將於嘉義市舉行的台灣燈會老虎主燈(見右圖)，造型張牙舞爪，有民俗研究者認為，傳統信仰中老虎嘴巴大開等於要吃人，國家級的元宵慶典竟不迴避禁忌，公然觸霉頭，令人匪夷所思。Taiwan Lantern Festival is going to be held soon in Chiayi City(picture on the right.) The centerpiece of the lantern show is designed as a tigar barring its teeth and waving its claws. A few folk culture researchers pointed out—traditionally, the image of a tiger opening its mouth indicates it is going to eat a human. It is unfathomable that a lantern festival of national level avoid the taboo and publicly displaying a bad luck sign.
12年前飛虎燈 被指空難禍首
The Flying Tiger Blamed as the Cause of Airplane Crashes 12 Years Ago
嘉義市政府強調，主燈「福臨寶島」的老虎是張口微笑；觀光局也強調，事先已考慮十二年前曾因虎燈的兇猛形象，導致各界民眾穿鑿附會，衍生諸多不吉利傳言，所以加上兩隻可愛小老虎，讓主燈老虎不要太兇；主燈設計人、雕塑家謝文博則解釋：「要老虎閉嘴，結果畫虎不成反類犬，看起來像隻狗！」
Chaiyi City government stressed that the facial expression of the tiger in the centerpiece of “Good Fortunes Descending on the Taiwan Island” is smile. The Tourism Bureau also said they did consider the ferocious look of the tiger lantern twelve years ago had made people rumor that it brought many misfortune incidents, so two cute baby tigers were added next to the centerpiece tiger to make it less ferocious looking. Sculpture Wen-bao Hsieh, the designer of the centerpiece lantern, explained “I tried to shut the tiger’s mouth up. But instead of loo
king like a tiger, it looked like a dog!”十二年前同樣是虎年，台灣燈會主燈採「飛虎」造型(見右圖)，那年二月先是發生兩百人死難的華航大園空難，後來空軍也有兩架軍機墜海。當時就有立委將連串災難怪罪「飛虎」，批評觀光局請來飛虎神卻沒有祭解，飛虎才會在空中飛來飛去「吃飛機」，觀光局還被迫找來道士驅邪，但三月時仍發生十三人罹難的國華空難，道士似乎也沒鎮住飛虎。
In the last tiger year twelve years ago, the centerpiece lantern in Taiwan Lantern Festival was designed as a “flying tiger”(picture on the right.) In February that year, two hundred people died in the airplane crash of China Airlines in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, then not long after the incident, two military aircrafts crashed into the sea as well. At that time, some legislators blamed the stings of calamities on the flying tiger lantern. Tourism Bureau was condemned for bringing in the god of flying tiger and not sending it away with proper rituals, so the flying tiger flied in the air to “eat the aircrafts up.” The Bureau was forced to find a Taoist priest to exorcise the evil spirit. Still, in March, thirteen people died in the airplane crash of Formosa Airlines. It seems even the Taoist priest didn’t manage to bring the flying tiger down.
傳統民俗禁忌 多露牙不開口
To Avoid this Folk Taboo Teeth are Exposed with Closed Mouth
民俗研究者廖大乙昨批評台灣燈會主燈張口的設計不當，他說，台中虎燈並沒有張口，顯見虎口禁忌深植人心，嘉義市府卻毫不避諱，國家燈會未登場就先「破格」（台語，有觸霉頭、烏鴉嘴之意）。另外，廖大乙還發現，張牙的老虎主燈造型，正面看類似普渡公，把上元節搞得像中元節，成何體統？
Folk taboo researcher, Da-yi Liao, criticized that the mouth gaping design was improper. He said the mouth of the tiger lantern displayed in Taichung was closed, which showed that the taboo of gaping tiger mouth was still firmly rooted in the public’s mind, but Chaiyi City government ignored this taboo, making the concern of bad curse loomed over the national event even before its opening. Da-yi Liao also found out the mouth-gaping tiger looked like Pu-du God(Taoist Ghost God.) “How could they make Lantern Festival into Ghost Festival?” Liao lamented.
做了近廿年道長的台南縣歸仁鄉民周忠信指出，傳統禁忌是虎張口會傷人，廟宇中的虎爺也沒見過開口造型，頂多露牙而已。
The villager in Guei-ren Village (Tainan County), Jung-hsin Jhou, has been a Taoist priest for twenty years. He explained that the folk taboo thought gaping mouth tiger would hurt humans so all the tiger gods worshiped in temples were only exposing their teeth but never mouth-gaped.
去年也設計牛年主燈的謝文博指出，觀光局一再交代老虎千萬不能做得太兇，但是老虎燈難度超高，既要有活力、又要威而不兇，所以包括嘴巴要不要開、牙齒要露多大等，都要一再討論，試過十多次各種造型後，最後決定露出上下四顆短小、非尖長的虎牙，加上微張嘴的微笑。不過由小模型擴大為十九．三公尺高的主燈，放大後難免會覺得更威猛了些。
Hesigh, who was also the designer of the bull lantern last year, said “Tourism Bureau kept emphasizing the tiger must look least ferocious, which made it very difficult to design. Because it has to look lively and majesty but not menacing, many details were gone over several times, such as if the mouth should be opened and how many teeth should be shown. After more than ten different models were designed, they finally decided that the tiger would smile with its mouth slightly open and exposed four tiger teeth, made short and blunt. However, after the small model was enlarged to the 19.3 meter tall centerpiece lantern, the lantern is inevitable to look more powerful and menacing.
設計者：老虎閉嘴像隻狗
Mouth-shut Tiger Looked Like a Dog, Said the Designer
謝文博原本也曾打造一隻閉嘴老虎，但因燈皮為單色，而是靠燈光打上虎斑，怎麼看都像一隻狗，大家看了都搖頭。
Actually, Hsieh built a mouth-shut tiger model once. But because the lantern wrap was single-colored (tiger stripes will be projected on the wrap during the show,) the tiger looked just like a dog. Every one shook their head when they saw the model.
主燈承攬團隊總監李啟斌也強調，如果老虎閉嘴，打燈後會在臉上形成陰影，唯有老虎嘴巴微張，才能打出燈光像鑽石的亮點。
The executive producer of the centerpiece design team also pointed out “if the tiger’s mouth were shut, the light projected on it would form a shadow on the face. The effect of diamond-bright light spots can only be achieved when the tiger’s mouth is slightly open.”
另外，台北市台北燈節的主燈亦有爭議，主燈福氣虎左手的擺法被質疑彷彿是比中指罵人，台北市民政局強調設計的是豎大拇指，民眾既有疑慮便緊急調整手指，但昨天提前賞燈的民眾認為，由正面看得出是豎大拇指，側面看仍像在比中指。
Besides the mouth-gaping tiger, the centerpiece in Taipei Lantern Festival also stirred up controversy. The way the left hand of the Lucky Tiger, the centerpiece lantern, was posed was questioned that it seemed to be showing its middle finger. The Taipei City Government’s Department of Civil Affairs clarified that the tiger in fact was showing its thumb. The Department adjusted the finger’s angle immediately after learning the public’s criticism. But, people who went to admire the lantern before the festival thought although it looked like showing its thumb in the front angle, it still looked like showing its middle finger from the side.
譯自自由時報2010/02/24報導
Translated from the news reported by Liberty Time on February 24, 2010
上方照片引用自由時報導照片
下方照片引用聯合報報導照片