back into place, which is done by a few hardworking men in a much less elaborate boat.

Back on dry land, there’s time for a refreshing wash.

Time to check the results.

Time to meet the fans.

Or time to take a nap.

The sides of the river are full of photographers.

Supporters.

Contestants.

And a large number of interested spectators.

Wishing you a Happy Dragon Boat Festival, 2009.

This post originally appeared as a report on the 2007 Taipei Dragon Boat festival. As this site is in the process of moving to a larger hosting company, I’ve chosen to share this from the archives.

The Urban Nomad film festival is once again on in Taipei and they kicked things off with a party on April 25th. With some short films to start, the highlight of the night was a performance by one man band Bob Log III, playing his version of delta blues. More after the jump.

Tomorrow, being the end of the month, will see the new desktop calendar download posted. Don’t forget to check in then to get your May photo calendar.

Kicking things off, Taiwanese band My Skin Against Your Skin. Foremerly known as Rabbit is Rich, they got the crowd up and dancing.

Up next was the dirty rock and roll of the Deadly Vibes. These guys always put on a great show and tonight was no exception.

Burlesque comedy group Rock In Hose jumped up on stage after the Deadly Vibes. With a short performance before the main show, they had the crowd alternately cheering and laughing.

As mentioned above, Bob Log III was the main act. With his distinct style including a golden body suit, motorcycle helmet and telephone mic, silvertone archtop guitar and drums at his feet, he came on to a very appreciative crowd. With songs such as “Boob Scotch”, and crowd surfing in a blow-up lifeboat, his set went over a treat.

Finally, the Moneyshot Horns took the stage with their jazzy sounds that kept the remaining revelers dancing.

Don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the free desktop calendar for May. Thanks.

Comic book characters and other elements of fantasy descended on Huashan Culture Park in Taipei, Taiwan on April 18th for a comic book convention. Many came out dressed as their favorite characters in what was seemingly a World War II Europe type theme. For those of you unfamiliar with cosplay, take a look at this post I wrote last year outlining some of its history. More after the jump.

As I mentioned above, there seemed to be a 1930-40s Euro-type theme, with many wearing clothes of the era including a large number of military uniforms and Iron Crosses. For anyone interested in shooting some cosplay, I think this event is continuing on Sunday April 19 as well, so get down to Huashan and check it out. Here’s a few more photos. For a full galery, take a look at the cosplay gallery I have just uploaded.

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Some of the devout followers of Mazu.

Fireworks madness from the Mazu Festival. Don’t forget to take a look at previous posts detailing the origins of the Mazu Pilgrimage and images from the first 2 days of this years festival. Also, check out the complete gallery of Mazu images from which these few highlights are taken.

I’ll have another series of photos from the Mazu pilgrimage later in the week, so stay tuned.

Saturday April 5th saw the start of the 2008 Mazu Pilgrimage. Among the many gods and goddesses worshipped in Taiwan, Mazu, the Goddess of the Sea is perhaps the most revered. Every year, in the 3rd month of the lunar calendar, the Dajia Mazu, which is housed at the Zhenlan temple, is taken out on a pilgrimage lasting 8 days and covering 300km. Over the course of the 8 days, more than 1 million people will come out to see Mazu as she makes her way from Dajia to Hsingang in Jiayi county and back again, visiting more than 80 temples. It is thought that the Mazu pilgrimage is one of the three largest religious festivals in the world. Last year I wrote a detailed post describing the history of Mazu. Rather than rewrite it today, I’ll point you here for a look at the orgins of Mazu. This post will just be some images from the first 2 days of this years festival, with photos from Dajia’s Zhenlan Temple and Changhua’s Nan Yao Temple.

I’ll be posting more images over the next week as the pilgrimage takes place. In the meantime, the complete gallery can be seen at my www.craigfergusonimages.com