The Confucius Ceremony

September 28th is the birthday of Confucius who is considered to be the greatest teacher and philosopher in Chinese culture. This day has been designated by the government as Teachers' Day. The teachers at Taipei American School (TAS) were invited to attend the ceremony at the Taipei Confucius Temple. Michael went to the rehearsal the afternoon before and I attended the actual morning ceremony.

I arrived at 5:30am to a long line outside the temple. As the sun came up, we were invited inside to stand an watch the ceremony. There are only two times each year that the main doors to the temple are opened (although you can visit the temple at any time), during the rehearsal and during the actual ceremony.

The following picture is of one of the eight officers responsible for making sacrificial presentation to Confucius' disciples. He is seen here washing his hands before the sacrifice of the animals (slaughtered earlier).



The following picture is of the ceremonial attendants, consisting of school students who are musicians and dancers, and the deacons.



When I arrived back at TAS around 8am, there was a HUGE flower arrangement (about 10 feet tall) from the TAS PTA sent in honor of Teachers' Day. It is so beautiful but reminds me of a Vegas showgirl's headpiece!