The latest Wimmelbuch about Taiwan hides several SMB members, young and old. Set in the city and on a small island, its countless scenes revolve around Christian holidays and well-known churches.
By Georg L’Homme, Co-President of Ananasli and member of the core group of the SMB Friends Circle (F-SMB)
It has been a long time coming! With financial support from the Ecumenical World Day of Prayer for Taiwan, the association Ananasli launched a project for a culturally adapted Christian Wimmelbuch, a large picture book crowded with small scenes. Such a book supports children’s language development and their joy of discovery: it lets them weave the familiar and the new into their own story and share it with other generations. The illustrations are playful and invite children to explore and to talk together.
The Mandarin term for Wimmelbuch, 多多書 (“Many, Many Book”), was coined in 2018 with the first Asian Wimmelbuch. When the first publisher was taken over, a new one had to be found. It was the PCT (Presbyterian Church in Taiwan), which is now the publisher of the Christian Wimmelbuch. And three children were born to the illustrator and editor before the printed book was done, with the maternity breaks that went with them.
A double-page spread from the book: the church of Yeyou on Lanyu (Orchid Island).
A double-page spread from the book: the church of Panding.
A double-page spread from the book: the church of Wanjin.
What the book shows
Young children and adults alike can recognise many stories and many faces, and tell each other countless tales. Christmas and Easter are easy to identify. Yet much is quite different: alongside biblical scenes there are a few Daoist ones and many typically Taiwanese elements. Several members of the SMB and of the Ingenbohl Sisters can be spotted too: churches built by Br. Julius Felder, Br. Augustin Büchel hiking, Jakob Hilber and Ernst Gassner racing by on motorbikes, Ueli singing, Sr. Jermia, and more. Perhaps you will discover yourself in the book as well.
Through the seasons, the book presents Christian holidays, interwoven with biblical and local scenes. References to Daoist festivals such as Lunar New Year or Tomb-Sweeping Day, and to several Indigenous groups, enrich its pages. Children explore on their own, or together with adults or older children. Each time they “read” the pictures, they find new stories on a double page and between the pages. The stories change with the telling, so the book stays exciting and can be told in any language. The drawings are by Gtall Studio.
Identity and religion in Taiwan
Identity and self-awareness are a major theme in Taiwanese families. It is not unusual for one family to include several ethnic groups (Fukien Taiwanese, Hakka, Indigenous people, or members from Vietnam, Westerners and others) and several religions. Some religion teachers in Taiwan already use the book in their classes with children. Christians are a minority of about four percent of Taiwan’s population.
The book (A4, 14 pages) can be ordered from the association Ananasli (Ananasli@gmx.ch).
