Taitung Tianhou Temple

Each Lantern Festival, the streets of Taitung stage an astonishing scene: a bare-chested strongman stands atop a palanquin and lets the crowd hurl strings of firecrackers straight at his body — this is 'Bombing Master Handan,' a folk spectacle spoken of in the same breath as 'the sky lanterns of the north and the beehive fireworks of the south.' Its stage is the Taitung Tianhou Temple, the oldest Mazu temple in Taitung, dedicated to Mazu (the Empress of Heaven), and the only official Qing-dynasty temple in all of eastern Taiwan. The temple keeps many precious plaques and relics, and its Lantern Festival 'procession of the gods' and Bombing of Handan draw tens of thousands each year, setting the faith of the 'back mountain' region ablaze.