Happy Teachers Day!!

教師節快樂!!!

The only thing I am doing for Teacher's Day is going out with a colleague for lunch to eat Korean food.   And, really, that is just because we want to . . . doesn't really have anything to do with the holiday.

But, I wanted to make sure I wished all the teachers out there . . . Happy Teacher's Day!!

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Here is a repost of what I wrote last year, explaining Teacher's Day:

Today is Teacher's Day in Taiwan.  And, like so many holidays in so
many cultures, Teacher's Day in Taiwan is a mix of both the religious
and secular.

To many Taiwanese, Teacher's Day is a day to show respect to their
teachers and to thank them for all their hard work (I like that). 

Nonetheless, as Wikipedia correctly points out, "This date was chosen to commemorate the birth of Confucius,
believed to be the model master educator in ancient China."  At the
crack of dawn in Confucian temples all over the island cermonies take
place in honor of Confucius.  These 祭孔大典 (or "Grand Ceremonies
Dedicated to Confucius") start with the beating of drums. "54 musicians
dress in robes with blue belts, 36 (or 64) dancers
dress in yellow with green belts. They are led and followed by
cermonial officers. Three animals--the cow, the goat, and the pig--are
sacrificed. The hair plucked from these sacrificed animals are
called the Hairs of Wisdom."

So, now you know some students simply give their teachers cards
which say "Happy Teacher's Day," but others go to temples and make
sacrifices to a dead man.

(Pictures above come from this and this photoset on flickr.)