 Songjiang
Battle Array.
Bamboo sticks, guandaos, shields, tridents, these
are weapons used in Songjiang Battle Array, a form
of Chinese martial art and also a cultural performance.
Dinh and I are in Neimen, Kaohsiung, where the concentration
of Songjiang clubs is the highest in Taiwan. We��re
watching Shennong Temple��s Songjiang club practicing
for the annual Neimen Songjiang Battle Array Festival
that takes place March 8th through March 19th this
year. One important part of the Songjiang culture
is performing for the gods. Incense is kept burning
at all times in hopes of keeping its practitioners
safe from injury. I��m pretty sure Dinh and I are going
to need more than incense. A miracle might almost
be enough.
The origin of Songjiang Battle Array, there are lots
of sayings, one of them is that during the Qing Dynasty
when people traveled here from China, they didn��t
get along with the indigenous people, so fighting
often broke out. In order to protect the people that
lived here, they had to train themselves on how to
use these weapons.
I��m a peaceful guy, but it��s interesting to try it.
The other thing Neimen��s famous for is its banquet
chefs.
Parties here are thrown without sending invitations
- family, friends and neighbors are just expected
to invite themselves, and the number of guests that
show up is usually in the hundreds. For example this
wedding banquet is a party of 66 tables, hosting 660
people. At 12 dishes per table, the amount of food
that must be prepared is incredible.
We have a large truck and a van. The van to drives
the workers, the truck brings the food. Then we have
another large truck for the dining ware, tables and
chairs.
Even more amazing is that all the cooking and serving
for the party is done by less than 30 people.
Everyone has a job. I��m the head chef, there are people
on the cutting boards, people sculpting, people washing
the vegetables and people delivering food to the guests.
Because we live in the city, we almost never get to
see these banquets held on the side of a road, so
this has been really cool for us, and seeing how only
twenty-some people manage the entire circus, that
is just mind-blowing. Come to Neimen if you get a
chance, especially during the Songjiang Battle Array
festival.
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