Origin

The exquisiteness and the quantity of Luzhou Divine Generals are number one in Taiwan.  It is also one of the important cultural assets that have earned Luzhou the reputation of “The Divine Generals’ Place” and the “Hometown to Divine Generals”.  The development of the religious parade formations of Luzhou and the consensus of the locals originated from the World Expo held in the 10th year of the Showa Period.  The Divine Generals Gan-Hui and Wanli played by Lelele were exhibited at the expos; the Divine Generals Weitu and Qilan were invited to participate in the parade held on Taiwan Restoration Day.  Since their majestic poses were very much liked by the ex-President Jiang Zhong-Chen, they were publicly prized and given I.D. cards.  It is said that such honors were only given to these two Divine Generals.  These two events had a profound impact on the Divine General Industry in Luzhou for it made the locals realize that their Divine Generals are very precious and has certainly enhanced their recognition of the Divine General culture.  The Divine General culture is a cultural industry unique to Luzhou.  In order to promote this traditional culture, the local government organizes “Luzhou Divine Generals & Soup Noodle Festival “, using the Divine General culture as the main focus and adding historic sites, religious centers, art and cultural exhibitions and local delicacies of Luzhou to further enhance the locals’ recognition for Luzhou as well as their cultural cultivation.

Activities

The Grand Opening and Praying Performance of Divine Generals: On October 19th, the main activity is the grand opening and praying performance in the Sanmin Senior High School brought by 36 Divine Generals from various temples.

Art Performances and Fair: Well-known show-biz artists, performing groups from schools and communities are invited to bring audiences great shows.  There will also be stands exhibiting and selling traditional arts and DIY activities, such as coloring faces of divine generals, dough modeling, Chinese knots, straw plaiting.  Stands that sell agricultural products from various districts of New Taipei City are available in order to promote folklore culture as well as local agricultural products.

The Divine General Game & Soup Noodles Tasting: Soup noodles are the representative traditional delicacy of Luzhou. A special Divine General Game is designed to help people get to know its culture during the game.  Those who win the game stand a chance of winning a free bowl of delicious soup noodles.

The Divine General Culture Exhibition: Exhibitions and introduction to articles related to Divine Generals are arranged. Moreover, history experts are invited to participate in seminars to share the development stories related to Luzhou, legends of Luzhou’s Divine Generals as well as their relations with the staff of local temples.  Moreover, volunteers are available at the seminars to offer tour services.  Local schools are encouraged to organize field trips so that students in Luzhou can better understand their hometown’s traditional culture.

Explore and Experience Divine Generals: Cards of exploring divine generals are available at the scene and people may take the card to any temples that worship those divine generals to get to know them, as well as to keep a record of the name of the temple, its address, and the date and names of divine generals for each temple they visit.  Afterwards, they may exchange the card for a souvenir at the place where the main activity is held.  Also, local temples or art workers will be working with the local government to organize the “play divine generals” activity so that the public may get a taste of playing divine generals. 

Praying for blessing ceremonies held at local temples: The local temples such as Yonglian Temple, Baohe Temple are invited to give away good-luck charms and hold “crawling under the divine palanquin for blessings” activity.

The Divine General Parade:  The 19th day of the 9th Lunar Month is the Bodhisativa Avalokitesvara’s Renunciation Day and divine generals from temples and amateur music clubs in Luzhou will parade the streets on that day, offering people a great chance to see many divine generals at the same time.

Grabbing Ceremony and Baby’s Four-Month-Old Party held at the Li’s Old Residence in Luzhou: Grabbing is a tradition held to celebrate a baby’s first birthday as well as to predict what he/she will be doing when he/she grows up ; Baby’s Four-Month-Old party is an activity held when the baby is four months old.  Its purpose is to stop baby from drooling through a ritual.