莊茵喻
The hottest news in Taiwan
recently must be the walk-about of Da-Jia-Ma-Zu and the detour appealed
to thousands of disciples to turn up to participate in the yearly visit
of one of the most revered goddesses in Taiwan. Some people firmly
believe that this kind of occasion would gather many spirits and
invisible powers; and the weak, because of their susceptibility to
spiritual beings, would be able to see the spirits much easier.
Therefore, there are many taboos about our religious activities and
there also occur many unexplainable and strange events on these walk-abouts..
One such event
happened to me when I was about 6 years old. I can』t remember the
details about it, but it』s still fresh in my mom』s memory. On that
summer day, my mom took me back to Chia-I to join a festival for the
seventh full moon in a lunar year. This occasion is particular because
people would prepare offerings to spirits in exchange for a peaceful
year. The next day after the festival, we came home. At the hour I
joined the occasion, I pointed at the corner of my house and cried out,
and I seemed very scared and petrified. However, nobody saw anything in
the corner. My parents didn』t feel anything unusual so they didn』t pay
much attention to me. To my mom』s surprise, the same situation
continued for several days. My mom got so worried and scared that she
took me to a psychic who provided rituals to expel the spirits from my
soul. Just as expected, the simple ceremony stopped my unexplainable
event and I didn』t see the spirits in that corner any more.
Besides my
experience, I have heard many similar incidents from different people on
these occasions. One time one of my relatives has seen some
unexplainable footprints on the pile of offerings. In my opinion, I
prefer to believe the existence of spirits. The most important thing is
to have a clear conscience and feel at ease and justified. That』s the
only way to avoid misfortunes.