Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

On Teachers' Day, bright and early at 5 am,sacrificial rites are carried out in honor of the
ancestors of Confucius that symbolize his teachings
that chi ldren should always remember their roots and be filial in paying their respects to their
ancestors. Then, at 6 am, the formal“928 Confucius Ceremony”(928釋奠典禮) begins—“928”refers
to Sept. 28, Teachers' Day—following procedures that have been re-enacted for 2000 years at ruling
courts throughout the imperial era. Great pains have been taken to ensure the authenticity of such
formal rites as the formal drum and bell soundings,and that musical instruments used exactly as they
were in ancient times. The ceremonies entail 37
distinct elements, including (in the correct order)
three Drum Rolls, Opening the Gates, Burying the Sacrificial Remnants, Welcoming the Spirit, Presenting
the Sacrificial Feast, Offering Incense, Chanting the Blessing, Escorting the Spirit, Sending the Silk Spirit-
Money and Prayer Inscription, and so on. There is much sombre and gracious music and dancing by—
appropriately—young students specially trained—
recreating events precisely as if you had been transported back century after century. The effect
is both riveting and almost overpowering at times,and tourists and Confucian scholars in the thousands
come each year to bear witness to this rarest of ritual.You'll be awestruck by the deep reverence shown for
a single man, the great teacher of an entire people, and the age-old value placed on education still so
strongly in evidence in the 21st century.