Searching for Love under The Moon

It costs us 80NTD to get there from Taipei Station by cab. The name is 霞海城隍廟 (pinyin: Xiá hǎi chénghuángmiào) or translated into:  Xiahai City God Temple. The temple is small, yet it is crowded.  The crowd was endless, the pot was full with incenses, the temple was flooded with candies, cakes and flowers.

霞海城隍廟

The guardian of temple is 月下老人 = Yuè xià lǎorén - The Old Man Under The Moon (abb. Yue Lao)  – a Chinese god, who is responsible for matchmaking. Yes, those people who came here have one purpose in mind, to find their significant others.

As the temple received a lot of foreign visitor (last week when I was there, a troop of Japanese girls was there too), the temple staffs are responsible to teach newbies for the proper worshipping procedures. They are super friendly, they’ll teach you step by step patiently.

For FIRST timer:
- Get some gold-paper-money and incense, you can buy it on the spot for NTD50. You also need to buy some red-thread, and material for Blessed Tea material: sugar+red dates. Also available on the spot for NTD250. (please pay it yourself, do not lend money from others… or your love may goes to your friend. Hahaha)
- Go to the frontyard, pray to Ti-Kong / Jade Emperor

Yue Lao Shrine

- Get back to the temple, pray to Yue Lao. You need to tell him your name, birthday, and address. And then tell him the expected criteria of your future spouse. Be detailed, be VERY VERY DETAILED.
Don’t forget to promise Yue Lao, that if you have find your love, you’ll come back to personally thank him and bring him some “Happiness Cookies” as a token of thanks.

More shrines at the back

- After Yue Lao, continue your prayers to other gods in the temple. You won’t be lost, they put numbers on the shrine. Just follow the numbers, k?

- After praying to all gods, get back to the front yard and place your incenses in the big burning pot. For the gold-paper-money, you can just leave it on the table in front of the temple, they’ll help you to burn it.

pouch for red thread for sale

- The staff then will give your red-thread and place it in a special pouch (you get it for free – special for foreign visitor). You need to “add power” by circling the red-thread into the smoke from the front yard incense pot. Do it clockwise. Make a wish! Now place the red-thread pouch in your pocket or bag. Remember to carry it with you always, love can be found anywhere, you know!

- The staff will also give you some “Happiness Cookies” ie. candy, cake, or biscuits. – which was offered by successful couples as a thank you to Yue Lao. By eating those, may you get infected by their love-success.

Blessed Tea for Sweet Life

- And at last, the staff will offer you “Blessed Tea” (remember you bought some ingredient for tea? – this is the result). By drinking the tea, may your life will be sweet and peaceful. The tea is hot, but please do not blow your tea. As the action may also blow away your chance to find love

- Voila, done!!!

For SECOND timer, you can omit buying the tea-ingredients and the red-thread. After all the above procedures, all you need to do is to “add power” to your previously owned pouch. And you can take more "Happiness Cookie" and drink some Blessed Tea too :)  

What a lovely afternoon tea...

I visited the temple earlier this year. If you asked me, does it work? I have to admit that, IT DOES. It works, exactly like what I requested to Yue Lao. The problem is, my request wasn't detailed enough.

As for this second visit, I couldn’t bring myself to ask for a new love candidate. The one that he got me before was perfect, but ... (sorry, I can't tell you)

So, this time, I wasn’t really “panicky” to go to the temple. My friends were. Hahaha.

Btw, according to the temple staff, they received about 20something packages of "Happiness Cookies" DAILY. That means there are more than 7000 marriages a year!!! OMG, Yue Lao is so busy!!! Yue Lao, please pay more attention to me. >.<~

NOTE:
When I took these pictures, I overheard 2 boys who were sitting in front of the temple saying “Look at them, praying so seriously, why can’t they just open their eyes and pay more attention? Can’t they see that there are choices, right in front of their eyes”

I laughed, those boys were right. We prayed so hard asking for prince charming to sweep our feet away, but in fact, the perfect guy is right here, right in front of our eyes. Yet we choose to ignore them.
Pathetic, isn't it?
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Who is Yue Lao?
Here is the legend behind it (Believe it or not, I heard this story from mom long time ago when I was a little kid)

Yue Lao’s legend dates back to the Tang-Dynasty story “The Marriage Tavern.” A scholar named Wei Gu meets an old man in a tavern. Watching him thumb through a barely legible text by moonlight, Wei realizes he’s the netherworld official who binds together couples listed in the registry of those predestined to marry.

When the curious Wei asks who he is destined to marry, the old man replies that he will marry the three-year-old daughter of a blind vegetable seller in the market. Upset by the news, Wei orders a servant to kill the little girl. She survives the attempt, but scarred and is adopted by a provincial governor, who marries her to Wei Gu some 14 years later. After his marriage, Wei discovers that the flower petals his wife sticks to her forehead hide a scar from a knife wound received as a child, and realizes that Yue Lao’s prophecy was accurate.