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Luigdui Hakka Cultural Park hosts summer events in Pingtung
- Source:客家文化發展中心
- Publication Date:2024/11/21
- Last updated:2024/11/21
- Count Views:58
To celebrate the upcoming summer vacation, the Liugdui Hakka Cultural Park held two events on June 22 and 23, with more than 100 participants joining in the activities.
On the first day, the park hosted a parent-child co-learning activity on the theme of fireflies for people to learn more about the life of these “fire bugs,” an appellation used in the Hakka language, as well as the environment of early Hakka settlements. The next day, visitors were invited back for a rice harvesting event. Planted four months ago in February, the crops at the park are now ripe and ready for harvest.
In addition to the visitors, the second day’s event was also attended by Director-General of the Taiwan Hakka Culture Development Center (THCDC) Ho Chin-liang (何金樑), Chief of Pingtung Distillery Tian Yi-min (田益民), and other distinguished guests.
Before reaping the rice, the participants followed Hakka traditions to pray together to Bogong (伯公), the god of land, and thank Bogong for a good harvest, highlighting the Hakka people’s respect and reverence for nature.
After the rice was harvested, the visitors processed the rice using traditional threshing and winnowing methods, through which, the park hopes, people will realize that every grain of rice comes from a farmer’s hard efforts. The park also displayed historical photographs of traditional farm implements in the Liugdui area, giving the younger participants a glimpse into the agricultural past in Hakka communities.
Director-General Ho noted that, as one of the THCDC’s partners in this event, the Pingtung Distillery will be making rice wine with the freshly harvested rice, adding that the wine will be used for traditional Hakka dishes in the upcoming autumn harvest festival.
The event concluded with the participants enjoying snacks after their hard work, reflecting the traditional Hakka practice of “Gaugong (交工)” in which neighbors help each other out and have meals together during harvest season.
The Liudui Hakka Cultural Park is set to host more Hakka-themed activities, including summer camps, camping nights, and the upcoming autumn harvest festival.
Boasting the biodiversity in its natural environment, the Liugdui Hakka Cultural Park annually holds farming and ecological activities for the general public. Through various events with different themes each year, the park offers an opportunity for kids and adults alike to experience Hakka culture.
