I finally got my New Year's Day photos off of the camera.  I took these near Cecilia's home in Gaoxiong.   On New Year's Day morning different temples will carry their idols around town to other temples.  One of the things they do when they get to a temple is to make a large pile of firecrackers.  Once the pile is big enough, then they carry the idol on top and wait until the firecrackers explode.  This is probably to allow the smoke to purify the area around the temple.

Phase 1: The people wearing the orange costumes are all from the Tiger Temple.  Some people are carrying the idol others are resting.  The ones you can't see are those resting.  They follow behind waiting for their turn to carry the idol.

Phase 2: The smoke is produced by an explosion from a large pile of firecrackers, approximately 1.5 meters in circumference and 10 - 20 cm deep at the center.  When it explodes there is a loud boom and then the smoke rapidly shoots straight up into the air.  None of the people standing directly in front of the smoke cloud were hurt.

Phase 3: After the explosion, the plume started to spread out slowly.  The paper from the firecrackers is also in the smoke.  Notice the ground is covered with many red bits of paper.  These are from previous firecracker explosions.

Phase 4: The idol they carried was not destroyed, its only bathed in the smoke.  If you look carefully you can see them carrying it to the next temple.  After they left the paper from the exploded firecrackers burned for a while bathing the entire area in smoke.