Tainan ^39
My initial intention wasn’t to spend the day in Tainan. Still, the city turned out
surprisingly interesting, featuring plenty of great temples and shrines, and warranted
an additional day. Tainan was best explored on foot. First up was the Confucius
Temple which oozed calm, grace and beauty as any good Confucius Temple should.
Narrow lanes, providing traditional street food, led to the old city gate and
remarkable temples. A few revealed quite terrifying deities and others where people
still cast moon blocks to determine the best course of action. Now and again, I
stopped to enjoy a cup of Taiwanese tea, giggling at the pleasure of being there, and
then headed off to the next temple. Taiwan has different temples for different things.
At some, you asked for good luck, and at others prayed for children’s protection.
The many swastika symbols were intriguing. Hitler, sadly, gave the swastika symbol a
bad name. Nevertheless, I learned the symbol remains widely used in Indian
religions, specifically Hinduism and Buddhism. It’s understood the word “swastika”
came from the Sanskrit swastika - “su”, meaning good or auspicious, combined with
“asti”, meaning it is, along with the diminutive suffix “ka”. Swastika, therefore,
literally means: “It is good.” During World War I, it’s believed the swastika was found
on the shoulder patches of the American 45th Division.