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Apr. 14, 2005 The Dajia Mazu festival in Taiwan gives an American a chance to meet the famous Patrolman, reports ET TODAY reporter Wu Chia-hsuan, also known as Claire Wu. "the Mazu patrolman ", with his unusual clothing, often attracts many people's attention in Taiwan, but this year a foreigner drove his motorscooter to Hsingkang to look for the ''Bo Bay Ya'' man. he began studying the Bo Bay Ya as a cultural artifact of Taiwan three years ago and this year he came to Hsingkang on Tuesday with a newspaper clipping of a photo of the Patrolman, and asked everyone he saw "Where is the Patrolman today? Have you seen him? I want to find him. Can you tell me where I can find him?" Finally, he found the Patrolman and came face to face with the Bo Bay Ya man. "Long time no see" said he. "hello! " he is a tourist and he wears a black French cap and a colorful, green and purple, nightmarket T-shirt. Speaking in a creole accent of strange Taiwanese words, he can communicate with the patrolman this way. But mostly the Boston man speaks English and the Patrolman from Taiwan speaks only Taiwanese. So how do they communicate? For the American , the uniform of the Patrolman is very intersting. He says that the outfit is interesting because the Patrolman wears only one sandal, and his left pant leg is rolled up above the knee!' I am curious, says he , why does the patrolman dress this way, I feel this is a very special part of Taiwanese culture and more people, foreigners and even Taiwan young people, should know about this. Using smiles and body language to communicate, he and Mr. Lee the Patrolman can talk to each other inside the Hsinkang temple. " what does the red string represent, the red string you give out to many people here ?" The patrolman says that "it is to encourage people to fall in love, find a boyfriend or girlfriend, and get married and live in happiness." The Patrolman says: "This is very interesting for me, too, because I don't get the chance to talk to many foreigners and if they all beleive in Jesus, how can they come to learn about Mazu? I am very surprised, but I am glad this USA man likes Mazu, too. Maybe he is not a Christian?" The American vagabond and the Mazu patrolman are happy when they meet in Hsingkang today. http://www.ettoday.com/2005/04/13/545-1777156.htm ------------ About the author: Dan Bloom is a global reporter based in Asia. His website is at www.taiwanho.com/people/dan Email: danbloom@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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