Taoism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Rituals === [[File:青羊宫法事.jpg|thumb|A Taoist ritual at the Gray Goat Temple (Qingyang Gong, 青羊宫) in [[Chengdu]], [[Sichuan]].]] [[File:02.20 總統出席「松山慈祐宮護國禳瘟清醮法會」 (49559117058).jpg|thumb|Taoist ritual specialists in a procession, Taiwan.]] Ancient [[Religion in China|Chinese religion]] made much use of [[sacrifice]]s to gods and ancestors, which could include slaughtered animals (such as pigs and ducks) or fruit. The Taoist [[List of Celestial Masters|Celestial Master]] [[Zhang Daoling]] rejected food and [[animal sacrifice]]s to the gods. Today, many [[Taoist temple]]s reject animal sacrifice.<ref>[[David "Race" Bannon]], "Chinese Medicine: From Temples to Taoism," T'ai Chi, Vol. 20, No. 3 (1996): 28–33.</ref> Sacrifices to the deities remains a key element of Taoist rituals however. There are various kinds of Taoist rituals, which may include presenting offerings, scripture reading, sacrifices, incantations, purification rites, confession, petitions and announcements to the gods, observing the ethical precepts, memorials, chanting, lectures, and communal feasts.{{sfnp|Wong|2011|p=145}}{{sfnp|Kohn|2008|p=143}} On particular holidays, such as the [[Qingming Festival|Qingming/Ching Ming festival]], street parades take place. These are lively affairs that involve firecrackers, the burning of [[hell money]], and flower-covered floats broadcasting traditional music. They also variously include [[lion dance]]s and [[dragon dance]]s, human-occupied puppets (often of the [[Heibai Wuchang|"Seventh Lord" and "Eighth Lord"]]), [[Kungfu|gongfu]], and [[palanquin]]s carrying images of deities. The various participants are not considered performers, but rather possessed by the gods and spirits in question.<ref>{{harvp|Schipper|1993|pp=28–29}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page