Costumes used for festivals

Today Lin and Jeff showed us the fourth floor of the temple. It has been closed because it is full of old antiques, many of which date back to when the temple was first opened, and isn’t presentable to the public. There are a bunch of interesting things, such as costumes, antiques from the Qing Dynasty, and random items used for festivals.

Four large costumes reside in the room. All of the costumes represent old warriors or soldiers, considered bodyguards for the late emperors (there are 36 total within the temple). They are very big and heavy; they usually require one person to wear the costume and another two to help lift the costume whilst it walks, and only men may handle the costumes. As you can see from the picture below there is a small hole in the chest of the costume, which is where the person who is in the costume looks out from. Also, whilst walking the arms of the costume sway back and forth.

The festivals in which these costumes are used are held about twice a year, depending on the lunar calendar.  This date was chosen because the creators of the festival wished to remember the date of the creation of an old school club, some 200 years ago. Apparently at a past festival whilst the costume was being used someone dropped something amongst the on looking crowd. They were told to wait to pick it up until after, but disobeyed, and were hit so hard in the head by a swinging arm that their head began to bleed.

Also, it is said that the wearer of the costume is possessed by the god whilst wearing the costume. The god will take some of the weight of the costume off of the wearers shoulders, allowing them to walk easier. Additionally, if the god is in a good or happy mood it will make the costume wearer run, controlling them. Whilst walking the person inside the costume will strap a small house on their back (that carries a small censer with a place to put incense) and one of the wicker baskets on their shoulder. These items are 50-60 years old.

On another note, one picture on the Instagram received 20 likes! This may not be exciting for a lot of people, but it is a step in the right direction for us. I read the easiest way to have a successful Instagram is to have interesting content and pictures, so I hope the ones that I am posting will become more popular by the end of the month. I will begin using apps such as Latergramme and Photogrid to edit the photos, and see if that draws in some users.