Human Sacrifice

Taitung has a unique cultural event. It is a purifying festival. Used to be that it was a way at getting back at criminals. Nowadays, it's a paid 'volunteer' position. Still, it tends to be tatooed gangsters, they say.

So, this fellow - has to be a man, is dressed in a red loin-wrap, and hoisted amid much celebration upon a shoulder-chair. Then it starts.

POW! PA! POW! PA! POW! PA! POW! PA! POW! PA! POW! PA!

Hundreds of packets of firewords are flung at the guy, who just has a little palm frond to protect his face. When he has been paraded around the circle for five minutes, enduring countless tiny burns, he comes down, and it is the next guy's turn.

I'm being glib, but truly watching this was a horror. It felt very much like we were participating in -- what, a mass stoning? Throwing Christians to the lions in Rome? It was an ancient, mass hysteria ritual that was humiliating to be a part of. True, the guy wasn't hurt more than a few burns, but the whole idea of making a spectacle out of fireworking someone is stomach churning.