The Lo Lat Project

The Lo Lat Project is thousands of people photographing -- [and
sometimes photoshopping] -- and posting images of the Taiwanese Hoklo
term LO LAT spelled out in big letters in various landscapes or photo images that they make in their home countries.

It's a feel good kind
of thing. LO LAT means "thank you very much" and is a term that is
over 300 years old from Taiwan and it's really means something like
"thank you very much sincerely from the bottom of my heart". But the
term today is hardly used in modern Taiwan, it is deemed to be too
old-fashioned for most people
under the age of 40 now, but it is the hope of the LO LAT Project to
show Taiwanese people young and old that the LO LAT term still has a
power
and fascinattion the world over.

So send in your LO LAT photos wherever you are.

And LO LAT to you!

ABOUT THE LO LAT PROJECT: It is non-profit and for fun. It is to share
the spirit of Taiwan's Hoklo languag with people around the world.
We welcome your participation wherever you live and whatver language you speak. Use your imagination to set your own version of LO LAT spelled out in English letters in any setting you can think of and with any background you want and with any animals or pets or landscapes you dream of.

LO LAT!

LO LAT DOG - Photos by Timothy Chen

When Banyan Tree and Autumn Maple Tree Got Married

An old folk tale from Taiwan, translated by Ellen DeSouza



Before Banyan Tree and Autumn Maple Tree held a happy wedding party for all the trees and flowers and animals in the forest of Ludong, they had already been fused together -- like this! (double truck 2 pages artwork here) -- for over 90 years!

Long ago, or so Amah says, a little bird dropped two seeds in the forest one day and they began growing together as a double tree, a fused tree, entwined in each other's roots and branches. This happened in Ludong in Yilan County in 1920 during the Japanese colonial period. As you can imagine, this amazing tree has seen many summers and winters, vibrant springtimes and melancholy falling leaves of autumn!

Two trees, one miracle! Two trees, one wedding!
Two trees, and a party for all the animals and flowers
and insects of the forest!

The wedding invitations went out to all the denizens of the forest. The date was set for November 12. Here is what one invitation, to the butterfly families of Yilan, looked like:

Dear Butterflies of Ludong,

You are cordially invited to attend our wedding at the Gurgling Brook Bridge on Nomveber 12. Please wear your finest colors and be prepared for the best wedding party you ever attended.

Sincerely,

Mr and Mrs Banyan-Maple Tree

And what a wedding it was: deer and fox, squirrels and birds, butterflies and Formosa Landlocked salmon, Formosa Bear and even snails and slugs and sengaga! Horses and cows and pigs and goats! Butterlies of all the colors of the rainbow!

And under a clear blue sky with white clouds high above smiling down on the happy forest, Banyan Tree and Autumn Maple Tree --fused togther already for 90 years, got married ...in quiet wooded grove in Ludong.

Rejoice! Rejoice! The bees and the mice and the crows and the fish all rejoiced, and you could even see the happy fish wriggling their fishy tails in the blue waters below the Gurling Brook Bridge.

The Mayor was there, and the Superintendent of the Foresty Bureau, and over 100 movie stars and TV stars and pop singers from Taipei came to the party as well. It was and always will be remembered as THE FOREST WEDDING OF THE CENTURY!

Said the Ox who was officating at the wedding:

"Do you, Banywan Tree, take Autumn Maple Tree, as your wife today?

I do.

And do you, Autumn Maple Tree, take Banywan Tree, as your husband today?

I ...I.....I do!

I now pronounce you Tree and Tree, fused together now and forever, congratulations to you both, and long live the beautiful Ludong Forest of Yilan County!"

And when the wedding ceremony was over, everyone raised a small glass of mountain dew to congratulate the happy couple, and said GAN BEI and LO LAT.

This is not the End. This is very beginning of a new chapter in
the life of the fused trees of Ludong Forest.

Dear Students,
If you would like to write a letter in your own handwriting to the happy Banywan Tree and the Autumn Maple Tree to tell them your feelings about this book and their wedding, you may write to them at this address:

Ludong Forestry Office
PO BOX 1000
Ludong, Yilan, Taiwan ROC

And every letter they get will be read, and responded to, too.

HEINKEN ''LO LAT'' photos - cute and KUSO! LO LAT means "thank you" in Hoklo Taiwanese...

LO LAT - CD cover - demo - music composed by 簡定原-- vocals by 李怡樺

Photos [above] courtesy of 張 永澤, National Chiayi University student, Shimin Campus

THE COMPOSER AND THE VOCALIST: TINO JIAN and AMANDA LEE!
 簡定原 & 李怡樺

Electronia Version of THE LO LAT SONG for Santaizi Dance Performance

Music by  簡定原--  Vocals by 李怡樺