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Festival

Xigang Festival lasts for 3 days throughout Friday to Sunday, usually fell on the 15th of Fourth month of Chinese Lunar calendar. "Festival" is just a general denomination, actually it comprised 3 different events which took place in same time but in different places ----

  1. Jiao : as told at beginning, the main feature of Xigang Festival is an integration between Jiao and Parade. So during the course of festival, there're lots of traditional rituals or ceremonies held inside Qing An temple. Such rituals were solemn and sacred, conducted by a crew of Taoism priests, not open to general public.
  2. Parade : Xigang Festival was mostly well known for its parade. It took place throughout Friday to Sunday. Every morning the procession left Qing An temple at 06:00 sharp. But when they returned to temple, mostly already 02:00~04:00 past midnight. The scope of parade covering 5 different towns, including XigangĦBJialiĦBCiguĦBAnding and Annan district. On first day the parade went westward, second day went south-westward, then third day went eastward, altogether they have to tramp for more than 220 km within 3 days, visiting every villageĦBtempleĦBstreet and small alley, for purposes of expelling evil force away from villages and bringing people good luck.
  3. Activities around Qing An temple : in daytime while procession was parading in other towns or villages, the streets surrounding Qing An temple were crowded with pilgrims from everywhere, either come to worship Wang Yeh, or make donation to temple, or wait in patience for the procession to return at night.
Festival day 1
Festival day 2
Festival day 3