Detailed Introduction
The palanquin halts before the "beehive fort," a stick of incense touches the fuse, and in an instant tens of thousands of bottle rockets explode all at once, sparks flying in every direction like a whole hive of bees bursting out — and that is exactly where the name "beehive fireworks" (fengpao) comes from. The Yanshui Beehive Fireworks is a large folk event held every Lantern Festival (the 15th of the first lunar month) in Yanshui District, Tainan. Together with the Pingxi Sky Lanterns it forms the famous pairing "beehive fireworks in the south, sky lanterns in the north," and it is Taiwan's most thrilling and hair-raising folk celebration, hailed as one of the "world's three great folk festivals."
The Legend of Its Origin
The origins of the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks reach back to the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty. As the story goes, plague was ravaging the Yanshui area at the time, the dead and stricken beyond counting, and the residents were at a loss. Someone proposed inviting Guan Sheng Di Jun from the Martial Temple to process through the streets, setting off great quantities of firecrackers along the way to drive out the plague and its evil forces. The palanquin processed for three straight days, from the 13th of the first lunar month to the Lantern Festival night of the 15th, the fireworks never ceasing — and, as if by miracle, the plague gradually faded after the Lantern Festival. From then on the people of Yanshui have carried on the tradition every Lantern Festival, both to thank Guan Sheng Di Jun for delivering them from the plague and to pray for a safe and smooth year ahead.
Building the Fireworks Fort
At the heart of the event is the "beehive fort" (paocheng) — tens of thousands of bottle rockets (small rocket fireworks) tied to wooden or metal frames and arranged into a giant castle-shaped battery. Each fort stands about two to four meters tall, the large ones over six meters, holding anywhere from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of rockets. The forts are often lavishly decorated — some shaped as dragons and phoenixes, others inscribed with shop names and auspicious phrases. The rockets' fuses are strung together with incense sticks, so that once lit, thousands fire at once, sparks scattering like a swarming hive — hence the name "beehive fireworks." Dozens of forts may be set off in a single night, the blasts deafening and the spectacle overwhelming.
How the Night Unfolds
On the afternoon of the Lantern Festival, the palanquins of Guan Sheng Di Jun and the deities Zhou Cang and Guan Ping set out in turn from the Martial Temple. The procession, led by the baomazi, the head banner, and the divine-general troupes, threads through the old streets of Yanshui. Each time a palanquin arrives before a fort, the fort's owner first offers incense and lights candles, and once the palanquin is in position the fort is ignited — in an instant thousands of rockets fire together, sparks bursting everywhere, the whole street swallowed in smoke and flame. The accompanying "rocket-plowing" teams (fully armored devotees) charge straight into the heart of the fireworks, taking the beehive's baptism with their own bodies — for devotees firmly believe that the more rockets strike them, the more their fortune will flourish in the coming year. The event runs from dusk deep into the night, sometimes not ending until the early hours.
Protective Gear
To take part in the beehive fireworks, you must armor up thoroughly: heavy cotton clothing over the whole body (long sleeves and long trousers — avoid synthetics, which melt and cause burns), a full-face helmet (with goggles or a visor), a wet towel around the neck, thick gloves, and closed, covering shoes. Even fully geared up, getting hit by rockets is routine — but devotees welcome it gladly. "The fiercer, the more prosperous" is the singular spirit of faith behind the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks.
Preservation and Tourism
The Yanshui Beehive Fireworks was chosen in 2013 as one of the "Top 100 Religious Sceneries of Taiwan," and each year it draws hundreds of thousands of visitors from home and abroad to experience it. In recent years the local government has tightened safety controls — marking off restricted zones and deploying extra firefighters and medical staff — while pairing the event with cultural and historical tours of Yanshui's old streets, keeping this traditional folk custom just as thrilling but far safer.