Grappling with the Ghosts Festival 搶孤 is held on the last day of the Ghost Month holiday. It’s a unique festival that celebrates the end to the trepidatious holiday when the dead are said to be walking the earth. Why people need to climb greased poles to celebrate this day is beyond me, but it sure is cool!!!
Come on, you knew there would be fireworks.
Longshan Temple 龍山寺 (aka Lungshan and Mengjia 艋舺龍山寺) is the oldest and most well-known temple in all of Taiwan. What’s truly wonderful about it, is that despite being a major tourist destination, Longshan Temple retains it’s charm and genuineness by remaining a place of daily worship. The area around Longshan can be quite interesting as well, and features traditional markets, calligraphers, traditional medicine shops, fortune tellers, and a place called Snake Alley. All these reasons and more are why Longshan Temple is on my list of must see places in Taipei.
Throngs of Buddhists and Daoists pack Longshan Temple in Taipei on Chinese Lunar New Year 2007.
