Taipei, July 15 (CNA) The Meinong Yellow Butterfly Festival was held Saturday in Kaohsiung and saw participants take part in a ritual to reaffirm their commitment to protecting nature and take part in activities to celebrate Hakka culture.
The festival was started in 1995 initially as an event to oppose the construction of the Meinong Reservoir due to environmental concerns, Chang Hui-chun (張卉君), the festival's organizer, told CNA.
Following strong protests by Meinong residents and environmentalists, lawmakers in 1999 resolved to withdraw funding for the project. In 2000, then-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) pledged that under no circumstances would his administration resume the plan to build the reservoir, and the project has since been shelved.
The festival, meanwhile, continued to be held in the Yellow Butterfly Valley near the Shuangxi Tropical Arboretum, but now had a new purpose -- for participants to reaffirm their resolve to protect the wildlife habitat that has become known for the thousands of common emigrant butterflies (Catopsilia pomona) that migrate to the valley every year as spring transitions into summer, Chang said.
Although the yellow butterflies have become an image with which people have come to associate the festival, they actually represent the abundant fauna in the area and serve as a reminder that the biodiversity there should be maintained, she explained.
The theme of this year's festival is "return" -- which symbolizes being in peace with, thus returning to, one's true self; returning to and harmonizing with one's communities; and returning to, thereby being in tune with, nature and the universe, Chang said.
The festival started with the summoning of "Twin Peak bag 'gung' (the Hakka term for "Earth God")" and "Yellow Butterfly bag 'gung,'" who governs either side of the Shuangxi river that runs through an area near the Yellow Butterfly Valley, and vowing before the deities to protect local ecology, she said.
Participants then offered incense to the heavens and earth during a ritual and recite a Hakka poem by author Chung Tieh-min (鍾鐵民), an opponent of the reservoir, as a prayer for the yellow butterflies to return to the area every year, Chang said.
The festival included a "Forest Concert" during which Hakka musicians Huang Wei-jie (黃瑋傑) and Submontane Band, Misa (溫尹嫦), and Chen Chun-ming (陳俊名) gave performances, she said.
Because the festival is a highlight for the local communities, each year some local entrepreneurs would subsidize the event, and local youths working or studying in other cities would return to their hometown to help organize the event, which in turn fostered a strong sense of community, she added.
The event, now in its 24th year, typically attracts between 2,000 and 3,000 participants, she said.
