On what I walk to see...

"Objects do not have any intrinsic meaning- that meaning is conferred on them by us- and that different people, and the same person at different times, may confer different meanings on the same object." (Hammersley, 1989, p. 135)

Friday, March 29, 2013

Taipei Wunchang temple 台北市文昌宮

I have walked past the 文昌宮文物特展 (Wunchang temple special exhibition) at 中山公民會館 many a time and finally decided to pay it a visit the other day.

In Taoist religion, 文昌君 is the God of culture and literature, and is believed to be the guardian of test takers.  Students taking major exams often worship 文昌君 to ask for blessings.  In my younger years, my parents used to take us to worship 文昌君 before entrance exams or on the first day of the Chinese new years (of course, before my mom became christian).

台北市文昌宮 (Taipei Wunchang temple) is a temple hosting four deities in association, if not in charge, of the departments of achievements, fame, and wealth.  They are the 文昌帝君(Wenchang Dijun)大魁夫子 (Great Master Kui)朱衣神君(Zhu yi Shenjun)關聖帝君(Guan sheng Dijun). Since I am working hard on my Ratology book, it seems very appropriate for me to go and pay them a visit... praying that I can get the book finished up with both my body and head in one piece.  8-X



Ended up, because 文昌帝君(Wenchang Dijun)'s birthday fell on the third day of the second month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar, during the special exhibition, which is between March 11th and March 31st, people who collected all six stamps on this pink sheet can go to the office of the temple to claim the "Wunchang Pen."

All stamps collected on this pink sheet... as a souvenir for myself.
The Wunchang pen (文昌筆) I have been using to work on the book.
3/21/2013

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