A new style of folk culture: temple fairs in miniature

Temple fairs are an important part of Taiwan's folk culture. There have been many innovations and changes over the years in Taiwan, but one of the quirkier ones involves making intricate models of temples and everything to do with temple culture. This model-making trend has a history of more than a decade. At the outset, makers produced models and researched everything by themselves. Then, with the development of the Internet, people began to exchange work through the online community. Befriending like-minded temple aficionados, they began to hold actual temple fairs - in miniature, of course.

The model makers pursuing this newfangled trend insist they do not have overly ambitious goals, simply to make a positive contribution to the culture they love. For example, by using models of temple fairs to teach children the correct concepts about temple culture and how to conduct temple rituals, they hope to raise awareness about temple culture and increase people’s competence in this field. Naturally, this will help reduce creating bad impressions about Taiwan’s temple culture.

以下為中文對照

民俗文化新樣態 模型廟會比手藝

廟會是台灣民俗活動重要的一個環節，有各式各樣的創新以及變革，其中有一項較特別的便是縮小版的廟會，大家簡稱模型廟會。模型廟會至今也有十來年的歷史，起初玩家都是獨自作模型，自己研究，而後隨網路的發達，大家也開始在社群上交流各自的作品，結交志同道合的朋友，甚至會舉辦現實世界的「模型大會香」。

對於創作廟會的模型，創作者沒有太過遠大的目標，只願能夠對自己喜歡的文化能有微小幫助，例如用模型廟會教導小孩關於廟會的正確觀念、廟會儀式的進行等，讓喜歡廟會的人提升自己的素養，自然而然就能減少外界對廟會不好的印象。