Sunday 6/14/09 - A meeting of the gods

On Sunday morning, Britton and I started walking toward the largest temple in the area. After about 3 miles, Todd and Shu-Fen came by in the car - thank goodness as it turns out we were only about half way there and it was hot. When we got near the temple, we parked and walked to the street that leads to the temple. Here, we realized that this was a special day.

Each Buddhist temple is built for a particular god and, occasionally, a god from a nearby temple is brought to another temple so that the gods can visit. Today, several gods were brought from nearby temples in a large parade. A god conference?

Men worked in teams to carry the statue of the god to the temple much like a member of royalty would have been carried long ago. Meanwhile the sounds of several small bands with large drums and fireworks are heard all around. Hundreds of small fireworks are set off at the same time (a loud and startling event) and smoke fills the air.

The men carrying the statue of the god, walked back and forth (like crab walking in marching band) through firecrackers as they gave off small flashes of light and loud popping sounds. The street afterward is littered with fireworks!

We entered the temple on the right side. Todd taught us that a Buddhist temple should always be entered on the right and exited on the left; the center entrance is reserved for the gods.

In the temple, we saw a man up close who had been cutting his back by slapping himself with a knife throughout the parade. This is his way of showing sacrifice to the god that his group brought to the temple today. Todd and Shu-Fen informed us that they've seen much worse.



Afterwards, Britton finally got an opportunity to drink directly from a coconut, something he had been longing for.

Back at Shu-Fen's grandfather's house, the four of us sat in the living room enjoying some cold watermelon on a hot day.

Before we left, we took a picture with all the family still present at the house. Unfortunately many people left while we were at the temple. In this picture are mostly Shu-Fen's cousins and uncles and her grandfather is standing in the middle.

We drove back to Shu-Fen's hometown and the four us had dinner at a sushi place with a moving track of sushi and other food that goes by all the tables in the room. You just take what you want from the track and the chef in the middle of the room keeps replenishing the track. At the end, your plates are counted for payment. Todd and Shu-Fen's stack was higher than ours and Britton suffers as the loser (but they are eating for 2 1/2!).