Yanshui Military Temple (Yanshui Beehive Rockets Festival)

Yanshuei Beehive Rockets Festival

The Lantern Festival in Taiwan is characterized by sky lanterns in the north and beehive firecrackers in the south. Customarily, it is believed that bad luck would go away after one is bombed with beehive firecrackers. Hence the Yanshui Beehive Firecracker attracts tens of thousands of enthusiastic participants. Even foreign media and visitors are attracted to the event. People in Yenshui feel most proud on the 14th and 15th days of the first month on the Lunar Calendar because these are the days to play beehive firecrackers. Wherever the god's sedan chairs go, town residents light firecrackers, and beehives of fireworks and sparklers of all kinds shot up through the sky with loud thundering sounds, producing beautiful misty smokes and lighting up the night sky in a magnificent festive fashion. The streets of the entire town of Yenshui are so densely covered with scarps of firecracker paper that the surface of the asphalt road is hardly seen. Visitors from every corner of Taiwan and abroad are eager to see for themselves the thrilling and exciting scenery on the evening of the Lantern Festival.

Yenshui Military Temple

The temple is also named Guandi Temple and was first established in Ming Dynasty's Yongli reign period. In the fourth year of Qing Dynasty's Jiaching reign period (1799), Lin Wun-jun of Changhua County's Lugang Township came to Tainan (which was then the capital town of Taiwan) for a legal case. When he was released, he felt greatly thankful for the blessings of Lord Guandi (Guan Gong, or God of War) and provided capital to refurbish the temple, laying the foundation for the temple's grand scale today.

The custom of lighting beehive firecrackers is said to be linked with the military temple. Legend has it that a plague once occurred in the Yenshui area during Qing Dynasty's Guangshu reign period and the staggering number of people dying every day caused great panic among the residents. Not knowing what to do with the disease, they had no alternative but to ask gods and Buddha for a solution. Lord Guandi had always been very efficacious in the local area, so they prayed to him for safety. Lord Guandi answered to their plea just as expected. He ordered the residents to carry sedan chairs on the evening of the Lantern Festival and light firecrackers along the way through every street and lane along the borders of the Yenshui area until dawn. After the night of the Lantern Festival, the Yenshui area became safe and the local people decided to make the firecracker parade an annual custom to remember with gratitude the blessings from Lord Guandi. The custom continued to develop and became the current beehive event on the 14th and 15th days of the first month in the Lunar Calendar every year. Today, the event is hosted by the military temple and considered an annual grand occasion of folk arts in the Yenshui area, leaving glorious records on the history of the region.

For the past 100 years, the local residents have had the belief that the more firecrackers one is bombed with, the luckier he or she is in the coming new year. So remember to wear a helmet, mask, and transparent eye pads. Raincoats and plastic boots also come as part of the standard garments for the event. Arrive at the Yenshui military temple well ahead of time, and be ready to enjoy this one-of-a-kind beehive carnival.