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JULIAN F. PAS
usually built by the people of the local community by means of public subscription. Consequently, they are ruled by a locally selected committee headed by a chairman. Although on special occasions Taoist priests or Buddhist monks and nuns are invited to perform the appropriate rituals, still, these priests are outsiders and have no authority in running the temple affairs. They are paid for their services and once the rituals are over, they return home or to their own temple.16
A large number of (smaller) temples in the cities and in the countryside have their own mediums, used by the locally worshipped gods. Their function in the local community varies, but is often very significant for the well-being of the whole group or of individual families.
Each temple has its own yearly celebration (paipai) and occasionally a grandiose sequence of rituals: the chiao (rite of cosmic renewal). The latter takes place more often nowadays: some temples have it every 5 years. Many (usually smaller) temples organize yearly pilgrimages (chin-hsiang) to their mother-temple. Large temples, on the other hand, specialize in receiving these groups and have built accommodation facilities for their numerous pilgrims.
Besides these special temple rituals, people may go and visit the temple at will. Some days there are numerous visitors (1st and 15th day of the month); at other times, the noise of falling divination blocks is only rarely heard in the shrine. The worship performed by individuals is standardized and appears as a purely ritualistic performance. Not often one sees people kneeling down and concentrated in mental prayer.
Temple visits very often include consultations of the temple oracles or a person-to-person interview with a divination specialist having a small desk on the temple premises.
Although the rise of an industrial society has greatly influenced all aspects of life in Taiwan, religious life in the countryside and in many urban centers still involves the whole local population. However, in many city temples, temple activities continue to flourish, but the people involved in worship are not necessarily living in the neighbourhood. The devotees of a Buddhist temple may be spread out in an even wider area: they visit the temples of their choice rather than the one that happens to be their own community temple.