Puppets at Ilan

I asked 4 people to tell me about these puppets and I never did get an answer that brought me beyond confusion. As you will see in the photos below the puppets/marionettes, there are actors who dress up in costumes resembling the puppets and stage plays to tell stories of the characters. I would tell the local people about what I saw at Ilan, describe the puppets and the performance and even show photographs. The locals simply nodded their heads and said, "Yes, that's right." I would ask for a "name" or "label" for what I had seen and a look of confusion would come over their faces. They did not understand what I was asking beyond what I already knew. "It's Japanese, right?" I would say. And their response would be, "No. It's just a tradition in Taiwan. Puppets. Like Taiwanese opera. A tale. I don't know the name of this one. Very popular in Taiwan." So I have no information for you. I will keep asking. The shop where these were displayed kept each of the puppets under glass....hence the glare of sunlight off the glass in the photos. While I watched and took photos of these, many Taiwanese came and looked at the puppets. A few also photographed them. What you see here is only an example of the puppets on display. There were many others but the space here is limited and I am not sure how interesting you will find them. I was totally taken in by the beauty and craftsmanship of the puppets and their costumes. I wanted to know more. I wanted to see a puppet show with these puppets, but that was not to be. I wanted to know their stories... what were the tales to be told? My surprise came later in the day when I discovered a live performance by actors dressed in costumes A crowd had gathered and music was playing. Because I arrived at the performance "late" I was unable to get a spot close enough to the performers to see them well or to photograph them without distractions. Hopefully, you will get the general idea of what the performance was like. As you might imagine, even watching the characters acting out the stories, I still walked away without a good idea of what tale was being told beyond the basics. The narration was not given in English. Most likely it was told in Taiwanese. As I have mentioned before, for the first time in my life I understand a little of what it must be like to be illiterate. Additionally, I can't even understand the common language of the country where I am living. I can't read directions on packages at the "grocery" stores here. I can't read instructions for simple things like programming an electronic telephone or using a long distance phone card. I only guess at the windows on the Chinese software computers here and sometimes I guess wrong. I can't tell a taxi driver where I want to go or ask for directions. It took me weeks to get a straight answer on exactly what my address is for mail as even the translations varied from Taiwanese to Mandarin. Even still, communication can be made in most things and it is always a delight to me when I have been able to successfully negotiate a challenge.... such as purchasing the perfect seat at a dance performance of the Taipei Ballet when the ticket seller spoke no English and I spoke only several sentences of Chinese. I have since befriended a Chinese language teacher and we will meet on occasion trying to teach each other our native languages. I WILL learn this language.
UPDATE: Gloria Fung (an English teacher in Penghu) has emailed me and given me information about the performers in the images you see here. She believes these are "cosplay" (costume play, a Japanese term for costume play) as people dress up in costume portraying the characters from anime. Thank you Gloria!