Craig April 30th, 2008
For those who fancy themselves as superheroes or comic book characters, cosplay is the answer. Short for costume play, Cosplay was originally a Japanese subculture that began in the 1970s which featured people dressing as characters from anime, manga, tokasatsu and video games. As it’s grown and spread to other countries, it’s added some local flavor, with characters from Taiwanese puppet theater, Star Wars, American Civil War just a few of the accepted additions to the subculture.
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Tags: "Craig Ferguson Images", "Craig Ferguson", "Petit Fancy 8"., cosplay, Taida, Taipei, Taiwan
Craig April 13th, 2008
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.
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Tags: "Craig Ferguson Images", "Craig Ferguson", "lunar March", April. event, Dajia Changhua, Festival, fireworks, Matsu, Mazu, pilgrimage, Taiwan
Craig April 7th, 2008
Saturday April 5th saw the start of the 2008 Mazu Pilgrimage. Among the many gods and goddesses worshipped in Taiwan, Mazu (媽祖), the Goddess of the Sea is perhaps the most revered. Every year, in the 3rd month of the lunar calendar, the Dajia Mazu (大甲媽祖), which is housed at the Zhenlan temple (鎮瀾宮), 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.
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Tags: "Craig Ferguson Images", "Craig Ferguson", "lunar March", April. event, Dajia Changhua, Festival, Matsu, Mazu, pilgrimage, Taiwan
Craig February 19th, 2008
In 1967, Venerable Master Hsing Yun (星雲大師) purchased 30 hectares of land in Dashu (大樹), a small town in Kaohsiung county (高雄縣) and founded the Foguangshan Monastery. During the groundbreaking ceremony on May 16th, Master Hsing Yun established the following objectives.
Spread the Dharma through culture.
Cultivate human talents through education.
Benefit society through philanthropy.
Purify the mind through cultivation of awareness.
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Tags: "Craig Ferguson Images", "Craig Ferguson", Buddha, Foguangshan dharma, Guanyin, Taiwan
Craig February 14th, 2008
Alishan (阿里山) in the mountains east of Jiayi (嘉義) is one of Taiwan’s top tourist destinations. High mountain tea, panoramic vistas and 1000 year old forests are all must-see attractions in the area, but perhaps the most famous attraction of all is the Alishan Forest Railway (阿里山森林鐵路).
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Tags: "Craig Ferguson Images", "Craig Ferguson", Alishan, mountain, photo, railway, Taiwan, train
