On a usual day at a temple like Bao An Gong 保安宮, you can see lots of interesting things! From watching people do bài bài 拜拜 and paying their respects to their ancestors and local gods at the temple, to asking for advice using poa̍h-poe 跋桮 (Taiwanese Hokkien) to getting a fortune to read. In addition, many temples around Taiwan also are big cultural centers and have special festivals and educational and cultural events to teach people more about ancient Chinese religions and to connect their community members.
This weekend I went to explore Bao An Gong 保安宮 in North Taipei and had the chance to see a traditional performance from the Bao An Gong 保安宮 sister temple in the south of Taiwan and observe the lion dance and hear traditional music to ask the local god for permission to enter.
The history of Bao An Gong 保安宮 is really interesting, because the main deity or zhù shén 住神 of the temple was a real person from the Song Dynasty in Southern China (about a thousand years ago!) His name was Wu Ben 吳本, and he became very famous because he studied a lot about Chinese Traditional Medicine and helped a lot of people.
