Hakka Rituals - Film: The Fire in the Hall (廳下火)

Instructor: Director Cheng Hui-ling (鄭慧玲)
Film screened: The Fire in the Hall (廳下火)
This documentary uses the light of the fire in the hall at night to extend, allowing unmarried aunts who passed away early and, according to custom, cannot return home, to return to the embrace of their original family. "Ting-hsia" (廳下) refers to the sacred space where Hakka clans worship ancestral tablets, and "huo" (火) means fire or light. Lighting the "Ting-hsia Huo" is a fixed routine task in the evening: besides burning incense to worship ancestors, members of the household light the fire in the hall. Regardless of whether there are ancestral tablets placed in the hall, or whether the house is uninhabited or has become an unused space, the light of the hall fire illuminates the courtyard and threshing ground all night.
The main theme of the film "The Fire in the Hall" explores gender equality issues in contemporary Hakka ritual ceremonies. It starts with records of setting up a "Gupo" (姑婆, unmarried aunt) tablet or entering the ancestral tower among Hakka groups in northern Taiwan, and takes women as the main subjects to understand the phenomenon of allowing the establishment of Gupo tablets and their entry into the ancestral tower from the perspectives of unmarried daughters, Hakka daughters-in-law from other provinces, and new-generation Hakka daughters. It attempts to break away from the traditional patriarchal viewpoint of "traditional male hierarchy," allowing diverse perspectives from Hakka daughters, Hakka daughters-in-law, daughters-in-law of different ethnic groups, and descendants with different gender identities to diversify the gender equality issues in Hakka rituals, understanding the gender issues of clan rituals from different angles.