South Chinese Festival: Boat Burning Festival 送王船

December 01, 2021

South Chinese Festival: Boat Burning Festival 送王船

Song Wang Chuan "送王船" (lit. "Ship Sendoff to the King" or simply "Boat Burning Festival in Anglophone countries) is a traditional folk festival once held in southern Fujian, Taiwan and other overseas Nanyang Chinese communities in the South China Sea. Usually in these ceremonies, which were held once very 3 years an ornate ship was burned as a votive offering on behalf of the community.

AN ANCIENT TRADITION

Boat burning festivals, created as a ritual to ward off disease, began during China’s Song Dynasty (960 to 1276) and became proliferated in the regions of southern China in coastal regions such as Fujian. These festivals have mostly died out in China but remained in part of southern Taiwanese communities- who were immigrants from Fujian in the century past. These massive ornate ships are built once every 3 years and then paraded before the whole town.

The festival begins with a beachside ceremony to invite the plague-protecting gods (known as Wang Yeh, or Royal Lords) back to Earth. During the festival, the boat is pulled around town to absorb the disease and misfortune of the local communities. The boat is then loaded with goods such as rice and money for its journey back to heaven and the temple guardians hold a final feast for the Royal Lords. Believers in Wang Yeh would write their hopes and fears on a private piece of paper that will be burned with the boat.

Sails and anchors would then be secured while Taoist priests perform rituals to summon Wang Yeh to board the ship. The boat is then set ablaze at dawn accompanied by fanfare and music.

Traditionally, the spectators would then scatter from the scene to allow Wang Yeh to board the ship, however, in the recent decades, thousands of spectators would choose to remain and watch the hypnotic sight of these ornate great ships consumed by flames.