The Taiwanese have a rather pragmatic approach to many things – including religion. Rather than deciding on one particular religion, they have taken a little bit of what they like from Budhism, Taoism and Chinese Folk Religion, and blended them into something they feel comfortable with.

And it’s a lot of fun. Can you say that about your religion of choice? .

Visiting one of their temples is like visiting a fortune teller and a casino all rolled into one. But it doesn’t cost you anything. What could be better. I am beginning to love it here!

There are temples everywhere, but none of them is for any particular religion. You can enter them and worship any God or spirit or ancestor you like, and you will find most of them depicted inside. Just take your pick. There are plenty of local gods to chose from. Or you can chose a spirit or ancestor. It’s all rather freeing, and certainly avoids the problems of religious zealots. There are never going to be religious wars in Taiwan.

The temples themselves are visually striking. They are full of drama and depictions of gods and goddesses

That is rather a small temple.

There are larger temples where where there is more room to make it more festive. All it takes is a few flowers and a few lanterns.

Or a lot!

Inside there is a long table in front of the gods.

This is where your religious experience begins.

On one side of the table you can see a container holding dozens of long sticks, called “fortune sticks”. Each stick has a number. On the other side is a bowl full of so called “moon blocks”:

You begin by picking two moon blocks. You rub them round the outside of the bowl several times, but it must be an uneven number of times. I have no idea why.

Then you stand behind the table and hold them out for the Gods to see, while introducing yourself. You tell the god of your choice your name, age, address and birthday. Apparently phone numbers are not needed. Personally I would rather hope my god would know who I am. It doesn’t seem quite right for him to be searching a rolodex for my information.

Next comes the difficult part.

You have come here specifically to ask your god a question. You now ask that question in a way that it can be answered with a simple yes or no.

And now comes the fun part.

You throw your two moon blocks on the floor. But be careful, there may well be dozens of other people doing just the same, so, although you want the moon blocks to hit the floor with some force, you don’t want them to get mixed up with other peoples moon blocks. The blocks hit the floor with a clacking noise, and when the temple is busy that is all you hear – a lot of clacking!

Next comes the nail biting part

The “Sacred answer” to your question is represented by how the moon blocks have fallen.

There is a flat side and a round side to the moon blocks. If they have landed with one flat side up and one round side down, then the deity has answered “YES”. Presumably this is a good thing. You are happy and can continue on to the next phase.

If the moon blocks have landed with two flat sides up, this is a “No”. You are presumably not happy.

But guess what. You can throw them again, this time asking “was that really the correct answer”

The presumably, you can keep on throwing the moon blocks until you get the answer you want. But I assume that is not really entering into the spirit (sorry about that) of the process

If the blocks land with two round sides facing up, that is called “laughing blocks”. The deity is laughing at you because your question is unclear, obvious or not serious.

Do you really want to be worshipping a god that laughs at you?

But don’t worry. You just throw the blocks again.

It sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon.

But wait, there is more.

Once you have the answer you want, you move on to those fortune sticks. You hold the container in your hands at a slight angle. You then gently and rhythmically shake the container until one stick slides or jumps out. It sounds vaguely erotic! The belief being, that this fortune stick has been carefully chosen for you by the deity.

Of course it has!

If you shake the container too hard more than one stick might come out which is not good. The stick has a number on it. You then match the number to a small paper found in a series of drawers. The paper has your fortune on it.

So you end up with something bearing a strong resemblence to what you find in a fortune cookie. But it has been chosen for you by God. So it must be true!

But ……if you don’t like your fortune, don’t worry.

You have guessed it.

You go back to the moon bricks and ask them if that really is your fortune.

Now that’s what I call pragmatism.

And a lot of fun

What other religion allows you to pass such an entertaining hour or two of devotion.

And you don’t even have to convert.

Just go in to the Temple nearest you!