"Each village has its own customs" is a very familiar adage among the Hakka. "Customs" refer to the folk customs. Cultural artifacts are key to understanding folk customs in terms of cultural heritage and in the abstract. Thus the Preservation Act explains folk customs and cultural artifacts as follows: "traditional customs, beliefs, holidays and related cultural artifacts with a specific cultural significance related to the life of the people." This is a definition that combines the abstract with concrete cultural artifacts.
Although folk customs are abstract, they manifest clearly and solidly in the experience of ordinary lives. Facing daily life, the natural and human cultural environment and human relations, the Hakka brought with them whole series of traditions from China for coping with the challenges of the environment and to help them adjust to local life.
The Hakka also brought with them a number of seasonal festivals. Some are celebrated widely in both Taiwan and mainland China, like the Spring Festival, nativity of the King of Heaven, the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, Ching Ming Festival (also known as Tomb Sweeping Day), Dragon Boat Festival, Seventh Eve (Chinese Valentine’s Day), Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Start of Winter Festival, Winter Solstice Festival, Wei-ya Festival and New Year's Eve. There are also many folk holidays with a rather specific focus. After Yuan-hsiao (the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, also known as the Lantern Festival), the Tian-chuan Festival (Sky Mending Festival) is held on the 20th day of the lunar calendar in northern Taiwan. On this day, sweet rice cakes ("year cakes," niangao) that were especially set aside during the New Year period are made into a very savory treat called "fried rice cakes." Sometimes the fried rice cake is very sticky and symbolizes the sticky material used in the legend to patch the "hole in the sky." There are also many folklorists who say this custom is connected to legend of the goddess Nüwawho filled the cracks in the sky she had created, but it is still to be determined whether Nüwais regularly worshiped in Hakka villages. The only place where sacrifices are made to Nüwais a Sky Mending Temple located in Zhuangwei, Yilan. In Hakka villages it is Tian-gong, the Ruler of Nature or King of Heaven, who receives the sacrifice of fried rice cakes on the 20th. Although the custom of the Sky Mending Festival awaits further study by academics and specialists, it is a day all Hakka must celebrate.
In addition to the Sky Mending Festival, the Hakka Tomb Sweeping Festival also has special characteristics. The Hakka call the Tomb Sweeping Festival the "Paper Hanging Festival." From the middle of the 1st lunar month all the way to Spring Festival, Hakka everywhere can be seen returning to their villages to "hang paper." The Miaoli area seems to make the 16th of the 1st lunar month the local Paper Hanging Festival day. In the Hsinchu area, Paper Hanging day occurs on the first Sunday of the second month of the lunar calendar. In Shihkang, Taichung, the Liu Yuan-lung clan selected the "spring equinox" as the day for paper hanging. Some speculate that the Hakka want to finish their tomb sweeping before the Spring Festival and choose a day that fits local farming needs so that farmers can return to their fields. The unique timing of paper hanging in various areas conforms to Hakka logic and presents an insight into local cultural resources.
There are a multitude of significant cultural artifacts related to temples and shrines, such as the various gods, idols, sacrificial space, items used in making sacrifices, temple artifacts, and temple records. The sacrificial space is used here as an example to explain the character of the Hakka. The Hakka ancestor tablet is carved with the names of family members according to the “chao-mu (generational order)” system, and is a depiction of the clan genealogy table on the tablet. The Hakka call the tablet the “a-kung po tablet” or “Great Tablet,” which is placed in the hall (or the clan temple, shrine). The Hakka have a saying, "The ancestors are in the hall, the gods are in the temple." The ancestors are safely ensconced in the ancestor hall and set up on the central axis, which is the most important position in the hall. (Some people may place spirits like Guanyin and others on the spirit table. Those who are particular about hierarchy may place Guanyin to the side but a little higher than the ancestor tablet to show respect but the primary position is still occupied by the ancestor tablet.) Another distinguishing characteristic of the sacrificial space is the Earth Dragon God beneath the spirit table. The Dragon God is located beneath the spirit table which itself is located on top of the central footing (axis) of the house in the hall, or main room. He is the god of the earth, and because his incense is placed there with him, the area is kept exceptionally clean, implying a consecrated space.
In Hakka spiritual ceremonies and folk beliefs, there are spirit births, temple meetings, zhentou (parade formation), customs, phoenix spirit writing, moral books and phoenix meetings. The phoenix hall movement (spirit-writing cult) gained momentum during the Japanese occupation period. Taiwanese gentry and the intelligentsia brought Confucianism over from Hakka areas in China to teach commoners using the “phoenix spirit writing” as a methodology. Some believe spirit writing functioned to prohibit drug use, opium smoking in particular, in the guise of local religion. Kuangshan Hall and Taichuan Hall in Meinong, as well as various halls in other locations, are a part of this folk belief. Phoenix books documented the phoenix hall movement. An example of a phoenix book is the Hsi Chia Hsin Po, discovered by Chen Yun-tung during in research for his book The Records of Hsi-hu Village. Hsi Chia Hsin Po was published by the Miaoli Cultural Affairs Bureau in 2005.
Religious ceremonies include the “zhai-jiao (fasting and offering),” “fa-hui (dharma assembly),” equipment and items association with religious assembly grounds. Religions include Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Christianity, Islam, and folk beliefs. Even in food and drink there are things to be noted: special processed foods, specialty cooked foods, snacks and festival food and drink.
In folk customs and related cultural artifacts, things that can be observed and recorded are perhaps the most popular topics for Hakka studies because folk custom exists as the most intimate part of daily life. However, it is often overlooked exactly because it is too close to daily life and is thus over-familiar. Perhaps more cultural resources of value can be uncovered when common aspects of daily life are viewed from a different perspective.