Thousands and thousands of fireworks, firecrackers, and literally anything you can light on fire – all surrounded by large crowds of people. What could possibly go wrong?
I’m here in Taiwan for only a year so I might as well attend as many festivals and celebrations as I can regardless of what they are. Every event lets me understand the culture surrounding me a little more. With my drive to attend as much I can I found myself taking the hour-long scooter ride to Taitung City this past Saturday to attend the Bombing of Master Han Dan, a Taitung County specific celebration. I had started to hear about the existence of this event before I even got to Taiwan. In checking out all the Taiwan travel guides to understand the tourist attractions in my county I came across the Bombing of Han Dan. The pictures were spectacular. They depict a man dressed in next to nothing, standing on top of a chair held in the air by a group of men as a crowd throws fireworks at him. I really didn’t understand what the festival actually celebrated even after reading countless excerpts in books or asking teachers at my schools. There seems to be two conflicting stories that most people believe. Both of the stories claim to be the “real” story. One tells the tale of a Shang Dynasty general who was also named the god of wealth and war who happened to hate the cold. Yes, cold as in the temperature. The other idea is that Han dan was a criminal who wanted his “gang” to kill him by throwing fireworks at him to punish himself for his crimes and past sins. Despite having multiple origin stories this celebration is an interesting mix of entertainment and religion as versions of Han Dan make it through the streets of Taitung.
My second year ETA, Peter, sent us the schedule of the events which had the dates and times of the parade, locations, and the corresponding performance that was the occur at each location. It seemed to be very detailed. However, everything was in Chinese which wouldn’t be bad if I actually still lived in the city because I would probably remember street names. Right now, I have forgotten every street name and only know my way around by remembering the landmarks around the main city locations. This led me to forget about the schedule and rely on following the noise and crowds after I parked my scooter on the outskirts of the city.
I got there at the very beginning when people were still setting up. There was groups of people in line in costumes with their faces painted. There were men waving around cans of beer. Quite often we would walk past a temple or relic for Han Dan which was to be carried by 6 or so men to represent Han Dan as well as the chair that would soon hold one of the 10 volunteers to portray Han Dan this year. As the larger fireworks started to go off signaling the beginning of the event, Sean and I made probably the best decision of the night. We ducked into a 7/11 and bought one of the last sets of air plugs. Those became a godsend as we walked the streets.
You really had to be observant when you walked. We watched where all the other onlookers were walking, we watched the ground to make sure there was no firecracker in the vicinity, and we always looked for an escape route in case something went wrong. We were prepared on all fronts.
We started off the night right by seeing the first depiction of Han Dan dressed in shorts, googles, and a towel brandishing a stick of leaves on top of the chair. He was standing above the crowd as the fireworks began to go off. This was the main event of the entire celebration which we later found happened maybe 5 times each night. The men would stay up as long as they could endure whatever pain they felt. I couldn’t believe they viewed it as an honor to stand as people through explosives at their naked body. Unlike the Brazilian tourists we ran into later who recounted how they had taken part in actually throwing fireworks at the man, Sean and I decided against participating in hurting him. I respect the entertainment value, but I think its only right to throw the fireworks if you actually believe in the religious reasons behind it, otherwise you are acting just on the count of wanting to cause pain.
Having seen the main event early on we stayed at the intersection and watched the parade pass us by. There was drum lines (not as good as my students, but I’ll let that slide), traditional dance troops, dragon dancing, pole dancers (they danced in anime school girl outfits on top of 3 different jeeps), and someone that I can only describe as performing a religious aspect of the event. The performer was dressed in a skirt with a sash. After approaching the alter of one of the temples he took out a sword with teeth up and down the sides of it (looked Polynesian in design) and then struck himself in the back with it while yelling. He drew blood. I stood there not filming, not wanting to intrude on what I think was very meaningful. I couldn’t believe it though. It was similar to a flagellation, but I have no idea the religious meaning behind it at all. I wish I knew more of this man’s story to share. All that I know is that it looked that he was a past participant in the festival because one of his arms was just covered in burns.
The rest of the night was spent with ringing ears, a mask on my face, and wearing sunglasses in the middle of winter. There was little pieces of paper from the firecrackers in my hair and Sean having gotten so close to some of the explosions with the GoPro got a scorch mark on his jeans. We had a blast witnessing the crazy combination of religious aspects of the event, throwing fake money at the Han Dan portrayals. Each time Han Dan came to a small temple or table set out with incense firecrackers were set off as they did a weird dance in approaching the table. The large groups of 6 people carrying the large wooden chairs would take three steps forward and two steps back as they moved forwards. The people never seemed to flinch as the explosions happened around them. There were even bigger explosions in which boxes and boxes of firecrackers were dumped into a pile. The men then twisted them into a ball and set Han Dan on top of it. With four men holding Han Dan upright, they lit the firecarckers and it was a lot. The power from the explosions caused the Han Dan to start to fall off the pile.
Out of the many explosions I saw there was only one accident that I witnessed. A man, either a volunteer who set the fireworks off or someone portraying Han Dan himself, was so badly burnt that he couldn’t stand on his own. A swarm of volunteers surrounded him, blocking the view from the crowd. As they passed us I made out his back and legs were 4 different colors ranging from white, red, and black. His head had a scar that was turning pink and whatever firework created it also took his hair with it. Thankfully a police car was close by and broke the crowd up and they were able to load the man in the back of it to go to the hospital. The rest of the streets were slowing the movement of the ambulances. The whole ordeal really shook me. I had seen people already black in the face from the gun powder or have bandages on. I just hadn’t seen an actual incident happen. We took that as a sign to start moving towards my scooter to leave.
As we walked towards the edge of the city we left the noise behind us. I am happy to have gotten to see firsthand such a meaningful festival that brings the community together. Taitung County and Tainan County are the only two areas on the island in which this celebration is still legal. The Taiwan government has since stepped in to say that on a larger scale these two festivals are very dangerous and include too many explosives. After saying all this, I do have to say that there were a lot of safety measures taken. At each temple and stand, there was access to water which they sprayed to put out any fires still burning after the original lighting. All leftover casings were pushed together and stamped out on the side of the roads to inhibit any late firing. The volunteers also pushed back crowds to make larger circles to limit possible injuries.
I have come a long way since being that young girl not allowed to touch sparklers.
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