Spirits and demons are big business in Taiwan. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to me or any other American – after all, about 40% of Americans believe in ghosts, 34% believe in UFOs, and 68% believe in Angels. Not in the spiritual sense, either… they honestly believe they exist and interact in the world.
I was born, baptized, and confirmed Catholic, so this is not news to me, but I’ve also been educated and read enough to have a more firm basis of reality in science. Do I think ghosts and angels appear to people? No. In Taiwan, however, it’s very much the same, except it’s more prevalent and all around you… you can meet people everyday or see on tv how much people believe in this.
First of all, there is a “Ghost Month,” which is rooted in the Buddhist religion and is filled with offerings, incense, and so on. This is for families to honor, remember, and worship their ancestors, which I believe should be an important part of any family tradition.
But this post was inspired by what I saw on the news today during lunch – and it’s not the first time I’ve seen a report like this. Apparently, a very old woman went hiking with friends in the forest and became lost. She was found 5 days later and told the police – which is apparently in the official report – that she was abducted by a demon with fiery red hair who wanted her underwear. Now, that sounds ludicrous, but the Taiwanese news stations go to the trouble of actually making illustrations and recreating scenes of demons abducting people when they report this kind of thing – apparently for the benefit of those who also believe in demons. You can read the English version of this story here.
Miss Expatriate’s mother also firmly believes in ghosts and demons. This is partly because she was born and raised in the country in a very poor family and does not have a firm understanding of sciences – she is very religious and does indeed believe in ghosts and demons as part of her life. I also don’t mean to be disrespectful to her, as it’s her way of life, but I clearly recall Miss Expatriate and I watching a ghost program on tv and watching some blurry camera footage of a “visage” floating across the screen and disappearing – the sort of thing that would give some people chills and makes me wonder what sort of light effect it is. Miss Expatriate’s mom, I kid you not, watched and made a comment about how we need to take this sort of thing seriously because it’s real.
That’s innocent enough, but it also has some serious repercussions for Miss Expatriate’s little sister, who still lives with her parents. If her little sister goes on a school trip, she’s usually pretty excited to get out of the house and not have to study for a while. She’ll be excited and happy for a few days during her trip and doesn’t remember to drink enough water. When she comes home, she’s tired and slightly dehydrated – most normal people would understand this, as would most doctors, I hope. Miss Expatriates mom, however, honestly believes that it’s because she went on a trip and some evil demon took over her body, which only confirms her belief that there are evil demons in the world and makes her less likely to let Miss Expatriate’s little sister go on school trips and other fun stuff in the future.
Now, it may sound true to some people and ridiculous to other people. I’m trying to objective about this and to that end, I will say this: she does believe that demons have inhabited her daughter and made her feel not well when Miss Expatriate’s little sister is just dehydrated, but this is her viewpoint of the world and she only wants the best for her daughter – she wants her to be safe, like any mother would. It’s quite the same in most other countries, I would expect – as mentioned previously, many people in America believe in the same things and some believe that Jesus even incarnates himself in their morning toast.
Just another aspect of living in Taiwan.
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