Czech ‘priest for a day’ blesses worshipers at Changhua festival

Czech ‘priest for a day’ blesses worshipers at Changhua festival

2026-01-07

Temples big and small across Xihu Township in Changhua recently held a major religious festival. One man from the Czech Republic was authorized to participate in the "fire brush" ceremony to ward off misfortune and pray for other worshipers, who found it to be a novel experience.

There’s nothing quite like the Jianjiao sacrificial ceremony in Xihu. Priests in ceremonial robes use “fire brushes” to write prayers for peace in the air in front of worshipers thronging this busy temple.

One of the priests was from the Czech Republic, coming as a shock to the worshipers.

Worshiper
It’s novel, really special. You rarely see this in Taiwan. It’s something new.

He’s not an official priest, but his presence at the blessing ceremony was authorized and supervised by a formally ordained priest.

Huang Yi-chih
Priest
This priest is a student of mine from the Czech Republic. The opportunity came about because he’s a classmate of my son’s. He’s done this blessing before once or twice at my altar, so he has a basic proficiency and technical skill.

This Czech classmate of the priest’s son has a strong interest in Taiwanese religious culture, and happily seized the opportunity to participate in this religious rite. But everyone was curious: What language was he writing with the fire brush?

Huang Yi-chih
Priest
Since he believes that Chinese is still a weakness of his at the moment, he wrote “keep safety” in English to ward of disaster and misfortune.

Imbued with the rights and responsibilities of a priest for a day, this Czech priest blessed the temple’s worshipers with honest sincerity, confident that they could feel his heartfelt intentions.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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#temple #religiousfestival #Changhua #XihuTownship #priest #Taoism #Taoistpriest #firebrush #religiousrite #CzechRepublic #foreignersinTaiwan

吸睛! 彰化溪湖24年一度建醮大典捷克籍"一日法師"持火筆祈福

2026-01-07

彰化溪湖日前舉行建醮大典，全鎮大小宮廟一起盛大舉行，其中一位來自捷克的民眾，獲得法師的授權，也參與這次的火筆祈福消災儀式，替民眾祈福，信眾說覺得很新奇、特別。

溪湖建醮熱鬧非凡，宮廟擠滿人潮，法師們穿著法師袍，拿著火筆，在民眾身上比畫，祈求平安。

其中這位法師是來自捷克，讓民眾直呼新奇！

[[民眾]]
“很新奇，很特別，在台灣比較少看到，我覺得蠻新鮮的。”

其實他並不是正式法師，他會出現在祈福現場，是經過正式法師，指導授權。

[[法師黃義智]]
“這位法師他是捷克籍的一個我的學生，那他的因緣，是因為我的兒子跟他是同學。之前他也曾經在我的壇裡面，做了一兩次這個(祈福)動作，所以他有基本的一個能量，跟技術存在。”

法師兒子的捷克籍同學，對台灣宗教文化非常感興趣，抓緊來台灣的機會，參加宗教盛事。大家也好奇，捷克法師火筆寫的是什麼文字呢？

[[法師黃義智]]
"那因為中文的部分對他來講，目前還是一個弱項，所以他是用英文的方式，keep safety這兩個字，來達到所謂的消災解厄的一個功能。"

所謂心誠則靈，捷克籍一日法師虔誠替民眾祈福，相信當天在場接受儀式的民眾，都能感受到他的心意！

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