Festival of the Patriotic Poet

The temple was once again alive with activity last Wednesday, this being the festival of the Patriotic Poet. The legend is about a patriotic guy who ended his own life by jumping into a river when he was unable to save the state where he lived from corruption. To prevent the fish from eating his body, the people threw little packets of glutinuous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves into the river for the fish to eat. That’s the gist of the legend, as told to me by one of the nuns.

These packets of glutinuous rice or dumplings as they are called are painstakingly done by Head Nun’s devotees and temple helpers every year. They start at the crack of dawn and finish by mid morning. I would have liked to join in the fun but getting up at that unearthly hour put me off!

I was also told that on this special day, and only this day, will an egg be able to stand upright on its end! I was eager to experiment but the nuns refused to give me any eggs. It would have been pretty messy, I expect, when I don’t know how it’s done.

When Ms.M. came to the temple later that morning, she gave us cats a small dumpling to sample. Unfortunately, I didn’t like it as the glutinuous rice stuck to my teeth and I don’t own a toothbrush. Ning didn’t like it either and just stared at it, as though it was dog food. Seeing this, one of the nuns got exasperated: “These dumplings are expensive, why on earth are you cats so silly? You don’t seem to know good food when you see it!”

We decided then that it was best to leave the scene of our “crime” and both Ning and I slipped away into the garden.

Incidentally, the dumpling was still there when we came back for dinner later that evening.