Zhongyuan Purdue is one of the largest folk ceremonies in Taiwan, and an annual festival that embodies cultural significance and local characteristics. Its origin may be traced to the ancient practice of “paying respect to the gods and ghosts”. The Buddhist Yulanpen Festival and Taoist Zhongyuan and Earth Official Day of Absolution of Sins have been integrated with folk activities, transforming into a heritage that has permeated the Chinese immigrant societies, which is preserved most comprehensively in Taiwan. In the lunar calendar, the month-long celebration starts with the gates of hell opening on July 1st to gate-closing at the end of July, with Zhongyuan Festival in mid-month being the grandest in scale.

 

The display of food offerings for the gods and ghosts during Zhongyuan Purdue is practiced all across Taiwan. Every household would conduct a family ritual to pay respect to ancestors, and celebrate Zhongyuan by making offerings to wandering ghosts or the Guardian of the House. Or, each clan may set up offerings at their own ancestral halls. The family or clan ceremonies are considered “private Purdues”. A public Purdue would include rituals held at the squares in front of various large or small temples at each village. There are also many other varieties, such as the “street Purdue” held in tents and altars set up by shops along the road, “market Purdue” set up in large markets, “canal Purdue” set up at the beginning of each irrigation canal, or the arrangement of offering tables in a row by institutions, schools, companies,and social communities.

 

In an ideological system with rituals that integrate traditional witchcraft and beliefs in Taoism as well as Buddhism, Zhongyuan Purdue extends invitations to heavenly gods and buddhas, and earthly or water-realm ghosts and spirits through the rituals of "hanging lanterns vertically on bamboo sticks", and "releasing water lanterns".After the spiritual beings are summoned to the altar, religious rites are conductedfor transcendence, including chanting of sutra to resolve any grievances. Other offerings are made to resolve conflicts and honor the righteous, to be tolerant of all things in the principle of compassion and unconditional love, wishing for the deceased to transcend suffering and enter the realm of joy - that is the cosmology and philosophy of Zhongyuan Purdue in Taiwan.

 

The Zhongyuan Purdue ritual and intended audience often vary depending on the historical occurrences at each locale. The target population may include various lost and wandering ghosts, victims of fights, the righteous who helped to suppress unrest, and people who died in wars, etc. Rituals with unique characteristics include the release of water lantern in Yilan, pole-climbing competition in Toucheng Township, Tucheng Great Tomb Zhongyuan ritual festival, Minxiong Township Dashiye Temple ritual, Zhuqian City Zhongyuan City God ritual, Ping’an City public Purdue ritual at the City God Temple, Zhongyuan ritual held at Gangkou Temple organized in turn by eleven settlements, Tainan Anping District Lingji Temple wandering spirit tent ritual, Mengjia Longshan Temple Zhongyuan Yulanpen Festival, Purdue Lantern, and Hengchun Township Pole Climbing and Flag Snatching Competition. The events that have been registered as important folk customs are “Keelung Zhongyuan Ritual”, and “Baozhong Pavilion Yimin Festival”.